Festivities at the H Street Festival
Image courtesy of https://www.hstreetfestival.org/
By Samantha Seifert
Every year on the eastern side of H Street, a street festival is held for free for all to see. From various food trucks, street vendors and stage performances, the H Street Festival has plenty for everyone.
The H Street Festival has been an ongoing yearly tradition for over 12 years. Over the years, the H Street Festival has grown from a 500 participants to 15,000 participants.
This year the festival took up 11 blocks and had 14 stages for different performers. Some of the performances include karaoke, Latin dancing, and local bands.
The H Street Festival incorporates many different genres and cultures into the day-long festival. From the Carribean food stands to the Turkish coffee truck plenty of diversity is offered at the H Street Festival.
The H Street Festival includes local stores from Brookland who sell their products. Although, stores from the Brookland Arts Walk were not the only local businesses to be featured at the H Street Festival. The H Street Festival exhibits all of D.C.’s most unique food and artistic stores in one location.
First years Francesca Conti and Marie-Sophie Brackstone spent the day in the heat walking many miles while exploring the H Street Festival in their new home. They enjoyed the Latin dancing performances and the various shops they could take a look at.
Brackstone, an international student from Bermuda, enjoyed the parts of the festival that incorporated culture from her home like the food trucks that featured Bermudian dishes. However, Brackstone also adored the new American culture she was able to experience through things like fried food trucks and booths for political advocates.
“As a newcomer to Washington D.C.,it was great to be exposed to the D.C. vendors and get a good feel for the city by exploring it in an energizing way”, said first-year international student Brackstone.
Fellow first-year student Conti, enjoyed looking at the various art that was for sale. The art varied from small paintings to photography and even pottery.
“It was a great day to spend with friends enjoying the festival and supporting local businesses,” said Conti.
Brackstone and Conti stopped at nearly all of the vendors and walked 9 out of the 11 blocks that the H Street Festival took place on. They saw nearly every booth that was there as they moved along the crowded area with all the other people. The first years were amazed at how large and popular the festival was.
The H Street Festival had something for all ages, as restaurants on the street hosted over 21 events and families could also go out and enjoy the festivities. The H Street Festival had a taste of every culture for everyone as well. This highly anticipated festival definitely follows expectations of what will be available for all to see. For a cultural difference and fun outing, the H Street Festival is highly recommended to go to next year when it will probably be even larger and more exciting.
