Annual Porchfest Brings Together Neighbors and Friends
Written By Patrick DeVivo
Photographed By Nancy Clover
On Saturday, September 20th, Melrose residents were treated to Porchfest: a day of live musical performances in neighborhoods across the city. The event has been a staple of the city’s fall calendar since 2018. While the late September weather has not always cooperated, this year the warm sun and mild early fall breeze provided a perfect backdrop to the performances of some 80 musicians or groups at various venues over the course of the day.
We talked to some performers and attendees at several of the Porchfest events and found each person caught up in the spirit of the day, though each for their own slightly different reasons.
Jonathan Michado has lived in Melrose for two years and had never participated in a Porchfest before moving here. This year, he hosted musicians at his home on Orris Street.
“Last year, one of our neighbors had a band, but this year the entire block got involved, so we had six or seven houses coming together to organize it.” Two rock bands were scheduled on his street: Rockin’ Ed Thomas Not My Job and Death and Taxes. Michado looked forward to a relaxing afternoon listening to the music, spending quality time with his neighbors, and watching the kids play.
Amy and Etsie Foreman have lived in Melrose for 54 years and have attended the last three Porchfests. “It’s a great idea; it gets people out. Last year, we reconnected with a lot of old friends.” The Formans noted that they have seen their neighborhood turn over a few times during their years in Melrose, and on many occasions have “welcomed new neighbors with different backgrounds, coming from many different places.” They both agreed that “events like Porchfest make the city better.”
Michael Day and Elizabeth Mansfield were walking their dog on Saturday morning, saw the Porchfest sign, and decided to drop by the Cutter Street event. They were relaxing and taking in the music by the rock band JANGO when we stopped to talk. Day is clearly a music lover and a Porchfest veteran, but he had missed events in Somerville, Malden, Medford, and Stonham this year, so he was grateful not to have missed the Melrose event as well. And while they were interested in seeing some of the other scheduled performers, they were just as happy settled in where they were, enjoying the day, and listening to the performers scheduled for the Cutter Street event.
Tracey Cruikshank and Kathy Morris attend Porchfest each year and had just finished watching one of their favorite groups, the Saxyderms, when we spoke. The Saxyderms are a unique ensemble of twelve saxophones that play a variety of musical genres. Cruikshank and Morris had mapped out some specific performers that they look forward to seeing each year, including Florence Street and the Machine, a band that covers ‘80s, ‘90s, and contemporary songs (The band members are friends).
Overall, they loved the diversity of performers. “There’s a variety, something for everybody,” says Cruikshank. “It’s intergenerational, there are little kids, and elderly people - it’s great, everybody is getting their jam on today.”
While most of this year’s Porchfest musicians are experienced performers, one group was brand new to Porchfest this year. Locomotive is a Melrose garage band formed a year and a half ago. Shawn Herron spoke for the group of four that plays covers songs from the hard rock and heavy metal genres.
Herron told us that the group practices at least twice a week and performs live “whenever they can.” When we spoke, the group eagerly, and maybe a little nervously, looked forward to performing later in the day in front of family, friends, and neighbors on Otis Street.
Ellen O’Neil was having a routine Saturday when she heard the music of The Ghost Truckers, a rock band, playing on Morgan Street, around the corner from her home on Main Street. Remembering that it was Porchfest day, she collected her husband and three sons and walked over.
“It’s relaxing and you get to see people who you haven’t seen in a while,” she said. “They’re your neighbors, but you might not see them regularly. This is a way to keep in touch.” Her son Michael added that “live music is usually so expensive these days that something like this that’s free and community-driven is refreshing.”
Monique Kenney has lived on Glendale Road in the close-knit Horace Mann neighborhood since 1998, with the school and the Hesseltine playground almost in her backyard. She has witnessed the neighborhood cycle through generations of families with children, including her own. Some families moved away after raising their children, providing the opportunity for younger families to move in, while others chose to stay. Inevitably, the sense of community has waxed and waned over the years.
Kenney feels that events like Porchfest help maintain a level of connection to everyone in the neighborhood: “I love Porchfest. I have two older kids now, and I see the little ones running around, and it’s awesome. It’s good for the city because it brings a sense of unity and puts a smile on everyone’s face.”
A theme running through these conversations and others is the importance of community and the need to support events, like Porchfest, that promote it. Some people expressed regret at not making time in their busy lives to get to know their neighbors better. But at least on Saturday, Porchfest reminded many Melrosians of the joy that comes with participating in a community and what’s lost when we don’t take the time to nurture our connections to our neighborhood and city.
