The 68th Washington International Horse Show runs October 19 through 25 at The Show Place Arena, 14900 Pennsylvania Avenue. Daytime admission is free every day from Monday through Sunday, and parking is free the whole time. This year the show adds FEI CSI2* jumping, which ends in a $50,000 Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. Adult tickets for that class are $10, and anyone under 18 gets in free.
Most of Upper Marlboro's fall works the same way, and the horse show sets the pattern. The county park system, the town calendar and one family farm do most of the work, and very little of it costs more than a few dollars. Paying for things is rarely the problem. The problem is two days in the middle of horse show week, when nearly everything lands at once.
A Downtown Show That Moved to Pennsylvania Avenue
WIHS was a downtown Washington event from 2000 to 2019, held at Capital One Arena. For 2020 and 2021 it moved to Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina because of COVID-19 restrictions on DC events. In 2022, its 64th year, it came to The Show Place Arena at the Prince George's Equestrian Center, and it has stayed there since. WIHS President Victoria Lowell said organizers ran a multi-year venue search after learning Capital One Arena could no longer accommodate the show.
For Prince George's County it was a return. When WTOP covered the 2022 opening, it called the move a homecoming after more than 20 years and traced the show's earlier county venue to the old Capitol Centre, later called US Air Arena. A show that used to require a downtown trip and arena parking now has free parking a short drive from most of Upper Marlboro.
Free All Week, With Four Ticketed Sessions
Tickets are required for only four sessions. Here are the WIHS prices, not counting Ticketmaster fees:
| Session | Date | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|---|
| Military Night | Thursday, Oct. 22 | $20 | $15 |
| MARS Barn Night | Friday, Oct. 23 | $25 | $20 |
| CSI2* Grand Prix | Saturday, Oct. 24, afternoon | $10 | Free under 18 |
| World Cup Night | Saturday, Oct. 24, evening | $40 | $35 |
Seats for the three evening shows are reserved. The Grand Prix is general admission. World Cup Night also offers a Ticket & Dinner package at $115 for adults and $100 for children. It includes a hot buffet dinner eaten at your seat, unlimited non-alcoholic drinks, and two beers or wines for guests 21 and older. Thursday's Military Night tickets are 50% off for active duty, reserve and retired military, disabled veterans, and first responders. You can get that discount at The Show Place Arena box office or a participating military ticket office by showing a qualifying ID. WIHS also lists a 50% off code, USA2026, for its website visitors to use on Ticketmaster. The county's listing says the arena box office is open Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 4 p.m.
A few practical details make the free daytime sessions easier. The arena has food and beverage concessions, and food trucks are on site all week. Dogs are not allowed inside the arena, but leashed dogs are welcome on the grounds, and service dogs are allowed everywhere. WIHS calls its class schedule tentative and subject to change, so check the day's schedule before you go.
October 23 and 24, Hour by Hour
These two days are where the free calendar gets crowded. Several public events land on the same Friday evening and Saturday morning, and families with young children will have to choose.
- Friday, 5:30 p.m. Trek or Treat begins at Watkins Regional Park and runs until 8:30. It's a family trail for children 12 and under. Tickets are $5 for county residents and $7 for nonresidents, and you have to register in advance.
- Friday, 6:30 p.m. MARS Barn Night starts at the arena. This year's theme is Star-Spangled WIHS/America 250, with contests for barns and groups.
- Saturday, 10 a.m. WIHS Kids' Day, presented by Land Rover of Alexandria, runs until 1 p.m., rain or shine. It's free and includes pony rides, face painting, a Horseless Horse Show, a mini-pony kissing booth, and photos with Major. The Watkins Park Farmers Market is open at the same time, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 301 Watkins Park Drive.
- Saturday, 1 p.m. The $50,000 CSI2* Ambassador's Cup Grand Prix starts. Children under 18 get in free with a wristband from Kids' Day or the box office, so families who arrive for the morning can stay without buying children's tickets.
- Saturday evening. World Cup Night, the most expensive ticket of the week.
That Friday makes families choose. Trek or Treat and Barn Night overlap for most of the evening, so a household with one costumed child and one horse-crazy teenager is probably going two directions. Saturday works better because the free morning at the arena leads straight into the cheap afternoon session.
The Two Weekends Before the Horses Arrive
The quieter half of October happens along the Patuxent and at Watkins, and the cost is in the single digits.
The Sankofa Open House is Saturday, October 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Historic Chelsea House, 601 Watkins Park Drive. It's free and includes the Sankofa Mobile Museum, an oral-history station, a market, and community resources. The next afternoon, Sunday, October 4, Patuxent River Park runs a guided pontoon boat tour from 4 to 5 p.m., leaving from Jackson's Landing in the Jug Bay Natural Area. It costs $4 for residents and $6 for nonresidents.
The town's own calendar lists National Faith and Blue on October 10. It doesn't give a venue or organizer, so check with the town before you plan around it. On Saturday, October 17, Patuxent River Park holds its free 18th Annual American Indian Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 16000 Croom Airport Road. The program includes music and dance, crafts, horsemanship, storytelling, an artisan market, and Native food vendors. The performer lineup hadn't been posted when the county published the listing. Jug Bay's Homeschool Nature Club meets on Wednesday, October 21, the week the horse show opens. The theme is autumn science, seasonal change and winter preparation, for ages 5 to 10, at $6 for residents and $8 for nonresidents.
Montpelier Farms, at 1720 North Crain Highway, is the private exception, and it covers the whole stretch. Its Fall Festival runs from September 12 to November 8 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It has a 7-acre corn maze, a separate Spookley the Square Pumpkin maze, giant hill slides, hayrides, animals, and ride-on pig races. New this season are the Red Barn Twister, the Barnyard Ball Wall and the Combine Slide.
November Moves to Jug Bay and Watkins
After the arena empties, the calendar thins out but keeps the same character.
- Wednesday, November 4. The Homeschool Nature Club returns with a session on seeds, seed dispersal and plant survival.
- Saturday, November 7. The 30th Annual Jug Bay Run/Walk for Wildlife runs from 9 to 11 a.m. and supports conservation, research and education in the Patuxent watershed.
- Sunday, November 8. Last day of the Montpelier Farms Fall Festival.
- Saturday, November 14. A free bird-watching walk at Jug Bay runs from 8 to 11 a.m. for ages 14 and up, meeting at the Visitors Center.
- Saturday, November 21. Trot for a Turkey runs at Watkins Regional Park from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration is $35, and each one provides a holiday turkey to a family in need.
- Late November. The Watkins Regional Park Festival of Lights opens at 301 Watkins Park Drive and runs through January 1, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $20 per car, and wagon rides are $15 for adults and $10 for children. The county's page lists both November 27 and November 28 as opening night, so confirm before you load the car.
- Saturday, November 28. Small Business Saturday is on the town calendar. The Watkins Park Farmers Market keeps going past it, with Saturdays listed into December, including December 12.
The Grocery Store That Won't Be on This Year's Calendar
Retail is the newest change in Upper Marlboro, but it isn't due for a while. Sprouts Farmers Market has signed a lease to anchor the retail center at Westphalia Town Center, at Pennsylvania Avenue and Woodyard Road. The store will be about 23,000 square feet in a 140,000-square-foot center. On August 24, the county's Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement approved the site development concept plan. That's an early review step, not permission to build, and no construction start date has been set. The latest published projection puts the opening in 2028. Until then, Saturday produce in Upper Marlboro still comes from the Watkins market, which supports growers at the park's Urban Farm Incubator.
A free week at The Show Place Arena is one of the things that goes into what a home near Pennsylvania Avenue, Watkins or Jug Bay is worth. If you'd like an honest read on how your Upper Marlboro home compares right now, Anthony Beharry has worked Prince George's County since 2003 and can start with a home valuation built on local comparable sales, not a portal estimate. For more on the area, see the Upper Marlboro neighborhood page. Let's Connect.
