SHAW CUTS 15 RIBBONS FOR NEW BUSINESSES, JULY 30, 2018

 DC’s Shaw neighborhood will celebrate its ongoing retail boom with 15 ribbon cutting ceremonies for new businesses in one morning on Monday, July 30, 2018.

 Shaw Main Streets, the 2016 Great American Main Street Award winning commercial revitalization and historic preservation nonprofit that has been guiding the neighborhood’s revitalization since 2003, is sponsoring the ribbon cutting event to highlight the successful efforts that have attracted over 350 new businesses. The event is a biannual affair, with the second event each year being held as part of the Shaw neighborhood’s annual observance of Small Business Saturday, held each November on the day after Black Friday.

 The first eight of the 15 ribbons will be cut in Ward 1, represented on the Council of the District of Columbia by Councilmember Brianne K Nadeau. Department of Small and Local Business Development Director Kristi C. Whitfield will stand in for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and help wield the three-foot-long golden scissors that will cut the red ceremonial ribbons. The 15 businesses all opened in Shaw since the previous event, held on November 25, 2017.

 The ribbon cuttings will be preceded by a brief press conference at 10:00 AM at Gaslight Tavern, the latest Hilton Brothers establishment in Shaw (joining The Brixton, El Rey, American Ice Company and Satellite Room, all nearby), a classic American tavern helmed by chef Brendan L’Etoile and mixologist Sam Vasfi. The restaurant opened on January 29, 2018.

 The ribbon cutting delegation will be transported between venues by the Ribbon Cutting Express, a luxury limo van provided by U Street Parking, which moved to Shaw in June. The 15 ribbon cuttings will be conducted in the following order:

 10:15 AM           Gaslight Tavern, 2012-14 9^thStreet, NW

10:20 AM           PO Boy Jim Bar & Grill, 1934 9^th Street, NW

10:25 AM           Secret Lounge, 1928 9^th Street, NW

10:30 AM           Cortez DC Restaurant & Rooftop Bar, 1905 9th Street, NW, Second Floor

10:40 AM           Cosmo Beauty Bar, 1911 9th Street, NW

10: 45 AM          Local First Market, 1924 8^th Street, NW #100 (Entrance on 9^th Street)

11:50 AM           Violet Boutique, 1924 8^th Street, NW #115 (Entrance on Florida Avenue)

11:00 AM           The Shop at Shaw, 1924 8^th Street, NW #145

11: 10 AM          Tobacco & Vape King, 1537 7th Street, NW

11:15 AM           Glass House Gallery DC, 1527 9th Street, NW

11:20 AM           Petropolis, 1408 9^th Street, NW

11:30 AM           San Lorenzo Restaurant & Bar, 1316 9th Street, NW

11:40 AM           U Street Parking, 1208 9^th Street, NW

11:45 AM           Morris American Bar, 1020 Seventh Street, NW

11:50 AM           The Capital Burger, 1005 7^th Street, NW

 “In 2014, we stopped doing stand-alone ribbon cuttings for each business because the number and pace of openings made that impossible to keep up with,” notes Shaw Main Streets Executive Director Alexander M. Padro. “Since then, we’ve cut as many as 25 ribbons in one morning. The pace of new business openings and expansions in our commercial district has been unprecedented.”

 The next Shaw multiple ribbon cutting will be held on Saturday, November 24, 2018. For more information on Shaw businesses and Shaw Main Streets events, visit www.shawmainstreets.org.