Fall Festival at Shipgarten

Fall Arrives in a Yard Made of Shipping Containers

Shipgarten throws its annual Fall Festival on Saturday the 12th, 1 to 6pm, and walking in costs nothing. Autumn decorations go up across the yard, there is live music, seasonal food and drinks, games, and the kind of photo corners that end up on everyone's phone. Parking is free too, which around Tysons is rare enough to be worth mentioning.

The honest caveat, same as always with this place: it is a beer garden, not a playground. What makes it work with children is the sheer open ground. It is a big outdoor space built out of shipping containers, with long communal tables and a lot of room between them, so kids can move while you actually sit down for an hour.

Come in the first half. The 1 to 4 stretch is the family part of the afternoon, and after that the crowd gradually shifts older until it turns into a DJ night at 8. One address quirk: it says McLean even though everyone calls it Tysons, and the free lot is a short walk away on Old Meadow Road.

Parent Tips 💡

• ✓Come between 1 and 4. That is the family half. The crowd changes character later on.
• ✓Know what you are walking into. It is a beer garden with a fall theme, not a children's event. Plenty of families go, but it is not built around them.
• ✓Free to enter, not free to eat. Bring a card for the food stands.
• ✓Let them loose on the games. The outdoor games are open to whoever wants a turn.
• ✓Leave before the DJ starts. Eight o'clock is when the evening turns into something else.