Live music at 45 Modesto homes? When to relax and listen at daylong outdoor event
Porches in Modesto will come alive again with music after being shut down two years because of the pandemic.
Modesto Porchfest is set for Sunday, May 22, from noon to 5 p.m., back in its usual places — the College, La Loma and downtown neighborhoods.
The event puts local performers on outdoor porch and yard “stages” and invites the community to pull up a chair, blanket or patch of grass to listen.
Co-founder and co-organizer Kate Trompetter said in an email interview that she was excited to be back this year. “We’ve tried to be very patient, just like the community, but we are super ready for this event to be back.”
There will be more than 45 homes with about 80 bands and individual performers playing this year, according to Trompetter.
There will be “rock to country to bluegrass and classical music,” she said. “We’ve got DJs and a beatboxer, and more.”
Attendees can roam from home to home — bike, walk, drive — during the daylong concert event.
They also can tip the performers, who play for free.
“We really encourage tipping for this event and anytime you come across our local musicians,” Trompetter said. “But on this day, you have a chance to show some real love and appreciation for the beauty they bring to this community. Show them your love with cash.”
The last Porchfest was in 2019. In 2020, organizers offered a live-streamed alternative, Couchfest, because of the pandemic.
“...although it wasn’t ideal, it went great,” Trompetter said. “We were just thankful that people tuned in and folks seemed to have a good experience.”
But Trompetter along with co-organizers Ruhi Sheikh and Tricia Rosenow decided to skip it altogether for 2021.
“Followed by Couchfest and then a year off – things had just gotten so heavy and we, like many in our community, we were feeling the weight of many things,” Trompetter said. “It felt like in 2021, we could just take a break.”
Porchfests started in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2007 and since have spread internationally. The first Modesto Porchfest was in 2017.
A map of the homes participating is available on the event website, www.modestoporchfest.com. Below the map is the lineup of which acts are playing when and where.
Trompetter hopes people show up and have fun.
“Be kind and generous to each other, the performers, to the land, and people’s properties,” she said. “We continue to enjoy good relationships with our performers, porch hosts, and the city of Modesto because our community shows up in the best way on this day. We hope to continue that tradition.”
