Hosted on Sept. 21, the annual H Street Festival is a celebration of local businesses and community, attracting about 150,000 participants annually with a mission to showcase the arts, diversity and culture of H Street. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
Hosted on Sept. 21, the annual H Street Festival is a celebration of local businesses and community, attracting about 150,000 participants annually with a mission to showcase the arts, diversity and culture of H Street. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)

Teddy Carpenter could hardly tell a grill from a smoker – yes, there is a difference – when he first had the epiphany to start hosting barbecue cookouts roughly four years ago. A veteran of entrepreneurship, the District native jump-started his company with a business model and a desire to serve top-notch food. That idea eventually developed into a mobile barbecue that would be a hit at D.C.’s annual H Street Festival. 

On Saturday, Sept. 21, Black Betty’s BBQ made its second appearance at H Street Festival, one of the most anticipated and highly attended single-day festivals in Northeast Washington, D.C. The mobile food stand is home to a unique menu of assorted items including beef ribs, lamb chops, steak, and their signature item colossal smoked oxtail. 

With a line of customers down the block and over 700 pounds of meat sold, Black Betty’s emerged triumphant from Saturday’s event and showcased the up-and-coming barbecue business to look out for. 

“H Street is the premier place to tap into the city. If you are someone who wants to be an entrepreneur in the DMV area, H Street can launch you to stardom, just like Hollywood could launch you to stardom in regards to a career in entertainment,” Carpenter said. “We’re just the new Michael Jackson. We’re still singing ‘I Want You Back’ and doing the thing, but when Michael came out, everybody knew he was going to be ‘it.’ We’re coming, and we’re going to be ‘it.’”  

What started as a 500 participant bloc party more than 19 years ago, has now developed into a staple celebration of local businesses, community and culture, attracting about 150,000 participants annually. This year, H Street Festival spanned across 12 blocks with over a dozen staging areas programmed with diverse themes and aimed at various audience demographics.

Coupled with live music and interactive activities, the festival showcased the diversity of H Street, from restaurants and religious organizations to booths with vintage clothing and vinyl records. 

With arts as a principal motivator behind the festival, residents are exposed to the livelihood and cultural impact of the corridor, and oftentimes walk away with a deeper understanding and newfound appreciation for the community.  

“Spaces like this festival really give platforms to a lot of otherwise marginalized and silenced demographics. There were tables on housing information, youth development volunteering, art, cultural body adornments, all these things [that are] either are part of Black culture or have become part of the general Black experience,” said first-time attendee Essenia Satya. 

H Street Stimulates Economic Growth in the District

As one of the oldest main streets in the District, H Street is renowned for its artistic values and unique businesses, though increasing crime rate and residential concerns have been a focus of the location in recent years. 

“I was previously unaware of what people said about H Street, the stigmas around it…this festival can lay those stigmas and misconceptions to rest,” said Satya.

Nevertheless, the arts district continues to stimulate economic growth, with H Street Festival directly reducing commercial building vacancy rate on H Street Corridor from 75% to under 5%, according to the main website. 

According to Jarrod Bennet, executive director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, the annual opportunity to interact with residents and educate them on the company’s mission and impact benefits not only the stakeholders, but the artistic community as a whole.

“H Street Festival brings more people that maybe don’t come to this corridor. So, having those people come and actually meet and talk with us and realize that…we are a nonprofit that is trying to help the economic stability of the region,” Bennet told The Informer. “We want the community to come in and realize that when they support an event like this, for us, they’re actually supporting the theater and the local artists.”

By raising awareness and amplifying local businesses, the platform has fostered an environment for Black entrepreneurs to scale their business products and expand to a wider audience. 

Nsikan Edet, founder and CEO of Adiaha Eyo, a lifestyle company that utilizes home goods, fragrances, expression and hand-crafted jewelry to inspire natural healing and empowerment, is a five-time H Street veteran and considers it to be a pivotal experience for anyone who is serious about turning a small business into something greater. 

“As a D.C., native, I feel like H Street is just the heart and the bread of D.C. If you’re here, 

people know who you are,” said Edet. “[Entrepreneurs] need visibility, and this is what H Street does. It puts your product in front of 1,000 customers from different demographics, and that in there enables you to amplify it on that type of platform. So being connected to H Street, it’s like you’re valid.”

Edet has stamped H Street as a place for businesses to prove their worth.

“As a small business, if you can make it in H Street, you can make it anywhere.”

Jada Ingleton is a Comcast Digital Equity Local Voices Lab contributing fellow through the Washington Informer. Born and raised in South Florida, she recently graduated from Howard University, where she...

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