PorchFest builds on neighborly spirit
West Central porches serve as stages for musicians, poets
You often hear people speak with wistful nostalgia of a time “back in the day.” Everything was brighter and more cheerful then, you were friendly with all of your neighbors, and you spent many long summer nights gathering on one another’s porches. That might be idealism talking, but it’s certainly true that these days we rarely look up from our iPhones to notice the people around us.
Spokane photographer Marshall Peterson is looking to recapture that sense of kinship by spearheading PorchFest West Central, a celebration of art and community that will take place Saturday afternoon in and around the burgeoning Kendall Yards neighborhood.
“The basic idea was to give neighbors an excuse or a reason to get out and interact with their neighbors, whether that’s pulling them away from their computer screen or pulling them away from their TV screen,” Peterson said. “People don’t naturally knock on their neighbor’s door and say ‘hi.’ … We need to be connected in real ways nowadays.”
Peterson, who is also the mastermind behind the Spokane 50 photo project, was able to find 10 residents within about a mile radius willing to turn their front porches into makeshift meeting places. Each porch is hosting a different musical act or performing poet; it’s as if each house is a different venue in a sort of wandering neighborhood festival.
Not only will PorchFest be a showcase for local artists, Peterson says, it will also help unite longtime West Central inhabitants with the newer Kendall Yards transplants.
“I want more movement amongst the neighbors,” he said. “I want them to feel like they’re already connected, that they can go and talk to their neighbor. I want people who have lived here for a long time to feel motivated and comfortable and to come down to Kendall Yards.”
The first official PorchFest was held in Ithaca, New York, in 2007 – that city’s annual festival will take place the day after Spokane’s – and the idea has spread to like-minded communities around the country. This is the first year of Spokane’s PorchFest, and based on the outpouring of support he’s received from the community, Peterson says he’s certain it will continue.
“All the porch hosts and the performers (have) all been incredibly giving and have accepted the project with open arms,” he said. “They’ve given me an energy to organize it in a way that’s organic and real and healthy.”