PorchFestKC returns this Saturday after a 3 year hiatus
From noon-6 p.m. this Saturday, October 14, PorchFestKC returns in the Roanoke and Valentine neighborhoods of Midtown Kansas City. As their promo puts it, “This free community music festival features 100+ musicians, from all genres, performing concerts from front porches of homes across historic, walkable Midtown Kansas City neighborhoods.”
Timbers at PorchFestKC 2017. // photo by Christopher Richard Kent
It’s been on a bit of a hiatus since Covid started, with the last event having taken place in 2019, which itself was after another hiatus in 2018. This year then marks the sixth PorchFestKC, despite it having originally kicked off in 2014. That said, the free festival gives Kansas Citians a chance to check out a wide variety of music from across the metro as well as touring acts making a special stop such as James Hatem (Nashville), Patti Steele (Northwest Arkansas) and Luke Fox (Des Moines), to say nothing of Ashley Virginia (Greensboro, NC) who had her car break down over the summer in Wisconsin and had to leave it behind. It’s now ready and she’s making a mini tour out of getting it back, starting in Kansas City.
“PorchFestKC’s structure uniquely showcases so many of the wonderful things about Kansas City–live music, generous people, beautiful neighborhoods and the open spirit that brings everyone out to enjoy an afternoon of heavily-choreographed serendipity,” wrote Kathryn Golden, PorchFestKC founder and organizer, in a statement for the Pitch. “I’m deeply proud of this event and am so grateful for how the city has embraced it. It’s really quite amazing.”
A local who’s-who of artists such as Meyadi, Heath Church, Valencia Cole, Miki P and The Swallowtails, Maddie Lai, Jack Summers, Joshua James, Friendly Thieves, and Danielle Ate the Sandwich will all play front porches throughout the afternoon, as well as Americana act Timbers, whose drummer Nate Lewis we spoke with to get some perspective. Not only did Timbers play PorchFestKC its first four years, in 2019, Lewis presented his porch as a venue. The entry came about thanks to his bandmate, Timbers’ guitarist and pedal steel player, Devon Teran.
“He said a coworker sent him a link or basically gave him a heads up,” Lewis recalls. “He reached out then to Kathryn at the time and he said, ‘I’d love to be a part of this event.’”
What’s cool about Teran’s story and his connection with PorchFest is what Lewis thinks the heart of what PorchFest is: “Devon remembers. He grew up with musicians just playing out on their porches. As a kid, that was just a normal thing in the neighborhood he grew up in, in Wichita. He was pretty excited. He was like, ‘Yes, this is how music should be experienced.’”
Music as something for everyone to experience is at the heart of PorchFestKC. There’s no one checking IDs at the door, bands aren’t competing with the noise of people at the bar for attention, and you’re not just hanging out with the usual show-going crowd. As Lewis puts it, it’s “a very homespun kind of informal way” to listen to live music.
“I just loved the experience of meeting other music fans and Kansas Citians and meeting new people,” Lewis enthuses. “I love the community aspect of it. Just the friendly nature of the whole thing.”
As he puts it, even when you’ve been playing music for some time, there’s just something about the way that music’s made when it’s played live. It’ll only sound that way that time, in that space you’re in with the people that are around you, with the chemistry of the musicians which are present.
“I think it is really special,” concludes Lewis. “Live music is a really special thing to experience. I think there’s just something even more intimate about that shared experience with PorchFest.”
CATEGORIES: MUSIC
Tags: Ashley Virginia, incoming show, interview, Kathryn Golden, Nate Lewis, porchfestkc, timbers