Porchfests are annual music events held across the United States and in Canada on front porches. Started in Ithaca, New York, in 2007, porchfest events bring local musicians and neighborhoods together to celebrate and create a sense of community.
Porchfest music festivals began as a means for neighbors and local community members to highlight their music on front porches.Porchfest Starts A Conversation In A Salt Lake City Neighborhood . Retrieved 2014-02-17. The concept was to find musicians and porches on which they would play. The original event in Ithaca, New York, started with about 20 musicians but has since grown to over 100.Porchfest website. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
Bands, singers, and instrumentalists participate in the festival for no other reason than to showcase their talents and engage the community. Music is diverse and can range from country to pop, classical, reggae, blues, rock, jazz, Latino, R&B, folk and many others. Some Porchfests have expanded to include other kinds of live performance: poets, spoken word artists, story tellers, dancers, and clowns, showcasing the wide range of artists in a town. Most performances are done acoustically. As well as installations of visual arts. Musicians and artists voluntarily take to the "stage" on porches at their designated times and perform for the public. Signs with artists' names and performance times are usually posted in front of porches and online.
Volunteers and other organizations normally facilitate the event by selecting appropriate dates, acquiring musicians, and publicizing the event. Local residents volunteer their porches as a way to support the local music scene and interact with their neighbors. Events can last from a few hours to most of the day. Schedules and maps are usually posted online or in local media.Napa’s Porches To Rock Sunday . Retrieved February 17, 2014.
Because these are normally neighborhood events people walk, ride bikes or scooters, drive golf carts, or push strollers as they move from one porch to another along a determined route to partake in the festivities. Children often build lemonade stands to help quench thirst on hot days while vendors oftentimes provide ice cream, hot dogs, and other snacks. A few porchfests have expanded to include arts festivals as well.
List of porchfests These annual events can now be found being celebrated across the United States and Canada. This is a partial list of municipalities where Porchfests have taken place.
United States Arizona Tucson
Colorado
Boulder
California Auburn Los Angeles Fresno Modesto Napa Sacramento San Francisco San Rafael Sunny Brae
Connecticut Bridgeport Milford Old Wethersfield
Delaware Wilmington
Florida Palatka Sanford Springfield, Jacksonville St. Augustine St. Petersburg
Georgia Athens Atlanta Brunswick Decatur
Iowa Iowa City Indianola North Liberty
Kansas Atchinson
Kentucky Kenwick
Maine Portland
Maryland Aberdeen Hagerstown Hyattsville South Four Corners (Silver Spring) Takoma Park University Park Woodmoor
Massachusetts Arlington Belmont Cambridge Jamaica Plain Malden Magnolia Maynard Medford Melrose Natick Newton Northborough Quincy Roslindale Somerville Swampscott WakefieldWakefield Porchfest – Official Website. Retrieved September 7, 2024. Watertown Wellfleet West Concord
Michigan FlintDowntown Flint Mount Pleasant
Missouri Joplin Kansas City St. Louis
Nebraska Omaha Lincoln
New Jersey Asbury Park Caldwell Collingswood Highland Park Lambertville Metuchen Maplewood Montclair Moorestown Newark Princeton Red Bank Trenton Ventnor City
New York Binghamton Brooktondale Buffalo Cortland Irvington Ithaca (original) Mamaroneck Niagara Falls OwegoOwego Porchfest website. Retrieved September 19, 2025. Poughkeepsie Rhinebeck Rochester Sackets Harbor Stamford Walton
Ohio Akron Cleveland
Oklahoma Norman
Oregon Grants Pass Milwaukie
Pennsylvania Doylestown Easton (College Hill) Erie Langhorne Media Philadelphia West Philadelphia Roxborough-Manayunk Mount Airy Scranton Wayne (South Wayne) West Chester
Rhode Island Providence"Providence Porchfest" Providence Porchfest. Retrieved 01 May 2025.
South Carolina Folly Island
Tennessee Franklin/Westhaven Highland Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Texas San AntonioAlta Vista and Beacon Hill Neighborhoods Put On PorchFest . Retrieved April 24, 2018
Utah Salt Lake City
Washington Tacoma Edmondshttps://porchfestedmonds.com
Washington, D.C. Adams Morgan Capitol Hill Petworth
Canada Alberta Medicine Hat
Ontario Belleville Hintonburg, Ottawa Peterborough Vankleek Hill Westport Whitevale
Quebec Hudson Montreal
References
External links