One of my favorite things about living in Washington, DC is that there is always something going on; something new to try. My good friend Bruce (whom I met while living in Denmark) decided to hang out in the District for a long Halloween weekend.

By the time Sunday rolled around, we had gotten our fill of costume parties and were content to watch football all day and grab a drink at one of my favorite watering holes on U Street, Marvin.

As we chatted over a few beverages, we noticed a strange group of people enter and subsequently take over the patio. The group was strange not so much for the fact that they were all dressed like zombies, but because they were all wearing white headphone and dancing in complete silence.

What the?

Turns out we were smack dab in the middle of a Silent Disco pub crawl. Riiight. I still didn’t get it. But being a curious gal, I found one of the event organizers, Matt Khan to figure out what the heck a Silent Disco was.

Khan, along with college buddy Mark Owens, founded InkahootZ Presents in 2007 in Charleston, South Carolina before moving the operation to DC. In addition to hosting Silent Discos, InkahootZ also manages local artists and produces charitable events.

As latecomers to the party, Bruce and I obviously weren’t dressed in zombie garb, but InkahootZ offered up some free face paint to get us up to speed.

The headphones used are imported from Australia, where Silent Discos have been popular for years. The trend is just starting to gain traction in the US and Khan and Owens hope to expand their operation as interest grows.

For having no idea that such events even existed, I’m now taken with the concept. By nature, Silent Events are localized, often featuring battling DJs and eliminating issues associated with noise curfews.

Additionally, each participant controls their own channel and volume settings – a brilliant feature in my book, as most clubs typically blast music just a little too loud (or maybe I’m just getting old).

Sure, its a bit strange at first, but by the end of the night I found myself disappointed when Khan came around to collect my headset.

The Silent Disco was one of the most unique and fun events I’ve been to in a long time.

And luckily, InkahootZ has setup a solid operation that will have them silently partying all over the District for some time to come.

Check out more information about the Silent Disco movement and InkahootZ Presents.