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Neighbors across the U.S. are reviving free live music, and they\u2019re taking over streets to do it.<\/p>\n
For a few hours every year, Porchfest transforms driveways, yards, and, you guessed it, porches, into concert stages. Neighbors from every age, instrument, and genre become concert performers. Streets become festival grounds, inviting neighbors to listen, dance, and celebrate community on otherwise car-crammed asphalt.<\/p>\n
Neighbors Gretchen Hildreth and Lesley Greene of upstate New York came up with the idea to host a block party-like concert in 2007 in the small city of Ithaca. At the time, 20 performances proved an incredible feat for the duo to assemble. Now backed by two decades of lessons learned, city collaboration, and a committed volunteer base, more than 150 acts are expected to perform this September.<\/p>\n