Porchfest: Free Springfield Music Festival On Saturday
Jacksonville will soon be home to one of the most popular events sweeping the country. Porchfest, a music festival held on front porches, will take place November 8, 2014, in Jacksonville’s oldest neighborhood, historic Springfield.
Click Here to access the Porchfest app
“Porchfest isn’t simply a music festival,” said organizer Elizabeth Augustus. “It’s a celebration of front-porch living and all that the lifestyle embodies.”
Porch-perfect harmony
The family-friendly free event will feature musicians from a wide variety of genres. Organizers are aiming for 20 performers to play on 20 porches throughout the historic district. Attendees will stroll from porch to porch and “camp out” on front lawns as they enjoy live, local talent.
“In their heyday, front porches were where the community gathered—they were the epicenter of neighborhood life,” said Christina Parrish, an event organizer and Springfield resident and business owner. “People would sit on the front porch instead of the backyard because they could see friends coming and going and say hello to their neighbors. The bonds of community were formed through that interaction.”
Organizers are seeking corporate sponsors and are busy lining up bands. In addition to heightened brand awareness, sponsors will associate their companies with the front porch lifestyle—friendly neighbors who know one another, whose kids play and grow up together, and who support each other in both good and bad times.
Front-porch nostalgia fuels a movement
Porchfests started in Ithaca, N.Y., and have spread from Florida to California. They are typically held in historic urban neighborhoods where front porches are common. The movement is part of the resurgence of traditionally styled neighborhoods, which are pedestrian friendly, feature a mix of commercial and residential buildings, and have closely situated houses with prominent front porches and back alleys for parking. A number of new neighborhoods—such as Seaside, Fla., Haile Plantation in Gainesville, Fla., I’On in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and Disney’s Celebration, outside Orlando—were modeled after historic neighborhoods like Springfield.
“Americans are tired of suburban sprawl and the lifestyle it’s created,” Augustus said. “They want to return to a time where they knew their neighbors and were surrounded by a true community.”
In addition to numerous beautiful front porches, Springfield has the strong community bonds and interaction that many Americans long for today. “Springfield provides a quintessential American small-town life, ironically situated next to downtown Jacksonville,” Parrish said.
Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR), a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated since 1974 to improving the quality of life in the Springfield historic district, will act as the sponsoring non-profit for the festival. Proceeds will benefit arts programming in the neighborhood.
Porchfest Vendors
Click Here to access the Porchfest app
food trucks collage
Funkadelic Food Truck
Baby’s Bad Ass Burgers
Vagabond Coffee
Japapeño Truck
Smoke It Up BBQ
Super Food Truck
Sweet Pete’s Candy
My Grandmother’s Pie
Southern Roots Apothecary
Celeb’s On the Move
Bold City Pops
Tasty Dog
Olive My Pickle
The Conch Shell
K Handcrafted
Bands Performing from 1PM to 3PM:
Click Here to access the Porchfest app
1142 Hubbard Street Mondo Mike & The Po Boys
1230 Hubbard Street The Well Beings and Shawn Lightfoot
55 East Third Street Mama Blue – Blues / Jazz / R&B
1344 Hubbard Street El Conjunto Tropical
1412 Hubbard Street Jacksonville Old Time Jam
104 East Fifth Street Prelude Chamber Quartet and Sarah Byres
132 East Fourth Street Redneck Hummus
1453 Market Street Doug Vanderlaan & Heather Perry
1430 Market Street Douglas Anderson Guitar Ensemble
230 East Fourth Street Jesse Montoya
Bands Performing from 3PM to 5PM:
1206 Hubbard Street Canary in the Coalmine
55 East Third Street Bay Street
1344 Hubbard Street Dirt Floor Krackers
1412 Hubbard Street Jacksonville Old Time Jam
44 East Fifth Street Katie Helow with Zach Lever
104 East Fifth Street Smith Creative Musical Theatre Stage
132 East Fourth Street Crazy Daysies
1450 Market Street Lauren Fincham with Mike Pearson
1424 Market Street Goliath Flores
214 East Fourth Street Tropic of Cancer – World Lounge
230 East Fourth Street Joe Shuck
Click Here to access the Porchfest app.
For more information, visit: https://jacksonvilleporchfest.org/
Source: Jacksonville PorchFest