Historic Athens, the local nonprofit organization working to improve historic preservation and heritage conservation, is celebrating five years of its most popular annual fundraiser, Porchfest, on Sunday, Oct. 15 from 1–8 p.m. Not skipping a beat—including going virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the multi-neighborhood-wide festival featuring local bands performing on porches has exponentially grown over the years.
The inaugural event took place in October 2019 with approximately 70 bands playing in four neighborhoods: Boulevard, Newtown, Buena Vista and Pulaski Heights. Executive Director of Historic Athens Tommy Valentine has always intended to see Porchfest continuously expand, both in number of performers and across more neighborhoods geographically. The organization has been very successful in this goal. The in-person event returned in 2020 with 108 performers across six neighborhoods, adding Cobbham and Normaltown. Last year filled out the same six neighborhoods with 156 acts. This year’s Porchfest features a whopping seven neighborhoods, including Reese-Hancock, exploding with over 200 performances.
Valentine has always been transparent that this is not an event where it’s possible to catch everything, and that proves to be even more true now with an average of 33 acts performing each hour. It’s advised to find a starting place, then wander around that area in the direction of the next bands playing. This facilitates one of the event’s goals, which is to connect audiences with bands unknown to them, and showcase the diverse genres and styles of music present in Athens. It’s highly recommended to take advantage of walking, biking and skating as the neighborhoods have limited street parking available, and some streets are incredibly narrow.
The festivities for the day begin with an unopposed kick-off event at 12 p.m. presented by Nuçi’s Space’s Camp Amped located at 738 Cobb St. The day’s full lineup features a vast mix of groups with established followings, lesser known acts, niche genres and variations of bands. Towards the end of the day, Flagpole’s headquarters on Prince Avenue will host a showcase of artists presented by Volumes Hip Hop at 6 p.m., including djbobfish, Trvy & The Enemy, BYV_Trubb, Jahkiem and 96Vizion. As per tradition, the final closing performance will take place at Stan Mullins’ home and studio on Pulaski Street at 7 p.m. with a special performance by Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz and Winterville Mayor Dodd Ferrelle.
There are a few non-traditional performers this year, showcasing musically-adjacent talents. The Studio Athens’ tap performance companies will dance outdoors at the studio’s location, 160 Tracy St., at 2 p.m. The local comedian troupe Bad ATH Babes will perform comedy with the incorporation of ukulele at 275 Georgia Ave. at 4 p.m. The Collective Artists Workshop will share its musical theater and opera at 424 Reese St. at 5 p.m.
Also taking place this Sunday in the general neighborhood is the annual Boo-le-Bark on the Boulevard costumed dog parade. Off-street parking is available at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church at Prince and Barber streets for the event. The costume contest will be held at 3:45 p.m. at.the Boulevard Woods Park (298 Barber St.). Human onlookers are welcome to join in costume and celebrate the Halloween spirit. At 4:15 p.m., the parade of pets and pet-lovers will head west along its route on Boulevard and on to Lyndon Avenue, Dubose Avenue, Grady Avenue, then back to Boulevard.
Ahead of Sunday’s events, Historic Athens invites the community to usher in the biggest Porchfest yet with a kick-off event at Athentic Brewing Co. on Friday, Oct. 13 from 5–10 p.m. Pre-ordered Porchfest merch will be available for pickup beginning at 6 p.m., and the Homy’s Kitchen food truck will be set up on the patio throughout the evening. Also at 6 p.m. will be a book release and signing of Tomorrow & Tomorrow co-written by Lillah Lawson and Lauren Emily Whalen. It is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth centered around the Athens music scene and featuring Porchfest. The night will conclude with Athens-based history trivia from 7:30–9:30 p.m.
For a full schedule of performers, locations and set times organized by neighborhood, see below. To view an interactive map and spreadsheet with individual artist donation links, visit historicathens.com/porchfest.
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