Oakhurst Porchfest Is Saturday | Everything You Need to Know

DECATUR, GA -- The 2018 Oakhurst Porchfest will be held Saturday, Oct. 13. The concept began in Ithaca, NY, when organizers had an idea: What if we had an afternoon when porches all over the neighborhood became stages and everyone just meandered from yard to yard, listening, hanging out, and connecting/reconnecting with their neighbors? Porchfest was then born. Other neighborhoods around the country have taken the model and run with it, including Decatur's Oakhurst, which launched its own Porchfest in October 2015. Georgia's music tourism bureau called it "very likely the most diverse lineup of any festival" in the state.

Here's everything you need to know about the event, which runs from noon to 7 pm, courtesy of the event's website:

The Oakhurst Porchfest is a grassroots community music spectacle where front porches become stages, yards become venues, and radical generosity and good will rule the day.

How does it work?
Porchfest is much more an afternoon of coordinated yard performances than it is a conventional festival. There's no real boss, no specific enclosed or protected area, and everything you see, eat, or experience exists only because someone decided to step up and make it happen. All of our day-of operations and oversight gets delegated to our hundreds of volunteering neighbors and thousands of guests, making every porch host, performer, vendor and attendee a de facto co-creator and real-time manager of the event. The organizing committee, such that it is, exists only to manage basic front-end logistics, coordinate performances, and promote the day.

For attendees, all normal rules of law and order apply and, just like any other day, everyone remains responsible for their own behavior and welfare when moving from yard to yard. Wander around, keep yourself safe, and watch out for others. Pretty simple.

When's it happening?
Everything goes down Saturday, October 13, 2018, from Noon to 7pm, including a day's end throwdown at the center of the neighborhood.

Where does it take place?
Oakhurst is in the southwest corner of Decatur, sandwiched between Agnes Scott College and the College Heights neighborhood to the east and Kirkwood to the west. Our event is spread across the entire neighborhood, filling roughly one square mile. Participating streets for 2018 are shown here.

Why just one, one-hour performance per porch?
There are certainly logistical benefits but, for the most part, it's because Porchfest is as much a community-building endeavor as it is a celebration of music so getting people out and about is key. When people camp out all day at any one address it works against the underlying point of the event, which is a shifting, ever-evolving carnival of interactions and experiences. Not a collection of distinct, day-long yard parties. #roamthehood

Do the musicians get paid?
No one does. Ours is an experiment in radical generosity and good will, which applies equally to everyone involved. Organizers, performers, porch hosts, and others all participate as volunteers and all give freely of their time, talents, resources, and hospitality as a gift to the neighborhood and to each other. This year alone will be made possible by the voluntary contributions of almost a thousand people.

That said, though, we do generate one heckuva crowd and encourage anyone to make use of it. Musicians are free to put out a tip jar or sell their music and merch, artists and crafters set up yard-shops, and enterprising neighbors and do-good nonprofits help make refreshments available. If it's legal, have at it.

Who's performing?
The 2018 Porchfest is expected to feature over 200 individual acts spread across an equal number of porches.

Do I need a ticket?
No. This event is totally free.

Will you be closing streets?
No. We're committed to the sharing of public space and making the effort to accommodate one another. For drivers, this means slowing down dramatically and expecting to find pedestrians, bikes, and crowds spilling out into the street. And for those enjoying the festival, it means remaining vigilant, exercising caution, and recognizing that sometimes people in cars just need to get somewhere. So relax, get out of the way when appropriate (especially in the case of emergency vehicles), and make it work. It's the neighborly thing to do.

Who organizes this?
The Oakhurst Porchfest is brought to you by The Decatur Arts Alliance, Decatur Metro, countless musicians, and hundreds of Oakhurst neighbors, with the added assistance of city sanitation and the Decatur Police Department.

Image Oakhurst Porchfest