SWAMPSCOTT — Local arts organization ReachArts is gearing up for a busy autumn season, including preparing for the 2021 Porchfest event after taking a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Porchfest will be held from 12 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. Registration for musicians and porch hosts will be open through Aug. 31.
“People are really signing up,” said ReachArts Co-President Heidi Shear. “Just like with (June’s) Garden Art Walk, people are ready to do something. We’re getting a lot of action.”
Once the PorchFest schedule is finalized, ReachArts will put out a map and schedule so that audience members can decide what performances of the free event they want to see.
Shear said that because they are still being cautious about COVID, they are keeping this year’s event simple, and do not plan to run activities at the organization’s Burrill Street headquarters during Porchfest.
Also coming up this fall is the inaugural Red Rock Literary Festival, which will be held in town on the first weekend of November. A co-production with the Swampscott Public Library, the event will include panels and workshops for local writers, as well as a keynote speech by sports writer Ian Thomsen.
“We’re aiming for some kind of hybrid situation, but we’re going to have it either way,” Shear said. “Even if we have to put the attendees on Zoom and the panelists in a room.”
The following weekend, on November 13, ReachArts will host its popular local vendor fair Made by 01907. Last year’s event was held online because of COVID, but Shear hopes that this year it can again be live on Burrill Street.
Registration for vendors who live in Swampscott is now available on ReachArts’ website.
Meanwhile, the organization is continuing to hold its monthly First Friday Open Mic virtually, reportedly getting visitors not just from the area but around the country and even other countries. Next week, they will open for their first in-person gallery show since early in 2020.
The show, titled “Groove,” features work by nine local artists. An opening reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27. Masks will be required.
“I think it’ll be a good kickoff show,” Shear said. “Things are really happening, so we’re excited.”
For more information, or to register for upcoming events at ReachArts, visit reacharts.org.
Tréa Lavery can be reached at [email protected].
