Summerween hits D.C. with parties and pumpkin spice
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
If there’s one thing we know about D.C., it’s that we go hard for fall … perhaps too hard.
Why it matters: Something wicked this way comes. Yes, we’re referring to Summerween.
State of play: It may be hotter than an apple crisp oat milk macchiato outside, but Washington is busy romanticizing sweater weather.
- Case in point: Recent local events like Halethorpe brewery Heavy Seas’ pumpkin beer extravaganza, the Summerween bash at Adams Morgan cocktail bar Tiki on 18th, and the fall-core blowout at Franconia’s Nalls Produce & Garden Center — featuring, duh, apple cider donuts.
Plus: Our intrepid Axios D.C. readers tell us they’ve seen Halloween goodies at Home Depot, Michael’s, HomeGoods and CVS.
- One reader even says they saw spooky stuff at the Buc-ee's in Virginia.
- Mimi’s thought bubble: That freaky lil gas station beaver is hawking Halloween during the DMV's Zombeaver summer??? Suspicious timing …
And, in the most 2026 sentence ever typed, Smoothie King just released a pumpkin smoothie for people on GLP-1s.
- Yes, it's available at local locations.
What they’re saying: La Colombe released its draft pumpkin spice latte earlier than ever this year — August 4.
- Why? People are outta their autumnal gourds over it: It’s the brand’s best-selling signature drink, and sales have upped year-over-year since it was introduced in 2022, per a spokesperson.
- And the group’s ready-to-drink PSL doubled in sales from 2024 to 2025.
Meanwhile, CVS is launching its entire Halloween fleet the last week of August — a move a spokesperson attributes to customers’ Summerween fandom.
What we’re watching: If you’re trying to get your summer spooky on before we hit actual crispy temps, check out the Summerween Spooktacular Aug. 29 in Bel Air, Md., with costumes, trick-or-treating, and creepy books.
- And if you’re willing to hit the road for your seasonally inappropriate activities, Emily’s Produce in Cambridge, Md., will open its corn maze early and have a carving contest featuring … watermelons.