Thursday, August 21, 2025
Sonya Bernhardt, publisher and owner of The Georgetowner, spoke at Georgetown Main Street’s monthly Coffee & Community at Kitchen & Bar 1310 on Aug. 14.
Enjoying a light breakfast provided by chef Jenn Crovato, business leaders were greeted by Rachel Shank, executive director of Georgetown Main Street.
It was time to cast their votes in the 2025 Georgetown Business Improvement District Board of Directors election, Shank told the crowd, many of whom or members. Tenants or owners should have received information via e-mail or postal mail. All ballots are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 13. If you did not receive your ballot, Georgetown BID members can request one by emailing John Wiebenson at jwiebenson@georgetowndc.com.
With that announcement out of the way, Shank introduced the Georgetowner publisher and noted that it was Bernhardt, as president of the Georgetown Business Association, who was essential to the founding of Georgetown Main Street in 2017.
Bernhardt thanked Shank and told those at the restaurant gathering of how she came to The Georgetowner — and more.
“I contacted the publisher of The Georgetowner at that time. I was moving back to Washington from Miami. I had introduced him about five years earlier to one of my best friends, and she left to go get her master’s degree. And as a result of that, I knew that he would be hard up. So, I called David Roffman, and I said, ‘Hey, David, I know that Karen is gone. Do you need some help?’ And in his smoky editorial voice, he said, ‘Get in here right away.’ And that was almost 30 years ago, 29 to be precise.And here I am. I’ve never left. I just fell in love with The Georgetowner and what the news business means, and having access to information that’s just all about the city and everything that’s going on here. And so, as a result of that, we’ve had to reinvent ourselves so many times, because over 30 years, as we well know, the newspaper world [has changed].
“But I also wanted to introduce some of the people that I work with, because this man right here, Robert Devaney, is the reason why I even ended up in this I used to have a small business in Georgetown. I owned an art gallery, and this guy sold me an ad, and I sold a bunch of paintings. So, I highly recommend advertising in The Georgetowner …”
“We still mail the paper to every single household in Georgetown. And how many, how many communities actually have a newspaper that can tell them what’s going on in their town? The specific news? I mean, most news is opinion based today, you have everything from news. It’s not. They call it news, but it’s not news. I mean, you have to have journalists that fact check and look for things. And yes, it is fact checking, regardless of what some people may say. …”
“I have three decades to cover, and I’m going to do that in 15 minutes or less. So, let’s see. We started when I caught up to The Georgetowner.
The city, in and of itself, was the murder capital, and Georgetown was so down and out. You’d walk up and down Wisconsin Avenue, and it was a ghost town. It was so sad. And look at it today. So you know, it’s so interesting over the hundreds of years that Georgetown’s been here, how it has its highs and its lows. Right now, we are at the renaissance. I met at least three people today that are opening up new shops in Georgetown, which is amazing, and we would have loved that in 1996.”
“Can you imagine the deadlines of 30 years? I used to publish two newspapers, The Georgetowner and The Downtowner. Now The Downtowner is a section of The Georgetowner. We did it every other week. I don’t know how we did it in print, but thankfully, the internet has allowed us to communicate with everyone digitally and for free, and that comes at a price, because how do we survive? How do we stay relevant and in business and engaged with you guys? And it’s so important. I’ve told so many people, please send us information. Get in touch with us when a new business opens, when something important is happening in this town, so that we can share it with this community.”
Bernhardt thanked staffers — copy editor Richard Selden and senior correspondent Peggy Sands — who were in attendance. There are others of course, involved every day like Kate Oczypok.
The publisher also mentioned that 25,000 newspapers are printed — 7,700 mailed to Georgetown. Also, top of mind for her is the newspaper’s art coverage which complements the increased arts advertising. Bernhardt is also proud of the Cultural Leadership Breakfasts put on by The Georgetowner for 11 years. Coordinated by Selden, the breakfasts have featured Deborah Ruttter, Kim Sajet and Edwaard Laing.
Bernhardt answered some questions, thanked everyone — especially loyal readers and loyal advertisers, And with that, she was off to work on the next issue of The Georgetowner, Sept.10.