NoMa, together with the neighboring Union Market District, is one of four areas the city has pitched to Amazon as the future home of its hotly pursued HQ2. Which is why we did a double-take this morning when we spotted a friendly woman in a NoMa BID t-shirt handing out free bananas to commuters as they entered the metro station. Banana stands—staffed by “banistas” —are a familiar site around Amazon’s Seattle campus, where the tech giant gives the gratis fruit to passersby every day, whether they work for the company or not. The idea came from CEO Jeff Bezos himself, as a way to build good will with the surrounding community.
So, this morning, upon spotting what we presume was DC’s first ever banista, we momentarily wondered if NoMa had already won the HQ2 sweepstakes, ushering in a golden-hued era of boundless tropical produce. No such luck—at least not yet—says NoMa BID president Robin-Eve Jasper: “We were just acting silly one day, sitting around, deciding what we could do for the neighborhood for Valentine’s Day—and we’re all about Amazon—so we said, ‘Hey, how about this?’” Though the bananas were a one-day thing, she says the BID plans to do similar give-aways in the future, and notes they gave away watermelons last Fourth of July.
Like all the players making a run for HQ2, Jasper couldn’t share much about her involvement in winning over the company, other than to say, “We just want to do what we always do— make sure people see why it’s fun to be here.”
Free bananas are a start.
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 and was a senior editor until 2022.
