The rise of Porchfest in Somerville and beyond

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Saturday is Somerville Porchfest, the first of nearly 40 Porchfests coming to cities and towns across Massachusetts. The roaming, community-oriented music festival — which traces its roots back to Ithaca, New York — has spawned iterations from Wellfleet to Shelburne Falls since its introduction to the state 15 years ago. Even Cambridge, long a Porchfest holdout, hopped on the bandwagon last year.

But few can compete with Somerville, whose version of the event remains the largest and most popular in the area.

“It was the first place to bring it to life, and then I think people just started to fall in love with it,” said Iaritza Menjivar, senior events manager for the Somerville Arts Council, when I asked for her theories behind the popularity of Porchfest in Somerville.

Menjivar said Porchfest has grown each year since it began in 2011 with just 75 bands. And today's event is slated to be the biggest ever, with over 500 bands performing between noon and 6 p.m. across three different zones. Even with showers in the forecast Saturday afternoon, the Somerville Arts Council is expecting tens of thousands of people to fill the city's side streets in search of free, no-frills concerts from local artists.

“I think Porchfest attracts a big crowd of people who are like, ‘whoa, Porchfest,’ but probably aren't going to local music shows every week,” said TomHenry Reagan, a drummer in the punk band Scrod. “So I think it's really fun to see so many people being exposed to local music that otherwise maybe wouldn't.”

For some musicians, that exposure is invaluable.

Martha Schnee, a musician in the art rock band sidebody, recalls the group’s debut performance at Porchfest in 2021. “It was the first time we really had an audience,” Schnee said. The group has since taken the stage at Boston Calling Music Festival and opened for Grammy-winner Maggie Rogers. But that first Porchfest “just allowed the band to really come alive,” Schnee said, adding that it was “100% super formative for us as a band.”

However, Reagan and Schnee agree that it’s more about who’s in the crowd — fellow locals — than the size of it. Both musicians say they’ve made close friends and met musical collaborators through past Porchfests. This year, sidebody plans to perform at Porchfest in an informal “family band” with their neighbors, including two kids aged 7 and 9.

“The power of Porchfest to me is that it connects you with your neighborhood and your neighbors,” Reagan said. “We spend a lot of time in Somerville within a couple hundred feet of many people who live right next to us. But we’re all just sequestered in our own apartments all the time or at work or whatever. Porchfest is a day where everybody comes out, and you get to interact with a lot of people in the community.”

Plus, “You get to perform on a porch,” said Menjivar. “Like, when does that happen?”

It’s a rare opportunity for musicians — but lucky for music lovers, there are many more instances of porchfront festivities happening this spring and summer in Greater Boston:

P.S.— The Somerville Arts Council’s online Porchfest map can get bogged down by high traffic during the festival, so it helps to plan ahead! Click here for WBUR contributor Lukas Harnisch’s “neighbor’s guide” on how to plan your day, where to find a bathroom and the best spots to grab a bite to eat.