Washington doesn’t have cows or a rodeo circuit, but it has mumbo sauce, and on Sunday that was reason enough to shut down a chunk of K Street NW. The 17th annual DC State Fair took over Anthem Row from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., filling the pedestrian corridor near Mount Vernon Square with pie-eating contests, flower arranging and a fierce best-outfit competition.
The fair set up at 800 K Street NW in partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District, according to PoPville. To make room for the crowds, the Metropolitan Police Department closed K Street NW between 7th and 9th streets to vehicles, with an Emergency No Parking restriction running from just after midnight Sunday through 2 a.m. Monday, per the Metropolitan Police Department. NBC4 Washington captured the scene as the fair opened, reporting that the DC State Fair kicked off at Anthem Row Sunday morning.
A Grassroots Fair Born Without a County to Call Its Own
Unlike states with sprawling county fair traditions, the District has never had livestock barns or midway carnival rides to build an autumn tradition around. The DC State Fair filled that gap starting on August 28, 2010, when it launched as part of the Columbia Heights Day festival, founded by three local food and garden bloggers, according to the event’s own account on the DC State Fair website. It has operated ever since as an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit, run without paid staff or a permanent home.
That lack of a permanent home has become part of its identity. Over 17 years the fair has rotated through Adams Morgan, Barracks Row, Shaw, NoMa, Southwest Waterfront, Congress Heights, Franklin Park and Edgewood, the organization notes, before landing on Anthem Row for 2026. Each stop has let a different slice of the city host the celebration, from Ward 1 to Ward 8.
Contests Built for a City, Not a Farm
What sets the DC State Fair apart from its rural namesakes is the menu of categories up for judging. Instead of prize hogs or corn, the fair crowns winners in best mumbo sauce, best D.C.-themed poem, best houseplant and best local outfit, the Washington Post reported. Mumbo sauce, the sweet-and-tangy red condiment found on carryout counters across the city, has become something of a local culinary mascot for the event…