Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Get Ready for this Year's H Street Festival

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I'm sure you all marked you calendar for the H Street Festival back when the date was first announced, but now we have more details on some of this year's attractions.

Once again the festival will stretch over ten blocks. Within that span you'll find 14 staging areas, and dozen of interactive attractions. Over 250 businesses, community organizations, and vendors will participate. As always, the festival will feature a variety of live entertainment, food, drink, contests, and fun for folks of all ages.

This is generally the largest neighborhood based festival in the District, drawing crowds in excess of 125,000 people. Organized by H Street Main Street, it's been dubbed the Best Community Festival by the Washington City Paper six years in a row.

The best thing about this festival is it truly does offer a little something for everyone. Musical performances will include genres like Go-Go, rap, R&B, jazz, rock-n-roll, soul music, gospel and more. Those with a hefty appetite can test their mettle in pie or po boy eating contests. Got ink? Show it off in the popular annual tattoo contest. You'll also find martial arts demonstrations and dance performances.

Most of the local restaurants and bars get into the spirit and offer something special for the festival. It's traditionally been a chance to sample the wares of new businesses. Food trucks and other food vendors will also line the streets. Whether your thing is smokey barbeque, or vegan food, you are sure to find it here. Need something to wash it down? Stake a claim at one of the beer or liquor gardens that pop-up for the day. Bring your water bottle to refill at a DC Water watering station.

A sampling of attractions:

Karaoke Stage – Those who are brave enough to become one of the Festival’s performers themselves are encouraged to come ready to sing! (9 & H)

DC Comic’s Superheroes – CW50 will be promoting their Flash, Super Girl, Arrow and DC Legends of Tomorrow shows by bringing a huge mural featuring the shows’ stars, a Flash-themed SUV and costumed performers. We’ll also be holding a Superhero Costume Contest. First prize is a brand new flat screen TV. (12 & H)

The Kids Zone – Featuring Lowe’s Build and Go where kids can use mini building blocks to build birdhouses, toy boat, mini cars and other structures. (5 & H)

Expanded Fashion Stage – This year’s Fashion Stage will be our biggest yet in size and shows. We’ll have more designers than ever, as well as the Festival’s first hair show. (12 & H)

PokemonGo Zone – Want to hang out and catch Pikachu? We’ll have lounge areas set up at the intersection of two PokeStops and will be putting out lures all afternoon. The space will also be complete with comfortable seating, charging stations and beverages for purchase. (Multiple Locations)

The ModeloZone - The AutoZone parking lot will be transformed into the ModeloZone courtesy of this year’s official beer sponsor. (12 & H)

“Diageo” Liquor Garden – Hosted by the Festival’s liquor sponsor, the garden will offer drinks featuring some of the company’s best and most popular brands such as Ciroq, Tangeray and Crown Royal. (11 & H)

Free Professional Portraits –Professional portrait photographer Randall Scott will bring his mobile portrait studio to the H Street Festival. Scott will offer free portrait sessions during the festival in his studio tent. (Location: TBD)

Chess Academy – Always wanted to learn how to play chess? Well this is your chance! Chess experts will offer free lessons on how to play and win. (Location: TBD)

The H Street Festival runs from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, September 17th.

H Street Main Street will also have their mobile app live for the H Street Festival. The app will allow visitors to keep abreast of H Street Main Street activities and stay connected to the Corridor. Once downloaded, visitors can tap on the H Street Festival icon and get a bird’s eye view of the Festival grounds. They will be able to identify stages, performers and major activities. Featured businesses will also be labeled. The app is available for both iPhones and Android phones. Search for H Street Main Street.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

fyi: the starbucks at anthology is now open. i checked it out yesterday. pretty small, but also pretty nice.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see that Pokemon Go will be part of this years H Street Festival. We have got to catch em all.

Anonymous said...

Fuck Starbucks.

Anonymous said...

lol!!!! 11:53:00 AM

Anonymous said...

Do any of the non-Starbucks coffee places on H St NE provide health insurance and college assistance to their employees like Starbucks does? Most normal people want to pay a fair (higher) price for their service sector purchases so that these things are possible for the workers. Until we hear that the other coffee shops step up their employee benefits to be at least on par with Starbucks we will be buying and enjoying our coffees from Starbucks.

Anonymous said...

@1:55 anonymous:
I'd heard from an employee that Maketto does provide health insurance but cannot verify if true. Who is to assume that other places on H St, or elsewhere, do or do not without hearing from staff or asking?
Expecting a small business in the restaurant industry to provide college assistance is a bit of a stretch. I've worked for small, mid and large companies in other sectors that don't provide that and it is not a benefit that should be expected. Nice perk but not obligatory. I do not expect a small company working on a thin profit margin to be on par with Starbucks but that may just be me.

Anonymous said...

No way that Starbucks can beat Frenchie's pastries that Maketto has.

Anonymous said...

Would go to Maketto if they had a serving staff that actually appreciated and served the customer quickly , correctly and with a smile. instead of the why are you bothering me I am doing you a favor attitude. Where does he find those: "This not my forever job" children?

Anonymous said...

can't wait for this festival of drunken douche bros and crowded beer lines. Come at me, brah!!

Anonymous said...

@11:31 Anon:

Want to leave H Street Festival to peeps from NW, MD, and Arlington? There is an Ivy City block party that same day.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ivy-city-block-party-tickets-27025010534

Anonymous said...

@11:31,
I think that I'd rather deal with the peeps from NW,MD and Ballston, than deal with all of those bums that hang in the shadows of Ivy City.