‘Porch Music Fest’ is Sunday in Bristol's historic district

Organizers hope to scale up pilot event after this inaugural year

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 9/22/18

All four coordinators of Porch Music, scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. along the south end of High Street, credit local music educator Bob Arsenault for coming up with the idea …

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‘Porch Music Fest’ is Sunday in Bristol's historic district

Organizers hope to scale up pilot event after this inaugural year

Posted

All four coordinators of Porch Music, scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. along the south end of High Street, credit local music educator Bob Arsenault for coming up with the idea locally. Though when they looked into it, they found, happily, that there were plenty of successful examples of similar happenings that they could look to for guidance and inspiration.

“The original Porch Music Festival was in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2007,” said Nancy Kellner. “Now it’s this huge thing, and there are Porch Fests all over the United States. There’s over 100 of them."

“I think it was an original idea for Bob — he just didn’t know about the others,” said MaryKae Wright.

Mr. Arsenault reached out to Arts in Common, of which Porch Fest coordinator Doug Popovich is the current president, and Bradley Wester a founding member. They thought it was a great idea.  

“Arts in Common is about bringing more arts and cultural programs to Bristol,” said Mr. Wester. “The thought of porches and music was a great thing.”

“And we have great porches!” said Mr. Popovich.

“So then Nancy and I got involved,” said Ms. Wright.

“We got into MaryKae’s convertible, took pictures and wrote down addresses,” said Ms. Kellner. “There just so happened to be someone sitting on the porch of 42 High St., and we thought we’d explain what we were doing. Right away, we had our first porch.”

“Out of these 10 or 12 porches that we identified, we started to approach people and everyone was really enthusiastic,” said Ms. Wright. “It was actually really easy to pull it together.”

“With all the projects we’ve done with Arts in Common, this is one of the easiest things we’ve done,” said Mr. Wester. “So much so that one or two neighbors are planning to join in, unofficially. People are really into it. We are hoping that it grows, and becomes a destination event.”

“To me the thought of live music, a September afternoon, walking around … it’s the best thing about the Fourth, except instead of looking at the road we are looking at the porches,” said Mr. Popovich.

“And it’s a way of looking at and highlighting our gorgeous historic district,” said Ms. Wright.

Porch owners are hosting the bands, music will be minimally amplified or acoustic, and it’s two hours in the afternoon on a Sunday. There will be no money changing hands and nothing sold, so no permits are required.

“This is such a small-scale pilot, and when Bob made the inquiry at town hall, he was told everything was fine,” said Mr. Wester. “Obviously if this became a larger event, we’d probably have to revisit that.”

The coordinators also sent letters out to all in the neighborhood to let them know about the event. They’ve received nothing but positive feedback.

“It’s like a neighborhood yard sale, and you don’t have to pull permits for a neighborhood yard sale,” said Ms. Kellner. “It’s a neighborhood music not-sale.”

“I think it’s just such a nice thought for neighbors to be greeting each other, listening to music. It’s a live cultural moment when we’re just a community for an afternoon,” said Mr. Popovich.

Every band has a connection to Bristol, and an anonymous donor is providing a small stipend for the bands. Otherwise, the homeowners are offering their porches and the coordinators are voluntarily covering the very limited costs involved.

Bands include Sinner’s Pie, Dukes of Dixie, Tyler & Ryan, and Los Duderinos. “We have a diversity of music to appeal to all ages,” said Ms. Wright. 

“What’s remarkable is that this event came together in just a matter of weeks,” said Mr. Popovich. “I’m a big fan of ‘let’s just do it and not overthink it,’ and all the right pieces came together.” 

Porch Music will be held this Sunday, Sept. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m., at 118, 85 and 42 High St., and 30 Walley St. — four houses between Burton and Walley streets. It’s free, family-friendly, and sure to be fun.

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