It’s always easy to pack your days with fun, free things to do in Washington, DC – and it’s even easier during the summer time, when free and bargain-priced concerts, performances, festivals and more abound.

Summer gets off to a star-spangled start with Memorial Day festivities. Tens of thousands of veterans’ rights advocates descend on the nation’s capital on the Sunday prior to Memorial Day for Rolling Thunder, a world-renowned motorcycle rally. You can also pay your respects to fallen heroes at wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, along with the monuments and memorials. Round out the weekend with the National Memorial Day Parade on Constitution Avenue and a free concert by the National Symphony Orchestra on the grounds of the Capitol.

Theatre and performing arts lovers who visit DC during the summer can catch a free performance of one of the Bard’s classics in Rock Creek Park during the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Free for All. In July, the Capital Fringe Festival spotlights edgy, alternative performance art at venues throughout downtown DC. Summer also means evenings at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, an outdoor amphitheater in nearby Northern Virginia. Broadway and musical theatre fans can look forward to national touring productions at The Kennedy Center, National Theatre and Warner Theatre.

End your day on a patriotic note with a free military band concert. There’s at least one military band playing each weeknight at venues like the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Navy Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial. For an all-American treat, look for a military evening parade or the traditional Twilight Tattoo. Free evening concerts are also performed at the National Zoo, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and other venues. Warm summer evenings are also perfect for moonlit monument tours, riverside happy hours, baseball games – even free movie screenings on the National Mall.