On Saturday, July 21st, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens [1] will hold its annual Waterlily and Founders Day Festival. The event runs from 11am to 2pm; the gardens are open from 7am to 4pm. The festival is timed to coincide with the peak of the blooming waterlilies and lotuses. It will include tours of the gardens and greenhouses.

DC Audubon will be there and lead a bird walk in the gardens. Come meet some of our board members and field trip leaders. Look for our table in the picnic area near the visitors center.

If you plan to join the bird walk, RSVP to trip leader Dhananjaya Katju [1]. We will meet in the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens parking lot at 8 am. The walk will last about three hours.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is a 14-acre park devoted to the propagation and display of waterlilies. Surrounding the park on three sides is the 77-acre Kenilworth Marsh, a restored tidal wetland. Both the gardens and the marsh offer excellent birding opportunities throughout the year. On this walk we hope to see some of Kenilworth's breeding birds.

DIRECTIONS (from most DC points): Take New York Ave. east. Just after crossing the Anacostia River (before the road becomes the B-W Pkwy.), right exit to 295 south (Kenilworth Ave. south), and you will almost immediately see a brown sign for KAG. Follow the signs, exiting right onto the Kenilworth Ave. frontage road, turning right on Douglass Avenue, and right on Anacostia Ave. to the parking lot entrance. From downtown, SE, or SW, you can take Independence or Constitution Aves. east past RFK Stadium, over the Whitney Young Bridge, and exit right to 295 at the end of the bridge. Bear left on the ramp to Kenilworth Ave. north, and take the fourth exit, Quarles Street. Bear left and complete the U-turn onto Kenilworth Ave. frontage road. Go one long block to Douglass Street. This route is also signed for KAG.

If you are coming by public transportation, take the Orange Line to Deanwood. Use the left (west) exit of the station. Walk two blocks west on Polk Street, cross the pedestrian bridge, and walk another two blocks west on Douglass Street to a T intersection (Anacostia Ave.). Turn right and walk less than one block to the entrance of the gardens. Metrobus is also possible, ending with the V-2 bus from Deanwood station to Douglass Street.