Anacostia Community Museum Offers Free Weekend Summer Shuttle Service Again from the National Mall

A free summer service, begun last year to transport visitors between the National Mall and the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, returns this summer and offers weekend service from June 19 through Labor Day. Shuttle Anacostia will kick off its 2010 service with a performance in front of the Ripley Center (next to the Smithsonian Castle) beginning at 10 a.m. by the Cosita Seria band playing traditional Afro-Mexican music and inviting Mall visitors to take the ride.

Shuttle Anacostia will pick up riders on Saturdays, Sundays, and two Mondays—July 5 and Sept. 6—from the Ripley Center, the National Air and Space Museum and the Anacostia Metro Station beginning at 10 a.m. After leaving the Anacostia Community Museum, riders can also visit the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, which is included as a stop as the shuttle loops back to the Castle. Riders from east of the river neighborhoods can also use the weekend shuttle to avoid parking hassles and visit Mall attractions such as the upcoming Smithsonian Folklife Festival, June 24–28 and July 1–5.

Interested visitors are directed to shuttle stops marked by promotional signage detailing the exhibitions currently on view at the museum: “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present” through July 4 and “Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia” as well as “Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Community through Language,” opening Aug. 9.

Shuttle service is extended on several days to accommodate special public programs presented by the Anacostia Community Museum. For more information on Shuttle Anacostia and museum exhibitions and programs, visit http://anacostia.si.edu/shuttle.

The Anacostia Community Museum was opened in southeast Washington in 1967 as the nation’s first federally funded neighborhood museum. Renamed in 2006, it has expanded its focus beyond African American culture to documenting, interpreting and collecting objects related to the impact of historical and contemporary social issues on communities. For more information, the public may call (202) 633-4820, (202) 633-1000 or (202) 633-5285 (TTY); website: anacostia.si.edu.

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SI-256-2010