Twenty businesses and artists provided their talents, food and beverages for all members of the community at Georgetown’s third annual Art All Night festival Sept. 29. 

The city-wide festival, sponsored by the administration of Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and funded by the Department of Small and Local Business Development and the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, included events in all eight wards of the District, aiming to celebrate the many diverse offerings of art and culture in the neighborhood. In Georgetown, various businesses opened after hours, selling art pieces, displaying galleries and offering free activities.

The celebration kicked off with a march from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts’ Radical Elite Show Band to welcome visitors to this commemoration of the artistic talents in the community and continued with a variety of workshops, showcases and general social activities.

Among attendees were Georgetown community members and students, such as Saeed Samra (CAS ’27), who explored the festival with friends. 

Samra and his friends started out at the Georgetown University Art Galleries in the Edmund A. Walsh Building, before making their way to Shop Made in DC, a local craft store with an initiative to promote D.C. artists, on Wisconsin Avenue for a crafts and watercolor activity. 

Samra said his favorite activity of the night was the crafts station because it allowed him to take something he made back home as a symbol of the unique experience. 

“The most fun part was at the top floor of the place. There was this table with a bunch of people, and we all had the same black and white stencil of a wave that we could use watercolor to paint on and take home,” Samra said. 

The Georgetown Garden Shop, which sells luxury outdoor furniture, decor and tools, among other garden-related products, was one of the various businesses to contribute to the festival. During Art All Night, Georgetown Garden Shop offered two flower-arranging sessions, glasses of wine and live music for visitors. 

The store’s owner, Caroline Ervin, said Art All Night gave her store unprecedented exposure. Up to 100 people, many of whom were new customers, came into the store that night. 

“Our shop is very small, so having that many people come through in a short two to three — it was probably three hours — period was really amazing,” Ervin told The Hoya. 

Cesar Varela, a partner at Donahue, a fine-dining lounge on Wisconsin Avenue that serves specialty drinks and an a la carte menu, also participated in the event. The space provided live music — sremething they usually do only on Wednesday nights for their diners — and welcomed customers to the lounge. 

Varela said the festival attracted many patrons to the lounge who previously did not know about Donahue. 

“We did get a lot of new faces that day, and I think it was a great impression. A lot of guests that came in didn’t know that we were around, especially because a black door and only a doorman outside,” Varela told the Hoya.

The Georgetown Neighborhood Library was the central hub for the event — offering food and workshops, displaying art and hosting dance performances. After the event ended, Clubhouse, an upscale bar near the waterfront, hosted an after-party with drink specials and late-night pizza.

Ervin said the event was an important avenue for community celebration and appreciating small local businesses.

“Whether it’s traditional art, paintings and artwork to all the handmade goods that are in 

different shops, or looking at all the floral art, or celebrating arts and music and the art of making food — it is just important for the whole community to celebrate the wonderful things that we all do,” Ervin said. 

Samra shared a similar sentiment when talking about this festival and what it meant to see everyone come together and celebrate art in the community. 

“The biggest impact for me was seeing how diverse the crowd was. It was so nice seeing kids and parents and teens and college students all having fun and playing with watercolor,” Samra said. “It shows the connective power of art.”