This Saturday, June 13 is the second annual PorchFestKC in the West Plaza area. It’s an event not happening in Brookside or Waldo, but I’m writing about it anyway because it’s such a fun, unique happening…and perhaps someone will be inspired to organize a PorchFest for Brookside!

PorchFestKC is a free music festival, where residents offer their porches and front yards to local musicians to play for the afternoon.  The general boundaries for the event are: Westport Road to 47th St, Genessee to Terrace.  More than 100 different bands are expected to perform on nearly 40 porches and — potentially 6000 people will be walking around the neighborhood, soaking up the music.  You’ll hear various types of music, and all performances are acoustic or ‘near acoustic’.

We can thank Brookside resident Kathryn Golden for bringing PorchFest to Kansas City. It is a national event, and Kathryn attended one in Napa, CA  (there are about 30 PorchFests in North America this year) .  When she moved back to Kansas City, Kathryn wanted to ‘make a project for herself’ and decided to organize the event in her (then) West Plaza neighborhood.  It is a huge commitment of her time:  she reviews all applications for the bands, organizes the volunteers, solicits sponsors and manages the media.  This year there will be a few food trucks scattered about, and you may see some pop up art for sale in the yards.

A few other items to note if you plan to attend:  all musicians play for tips only,  so visitors are encouraged to bring a pocketful of small bills and tip those performers you listen to. Parking is virtually non existent as this is a tight residential area–so plan on parking the car elsewhere (or carpool, ride the bike, etc) and walking to the festival.  Bring a lawn chair if you like.  This is a family friendly, alcohol-free event. Rain date is Sunday June 14.  A line up of bands, where they are playing, and a map are available at www.porchfestkc.com or at www.facebook.com/PorchFestKC.