SWAMPSCOTT — The town will hold its fifth annual PorchFest on Saturday, Sept. 14 from 12 to 6 p.m. The music festival will feature many performances from local bands and individual musicians from the front porches of homes in the Olmsted neighborhood.
ReachArts lead organizer Philip Alexander first brought the festival to Swampscott in 2019 after he saw the event trend throughout New England communities, such as Somerville.
“I thought, ‘You know what? We should do this in Swampscott, because as much as they have good porches in Somerville, we have even better porches in Swampscott,’” Alexander said. “PorchFest is a celebration of music and community… It’s like the Airbnb or Uber of music festivals. The idea of Uber is that if you have a car, you can become a taxi, and with Airbnb, if you have an extra room in your house, you can become a hotel. With PorchFest, if you’ve got a porch, it could be a concert venue.”
Alexander was originally introduced to the concept nearly two decades ago when his hometown of Ithaca, N.Y. held one.
More information on the event can be found on the town’s website. The rain date for PorchFest is Sunday, Sept. 15.
