Porchfest 2021, Abel Bennett Tract (a historic tract on the West Side of Binghamton, New York).
What is a porchfest? It's a neighborhood celebration of music and the arts. People open up their porches to musicians, who play half hour sets. (Some acts draw big crowds, well, big for a city of 47,000 people, and these were held on closed off streets this year). You wander until you find a band you like, or check the schedule and visit the bands of your choice. Neighbors talk to neighbors. People run into people they haven't seen in a while. It's all good.
The concept of Porchfest began in Ithaca, New York in 2007, and has now spread internationally. Our 2020 Porchfest was cancelled due to you-know-what but in 2021 it returned to Binghamton on Sunday. Sadly, Ithaca has cancelled its 2021 Porchfest. Ours came to pass mainly because of grants and a Kickstarter.
Here are some of my past Porchfest posts:
The wonderful things?
It's outdoors.
It's free (although fundraisers are run to finance this - after all, the organizers needed security, porta-potties and more).
It's family friendly. It's first rule is "Be Good to Each Other".
It has rules, although I will whisper that a couple of them were...um, not being strictly enforced.
This year, there were some 160 performances on 58 residential front porches. Some of the names you just have to love: Uke Nukem, 5 Man Trio, Moose and Squirrel, Such is Life, Tallahassee Birdbath.
Here is a one minute clip (I ended the video right before someone walked in front of me) of them performing a cover of David Bowie's Heroes.
Interested in David Bowie's original? Here it is (the song begins about 1:44).
A nice way to spend part of an afternoon.
We were fortunate - Ithaca, New York, which originated the concept in 2007 (it's now international), won't have a porchfest this year.
Today is the last day of August. Where did the time go?
...older neighborhoods have such charm.
ReplyDeleteI remember your past posts about this. It means even more that it's social and outdoors given that covid has taken away our ability to socialize in large groups indoors.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always liked your porch fest posts. Sounds like a great afternoon.
ReplyDeleteLooks fun. It's an interesting concept, nothing like that here.
ReplyDeleteI love porches. They just make a house into a home. And now I have another reason to love them! What a spectacular idea!
ReplyDeleteI do remember you talking about this in years past. Glad you were able to have it this year.
ReplyDelete"Tallahassee Birdbath" is poetry! Porchfest sounds delightful.
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard of this but it sounds like lots of fun! Closest thing I have heard of is when we lived in Prescott around Christmas the local shops downtown would invite different musicians to come in and perform and people could come by watch the performances, shop, spend time with friends, etc. We went one year and enjoyed it :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I would have loved to have enjoyed this. How fun. I don't even need any alcohol either.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. ♥
Looks like loads of fun
ReplyDeleteThat does look like a lot of fun.
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