Live Music, Nightlife

Summer is over, but not outdoor concerts! Catch one of the Sunday evening Jazz Under the Stars concerts at The Rooftop above VisArts in Town Center, and don't miss Rockville's annual Uncorked Wine and Music Festival on September 27 with lots of local wineries and local music talent to enjoy.

Austin Grill, which opened in summer 2007 in Town Center, has music every week on Wednesday through Saturday nights, and Sunday Jazz Brunch.

Another fun place to eat and listen to live music on weekends is Outta The Way Cafe. If you like a little country with your barbeque, you'll find both at O'Brien's Pit Barbeque.

La Tasca, a tapas restaurant, features a live band every Saturday evening starting at 10pm, and flamenco dancers on Fridays at 7:30 and 8:30pm.

Performing Arts

Rockville has so many good venues for the performing arts, you won't know which one to choose on any given night or weekend! F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater is our local theater, and hosts performances by everyone from the Rockville Civic Ballet and the Victorian Lyric Opera Company to The Musical Theater Center, as well as special events like the Inauguration of the Mayor and Council and the annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference.

Glenview Mansion is right next door, also on the beautiful grounds of the Rockville Civic Center. The Mansion Conservatory hosts a Sunday Afternoon Concert Series on the first Sunday of each month.

Our local fabulous concert hall, the Music Center at Strathmore, presents artistic offerings in the Music Center including world-class performances by major national artists of folk, blues, pop, jazz, show tunes, and classical music. You can get there easily by taking the Metro to the Grosvenor-Strathmore station.Mansion at Strathmore, on the same grounds, is home to more intimate artistic programs presented by Strathmore in the warm and acoustically superb 100-seat Dorothy M. and Maurice C. Shapiro Music Room, the Gudelsky Gallery Suite exhibition spaces, the outdoor Gudelsky Concert Pavilion, and outdoor Sculpture Gardens.

Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center, on the Rockville campus of Montgomery College, is another wonderful place to see plays, musicals, children's shows, and concerts.

In the summer, all sorts of concerts and events take place in the new Town Center Plaza, which is within walking distance of the Rockville metro station.

Gildenhorn/Speisman Center for the Arts at the JCC also has all sorts of concerts, dance and literary events, and an art gallery. The Kreeger Auditorium, Goldman Art Gallery, Kass Judaic Library, and the Weiner Judaic Museum host countless shows, concerts, exhibits, literary festivals, and classes each year.

Movie Theaters

There are three great movie theater complexes in the area. Regal Cinemas, with 13 screens, is located right in downtown Rockville, next to Town Center. It's within walking distance of the Rockville metro station, as well as lots of restaurants and shops.

Further north is the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg with AMC Loews Rio 18. Lots of restaurants and shops here too, and in the summer you can take a pedal boat out on the lake.

White Flint Mall in North Bethesda/Rockville includes AMC Loews White Flint.

Do It! Sports, Fitness, Outdoors

Enjoy the outdoors, get in shape -- Rockville has great parks, rec & sports facilities. Croyden Creek Nature Center is a recent and welcome addition to the Rockville Civic Center grounds, featuring lots of classes and activities for kids. It's also, incidentally, a nice place to go for bird-watching, as the area behind the center has been allowed to grow wild and has feeders for all kinds of birds scattered in the trees on the periphery.

Another great outdoors place is the Meadowside Nature Center, with activities for all ages, summer camps, a planetarium and a nice place to hike.

If golf is your preferred outdoor activity, Rockville operates the Redgate Golf Course, ranked among the top 10 public golf facilities in the Washington metropolitan area by Golf Digest Magazine.

Fitness First is a popular place to work out, for people of all ages, as well as the recently-opened Golds Gym in Town Center.

Are you a martial arts enthusiast? Check one of the exhibitions of Ten Shin Ichi Ryu Martial Arts or one of the other Martial Arts Centers in Rockville.

The City of Rockville offers all kinds of sports classes, leagues, teams, and recreational facilities for practicing in the Recreation Guide.

For other local facilities, from swimming pools and batting cages to Rec Centers and the Rockville SportsPlex, see the Park & Recs page.

REI has periodic free introductory classes on camping, maintaining your bicycle, and the like, and of course, they also sell everything you need to go out and enjoy the outdoors.

Do It! Art & Photography

Several places in Rockville offer classes and workshops in drawing, painting & photography. VisArts Rockville, which opened in a beautiful new building in Town Center in September 2007, offers drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography classes.

Montgomery College also offers classes in ceramics, drawing, jewelry, printmaking, and sculpture' at their Rockville campus.

Penn Camera offers classes on digital photography, SLR photography, RAW file editing, amd more at their Rockville store in Federal Plaza and other locations in the metro area.

Another good way to learn and practice photography is to attend one of the workshops offered by Washington Photo Safari.

Do It! Music & Dance

If singing and dancing are your thing, there are several places to learn and perform in Rockville. MTC (The Musical Theater Center) offers classes in all kinds of dance and theater, as well as voice lessons. They put on several musical productions each year, and have two very talented ensemble groups (one for middle school and one for high school age kids) who perform locally and nationallly.

Montgomery College presents a very popular Summer Dinner Theater each year, which is the culmination of a college-level course that focuses on the production of musical theatre.

The City of Rockville Recreation Guide is the place to look for dance classes, from ballet to auditions for The Finest!, the City of Rockville's Youth Performance Troupe.

Rockville Civic Ballet, "one of the Washington area's most accomplished community-based ballet troupes," performs the holiday classic "The Nutcracker" every winter, and also perform a spring and summer production at F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater.

Do It! Make Something

Crafters, scrapbookers, jewelry makers: Rockville has classes and workshops for you. Michaels and A. C. Moore both offer classes on all kinds of crafts, knitting, cake decorating, candy making, scrapbooking, and more.

Local fabric stores offering sewing and decorating classes include G Street Fabrics and Hancock Fabrics, in addition to their big selection of fabrics and sewing accessories. See the Fabric Shops page for a list of fabric stores in Rockville.

Accents Bead Shop offers classes on making beaded jewelry for beginning, intermediate and advanced students.

Do It! Workshops, Discussion Groups

Learn something new, discuss, get advice, enjoy the company of other Rockville residents. Both Borders Books and Barnes and Noble have regular book discussion groups, and chances to hear and meet authors at the store.

The Rockville Library and Twinbrook Library also have all sorts of book discussions, for low vision readers, children, and various cultural groups, some with lunchtime meetings, some evening.

Both libraries mentioned above also have weekly or even twice-weekly Spanish Conversation Clubs and English Conversation Clubs, for people wishing to gain greater fluency in either. Check the Events calendar for date & time.

The Commission for Women Counseling and Career Center provides programs and services designed to meet the needs and interests of women in our community, offering seminars on topics ranging from divorce and stress management to resume writing and finding the right job.

Montgomery County CHADD offers monthly educational programs with local experts, support groups for parents and support groups for adults with AD/HD.

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital offers workshops on a wide range of health-related topics.

Check the list of other local non-profit organizations to find other opportunities.

Historic Places

Find out about the people who made Rockville what it is today. Period tour guides make the Beall-Dawson House come alive for visitors.

The Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine next door is also worth a visit, if for no other reason than to make you glad you were born after the 19th century.

Other historic buildings in Rockville include the Pump House and the Cottage at Glenview Mansion (as well as the Mansion itself).