Larchmere PorchFest celebrates local music, local business and its eclectic neighborhood

CLEVELAND, Ohio— Cleveland’s Larchmere neightborhood will come alive with music from 1-10 p.m. on Saturday as the Larchmere PorchFest returns for its 16th year. The sounds of original, locally sourced live music will emanate from the porches and lawns of friendly folks throughout the east side neighborhood, give music lovers and shoppers an opportunity to check out an eclectic, evolving neighborhood.

Larchmere PorchFest began in 2008 after some residents visited and enjoyed the Ithica PorchFest and decided to start the tradition at home. This year’s edition of the family-friendly popular neighborhood festival will feature 34 local and area bands performing throughout the approximately 10-block stretch of Larchmere Blvd.

This year’s dual headliners are Cleveland singer-songwriter-emcee Marcus Smith and the Rapscallions, performing at 6 p.m. at 2633 E. 126th St. and funky blues rockers the Sam Hooper Group, playing at 7 p.m. at 2615 E. 126th St.

Currently, the weather forecast calls for rain on Saturday, but anyone who has lived through a few seasons in Ohio knows that the outlook can completely change in a few hours.

“The show will go on as long as it’s not super windy or there’s lightning or anything like that. We’ll be out there,” Larchmere PorchFest president Dawn Arrington said, noting that in the neighborhood festival’s 16 iterations it has only been rained on once.

“By the end of the day, I might have been screaming expletives at the rain. But it was still a good time to be had by all who were dedicated to local music and getting out,” she said.

Those dedicated folks will be serenaded by a carefully curated slate of bands and artists designed to offer as many different quality genres, styles, and sounds as possible as they wander down the boulevard. Throughout the year, the festival’s all-volunteer music committee goes to local music venues to check out local bands.

Arrington, who first attended the festival in 2014 and was inspired to become a volunteer a year later, eventually joined the board and ascended to president, admits she can’t be a member of the music committee because “Everybody’s my favorite.”

Nevertheless, the more discerning committee members, who pay their own entrance to the shows to support the bands and the venues, then convene and vote on which artists they think worthy of gracing a Larchmere porch. Obviously, already having a following and being (reasonably) family-friendly is a plus. But there are other rules, some artistic based and one that’s simply cost-effective for the non-profit festival.

“We have the policy that we don’t have cover bands, partially because we’re supporting local artists and their development and working on their craft and also, we’re just not gonna pay that (licensing and performance) fee. We can’t afford it,” she said.

“But we’re committed to original music, first and foremost, because it’s important to support local artists. There are a lot of artists of color or from the LGBTQ community or many who are just economically strapped. It’s hard to invest in your business without just playing gigs, which are (usually) covers, right? It’s hard to invest in your art and we recognize and we understand that,” Arrington said.

To that end, Larchmere PorchFest has recently instituted a sliding pay scale to help ensure that bands of various sizes are fairly compensated. So, a quintet will get a pay bump over a solo artist with a guitar.

In addition to immersing oneself in local music, there are other activities available to make the day special.

From 1:30-7: 15 p.m., there’s a beer garden featuring music provided by DJ KosherKuts and DJ JayBe. Case Western Reserve’s Improv Dance, an international and local group of “contact improvisers,” will perform at 5 p.m. at 2583 Kendall Rd.

From 2-3 p.m., appreciators of the spoken word can hang out at the Poetry Corner at Literary Cleveland, 13002 Larchmere Blvd. And, from 2-5 p.m. at the Rest and Refresh area located at Kendall Rd. and E. 129th st., folks can get their faces painted. JD Step One and DJ K Nyce & The Soundbender Institute, a DJ school founded by the pair of record spinners, will perform in that area from 2-6 p.m.

Akron’s version of the event, PorchRokr, inspired by Larchmere, has grown to cover a larger neighborhood and gets more than 10,000 folks traipsing around the Highland Square district. This year’s event takes place Aug. 17, 2024.

But though Arrington wishes them well, Larchmere’s goal isn’t to expand or become a local festival behemoth. The festival’s relatively small footprint is part of its charm and she said it’s the neighborhood that has evolved and she’s met many folks who decided to move to the neighborhood after attending a PorchFest.

“We’ve seen development happen in the neighborhood, apartment buildings go up, new stores open, new restaurants opening, new resources around street pavements and infrastructure investment has happened and I think not just because of Porch Fest, but I think Porch Fest is one of the things. There’s, just a liveliness and things that have happened and the people in the community are dedicated to it. So it doesn’t look like it did when I first went 10 years ago,” she said.