by Celebrate Petworth Planning Committee
guest contributor

This past year marked the 10th anniversary of Celebrate Petworth, a local festival beloved by many. For many businesses on Upshur, it’s also their biggest sales day of the year.

Pulling off Celebrate Petworth is no small feat. It takes thousands of dollars (more than $50,000) to organize a street festival like Celebrate Petworth. Costs include city permits, meeting DC’s requirements for festivals (e.g., paying for MPD officers to be on-site, EMTs, DPW trucks to block the streets, etc.), equipment, performers and so much more.

It also takes a dedicated team of volunteers—especially the volunteer committee. Historically, the volunteer committee has led the organization of the festival. Over the past couple of years, the planning committee has seen a lot of turnover.

We’re facing a difficult decision: without a dedicated committee who can commit to organizing the festival this year, we may need to move it to be a much smaller affair that takes place at the Petworth playground. In this scenario, there would likely be no main stage and possibly no vendors. It would be focused on kid zone activities and possibly the dog show. In either case, Petworth Main Street would remain as the nonprofit fiscal sponsor and expedite the rigorous DC permitting process.

We’re seeking community feedback in general, as well as asking for a few community members to commit to the planning committee. The kick-off for the planning committee would take place in early March.

Please take the survey! Whether you’re interested in joining the committee or not, your opinion matters.

But hurry, the survey deadline is February 24!

Take the survey!

There’s more information on the committee positions and their duties as well as the time commitment within the survey.