Kennedy Street Festival this Saturday!

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This is a great summer for the Petworth area, and it continues with the upcoming Kennedy Street Festival on June 20th, now in its second season!

The Festival is from 11am - 3pm and runs along Kennedy Street NW from 3rd Street to Georgia Ave. A community-driven, crowd-funded event, the Festival includes live music, food trucks, creative vendors, community resources, activities, art, face painting and more!

Kennedy Street isn't closing -- the Festival takes place on the sidewalks and in private space with music and art. (608 and 716 Kennedy Street will be filled with vendors.) Brick and mortar businesses will be open and serving up specials. Come out to enjoy street performances by jazz, soul, classical, folk and roots musicians. Compete in a neighborhood scavenger hunt or buy raffle tickets for a chance to win Washington Nationals seats, (donated by At-Large DC Council member Elissa Silverman).

Look for specials and guests at local favorites Culture Coffee, Andrene's Cafe, Tony's Place and Taqueria D.F. Local arts vendors include local master wood carver Boluwaji Omisore, funky thrift purveyor Vintage Glam, new local screen-printers Aniton Ink, and many more. Food trucks including Street Cream, Timber Pizza, and Karat Cakery will be filling neighborhood niches. 

(Timber Pizza Co. is opening a restaurant at 809 Upshur St NW, and Karat Cakery is a carrot cake food truck. I love carrot cake. I love food trucks. I'm so there.)

This year marks 100 years of Kennedy Street (more or less!). The street was laid out across the farmland of what is now Manor Park, Brightwood Park, North Petworth and 16th Street Heights between 1911 and 1918. Today, Kennedy is the commercial heart of these neighborhoods, with huge untapped potential to be a walkable, locally-serving main street. We'll have several DC government agencies and neighborhood volunteers on hand to talk about what's coming to Kennedy Street NW, including two streetscape improvement projects, a restaurant and apartment development, and more.

The Festival is a project of the Kennedy Street Development Association (KSDA), an all-volunteer, not-for-profit group of businesses and residents committed to enhancing community and commercial life on Kennedy Street. For more festival info, follow KSDA on Facebook and Twitter (@KennedyStreetNW).

Pictures from Grant Circle Social

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Neighbors braved the potential threat of rain and came out to the Grant Circle Social tonight, and were rewarded with no rain, cool(er) air and a bunch of people waiting to meet. There were new faces joining us tonight, as well as some "regulars." It was great to see everyone (and to meet Brandon Todd's mom!).

If you're interested in joining a Circle Social planning committee, comment below or sent Rob Mandle a message on the Grant Circle Social event page.

Feel free to tag yourself in the photos on Facebook!

Neighbors braved the potential threat of rain and came out to the Grant Circle Social tonight, and were rewarded with no...

Posted by Petworth News on Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Strawberry Festival tomorrow (6/13)

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There are 200 seeds on an average strawberry and they're a member of the rose family.

Don't believe me? You can check for yourself tomorrow at the 149th Annual Strawberry Festival at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (i.e. the church in Rock Creek Cemetery). 149 years equals a lot of strawberries. 

It promises to be a great time for families and kids of all ages and sizes. There will be food, music, pony rides, arts and crafts, a moon bounce, field games and even a climbing wall. 

Plus, the ever-popular tours of historic Rock Creek Cemetery.

Oh, and there will be strawberries. 

Saturday, June 13, from 4-8 p.m. 
201 Allison St NW
(Rock Creek Church Road and Webster St NW)
stpaulrockcreek.org

Timber! Wood-fired goodness is coming to Upshur

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What do you do when you and your friend don’t enjoy working at a tech start-up, but love pizza? Start a pizza company, naturally.

That’s exactly what Andrew Dana and Chris Brady did a year ago. After working at a local education tech start-up and not feeling very inspired by the job, but sharing a passion for all things pizza, the two created an original food truck: a wood-fired oven pizza truck. And they’re bringing that passion and their unique pizza stylings to Petworth.

“We just passed our first anniversary as a company on May 28th,” Andrew Dana said when I spoke to him this week. “Things have happened pretty quick this year, and we knew we wanted to expand,” Andrew said.

He and his partner Chris have spent the past year taking their 1967 baby blue pickup and mobile brick oven to farmer’s markets and other events around the DC area, selling their original pizza creations, as well as doing catering for special events.

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Andrew Dana, Chris Brady and the 1967 pickup

Both Andrew and Chris are local and knew they wanted to open a restaurant somewhere in this area. Andrew grew up in Mt. Pleasant and is looking for an apartment in Petworth (“Yeah, I definitely want to move to Petworth, close by,”) and Chris lives near 15th and New Hampshire Ave.

“I’ve been falling in love with Upshur and Petworth for awhile,” Andrew said. “We were looking for a location that would work for us, and when we saw the building on Upshur Street, we got ‘that feeling’ and knew it was the place.” 

The new restaurant, to be located at 809 Upshur St NW, will be called the Timber Pizza Co. Andrew said their plan is to keep the restaurant simple in design, matching their overall theme of “Vermont / campy” wood minimalist, and matching with their 1967 baby blue pickup truck.

Inside, they plan to seat 49 at small tables and larger communal tables, and hope to offer outdoor seating as well. Inside there will be a large brick oven, placed where customers can watch the pizzas being made and then fired. They plan on installing bay windows on the front of the building so that the brick oven can be seen from the street. They also plan on offering craft beer from around the city, as well as wine and cocktails.

The menu looks great (see below), and they take a lot of pride in what they offer. “We’re really into collaborating with other DC restaurants and trucks,” Andrew said. “We want to showcase other local flavors on our pizzas.” 

For example, Andrew told me how they thought a BBQ chicken pizza would taste great. “But it’s hard to make a great pizza AND make a great BBQ chicken — so we found a great partner who excels at BBQ, put their chicken on the pizza and it was amazing."

Andrew and Chris decided that they will rotate their menu as they partner with restaurants like DCity Smokehouse, Indigo (Indian cuisine) and DGS Delicatessen in Dupont (Andrew’s thinking a breakfast pizza with smoked salmon and capers).

And they know the area has seen an increase in little ones:  “We are definitely planning on offering items on the menu perfect for kids,” Andrew said.

Andrew said they want to connect with the Petworth Community Market to set up their pizza truck at the market a few times over the season while they work on renovating the building.

“The landlord has some work to do inside before we can take possession, and then we’re hoping to open by early winter,” he said.

I asked Andrew to let me know if they do book a spot at the Petworth Market so I can let everyone know. I’m already looking forward to a pizza place on Upshur St.

Here’s a sample of their menu:

CHEESE, PLEASE
San Marzano tomatoes, low-moisture mozzarella/provolone, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil

PRETTY IN PEPPERONI
"CHEESE, PLEASE" + pepperoni

GREEN MONSTER
Pesto, fresh mozzarella, feta, kale, zucchini

NORTH SHORE
"CHEESE, PLEASE" + fresh jalapeño, pineapple, and prosciutto

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Celebrate Petworth Festival is Saturday

The momentum has been building for the past few months, and now the Celebrate Petworth Festival is here. It's going to be a very busy day, with a ton of activities for kids of all ages.

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Enlarge to see the schedule of events

I encourage you to check out the day's schedule of events -- since the Festival runs from 11am to 5pm on Upshur Street (between 8th & 9th Street), there are a ton of events going on all day long. 

I'll miss the first half of the day (I'll be at the MPD academy) but will be there for the last half of the day.

Special kudos to all the Celebrate Petworth planning committee, who worked hard to make the Festival happen:

• Anna Gaseitsiwe
• Kieca Mahoney
• Robert Mandle
• Chickaro Martin
• Thomas Pipkin
• Lucan Pipkin
• Julie Wineinger

Help fund the arts in Petworth

The Petworth Dance Project needs your help. A great addition to our local culture in Petworth, the Dance Project brings modern dance to Petworth Park on 8th & Taylor, free for residents.

They need help funding the project. They're only 17% of the way toward their goal, and they only have 40 hours left. If you can afford to drop them $5, $10 or $50, I know the organizers will appreciate your help, and you'll know you're supporting the arts in Petworth.

The next two events coming up in June and July sound great, and the one in July takes places in the Spray Park! 

Visit their Indiegogo campaign site today, and donate a little Petworth love to them.