Event featured 164 musical performances hosted on 58 residential porches as well as local food, beverages and artisanal goods
9/2/21 by Abigayle Bennett
Provided by aamomentsphotography on Instagram
Community members gathered on the West Side of Binghamton on Sunday in a celebration of community and music. Binghamton Porchfest featured 164 musical performances on 58 residential porches located throughout the West Side. In addition to musical performances, local restaurants and caterers provided food and beverages while local artisans and shops set up booths in the streets. Yard sales and lemonade stands went as far as the eye could see.
Porchfest was launched in 2015 by the residents of the Abel Bennett Tract Historic District and takes place on the last Sunday of August every year. The underlying idea of Porchfest has always been to bring the community together, which is noted as successful by local residents.
Around the large sections of blocked-off streets full of people and music, local vendors set up stands for food and drinks for the crowds to enjoy, such as pumpkin ice cream from Sugar Lips Ice Cream Shop and chicken spiedies courtesy of Rent-A-Chef Catering Services. This was genuinely an effort for the community by the community, as seen in everything from the sheer organization of the event to how clean the streets were kept throughout.
Delaney Dufresne, a freshman majoring in history, attended Porchfest and said it offered a nice taste of the local community to new students.
“The community feel, seeing everyone say hello to each other — it’s really nice and inviting,” Dufresne said. “I’m not from this area. I’ve never gone to this before, so it’s really cool to get a feel for what goes on in the summer and what the area has to offer.”
Jessica Petrylak, art enrichment and school programs coordinator at The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier, noted the importance of sharing these community events with the local youth while promoting her center.
“We’re always looking to involve The Discovery Center and the youth in community activities,” Petrylak said. “We think it’s really important that they have something they can go to and experience community events.”
Though there were many local musicians and bands, one fantastic example of community youth involvement involves the band Funk Monk. Organized by a group of young musicians, the group meets in their friend’s garage for practice and performs a variety of takes on popular music.
Auggie Guba, the saxophonist of Funk Monk, shared a performer’s perspective on Porchfest.
“We started a couple years ago, but we really only play Porchfest,” Guba said. “We practice for this for about a month, and we play funk, rock, jazz, all of it. We take bits of songs we like and just kind of mash them together.”
Based on community outpouring of support, it seems Porchfest was once again a success. Keep your eye out for the 2022 Porchfest schedule!
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