Announcing the 2014 H Street Festival this Saturday, September 20

Announcing the 2014 H Street Festival

 

The 2014 H Street Festival will take place on Saturday, September 20, 2014. This will be the biggest Festival ever, spanning 10 blocks of H Street NE and featuring over 200 businesses, restaurants, community organizations and merchants. Come down and enjoy great food, drinks, music, contests, kids’ activities and more!

 

The annual celebration highlights the development of the H Street NE Corridor and it’s vibrant businesses. The event is one of the District’s most popular festivals, and has been named Washington, DC’s best neighborhood festival by Washington City Paper for the last four years. In a city that boasts so many wonderful neighborhoods, the H Street NE Corridor has become one of the most diverse and exciting neighborhoods to live in, shop, eat and hang out.

 

This year’s Festival will offer more entertainment than ever before, featuring more than 500 performers and artists on 14 staging areas spread throughout the event. Performances will range from jazz, pop and gospel music to fitness demonstrations, a “skills on wheels” performance and interactive art displays.

 

For those who come hungry or thirsty, the Festival will feature over 70 food vendors, food trucks and restaurants serving up meals from all corners of the world. Festivalgoers can also visit the beverage gardens located along the festival route to sample the many available libations.

 

Other attractions at this year’s Festival, include:

 

-       Washington Nationals Presidents – The Presidents will race down part of the Festival route from the 8^th Street Stage (8 and H) following the singing of the national anthem at noon. The Presidents will also be available for pictures with festivalgoers at 3 p.m. at the Zone 9 parking lot (9 and H).

-       DC Streetcar Open House - Visitors will be able to get an up close look at the exterior and interior of the DC Streetcars, which are set to begin running later this year (5 and H, 8 and H and 13 and H).

-       Grand Opening of Gallery on O – The H Street Festival will celebrate the grand opening to the public of the Gallery on O, showcasing the 50^th anniversary of Washington Informer photography (13 and H).

-       Kids Zone – The Festival will have a special “kid’s zone,” featuring GolfZilla, a Godzilla-themed inflatable target that kids can hit golf balls at, multiple appearances by Callaloo the puppet, face painting, a giant slide and other family-friendly activities (9 and H).

-       Interactive Art Displays – Festivalgoers will be able to get an up close look at a number of art cars (13 and H), as well as watch artists paint an H Street-themed bus from start to finish and build custom bikes from scratch (5 and H).

-       Contests and Competitions – Attendees are invited to compete in or watch the annual pie, chili and burrito eating contests, a bad tattoo competition (10 and H) and an arm wrestling competition (9 and H).

-       District Fashion Week – The Fashion Stage will kick off the annual District Fashion Week celebration with area designers (10 and H).

-       Pedicabs – Pedicabs will offer weary festivalgoers transportation at a special festival rate parallel to the festival route on G and I Streets.

-       And much more!

Sponsors of the event include, Auto Zone, DC50-TV, Fisher Brothers, Giant, H Street Community Development Corporation, H Street Connection, Insight Property Group, Property Group Partners, Stewart Investment, Uber, Walmart and Washington City Paper.

Festival hours are from noon – 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. The Festival will take place between the 400 and 1300 blocks of H Street NE.