Beaumont: Porchfest
Published: Mon, 10/24/22
Porchfest comes to Beaumont
Kim Brent, Photojournalist
1of57: Families gather on the lawn at a home on Gladys during the inaugural Porchfest event held in the Oaks Historic District Saturday.
Photo made Saturday, October 22, 2022 Kim Brent/Beaumont Enterprise
Beaumont is officially part of the grassroots community effort to bring local musicians and neighborhoods together through “Porchfest.”
The concept dates back to 2007 when Ithaca, NY, friends Gretchen Hildreth and Lesley Greene came up with the idea to find homes within their neighborhood that would host local musicians to perform on their front porches.
It was a way to offer musicians more community exposure and also to encourage neighbors to mix and mingle with one another.They found spots for 20 acts to perform that first year. Since then, nearly 200 other cities across the U.S. and Canada have joined in the tradition.
Oaks Historic District Neighborhood Association member Rebecca Boone learned about Porchfest from a friend in upstate New York and thought the event would be a perfect addition to Beaumont’s growing repertoire of cultural community events.
When she pitched the idea at a recent board meeting, members resoundingly approved, “and it just took off from there,” said fellow member Jennifer Ravey.The association found five homes within the district willing to open their front porches and yards to the free public event, then signed up eight performers ranging from locally renowned songsters like Ariel Bush to relative new-comers like Chad Gary.
The festivities were held Saturday afternoon, and for two hours, the 2400 block on historic district streets from Long to Louisiana were alive with the sound of music.
Porchfest attendees spread out blankets, opened picnic baskets and set up lawn chairs – something they’d repeat throughout the early evening as many took a progressive style approach to the event, catching one act here and another there.“It’s so great to see all these people out walking and bicycling through the neighborhood,” Ravey said.
And it was a perfect fit for the neighborhood association’s mission to “maintain and improve the quality of life within the district, while also enhancing its historic and cultural relevance to the City of Beaumont,” according to its website.
The Oaks Historic District, bound by First through Eleventh Streets and Beech to Rusk Streets, is the largest historic district in the state of Texas.
That means there’s plenty of room for the event to grow, as Boone said the neighborhood association plans to make Porchfest an annual event.