Ithaca’s ninth annual Porchfest on Sunday, September 27, will feature 176 performers around the Fall Creek and Northside neighborhoods. Annual favorites like The Gunpoets, Not From Wisconsin, Mosaic Foundation, Anna Coogan, NEO Project and many more will return, as well as a number of new faces, including two dance troupes, a live performance of the music from Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. video game arranged for saxophone trio, and a self-explanatory act called 1 Hour of Knock Knock Jokes (with upright bass accompaniment, naturally). See the full performer list here.
FOOD TRUCKS AND BAKE SALES: Food options will abound during the festival this year. Porchfest sponsor Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services / Better Housing for Tompkins County is organizing a food truck round-up in the parking lot at 210 Hancock Street, featuring a variety of cuisine from The Good Truck (tacos), Star Truck (vegetarian comfort food), Gabriella’s Farm To Fork, Silo Truck (fried chicken), Alexander’s (homestyle cuisine), and Bici Cocina (authentic Colombian street food). Additionally, the Fall Creek Elementary School PTA will host a bake sale during Porchfest, with proceeds going toward a new sound system for the school gymnasium/auditorium.
SIGN PAINTING PARTY: The annual Porchfest sign painting party will take place on Sunday, September 20, as part of the Streets Alive! event on Ithaca’s Southside. Stay tuned to Porchfest’s website, email list and social media channels for exact location. The decorative wooden yard signs at performers’ houses are a beloved tradition of the event.
STREET CLOSURES: All of Utica Street will close to vehicular traffic this year, so the street can function as a pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfare during Porchfest. All pedestrians and cyclists are encouraged to use Utica Street to move north and south through the neighborhood between performance locations, to ease overcrowding on Cayuga, Tioga and Aurora streets. Other small sections of street will be closed as follows:
• E Jay Street, from Cayuga Street to Tioga Street
• Linn Street, from King Street to Tompkins Street
• Cascadilla Avenue, from Cayuga Street to Tioga Street
• from Lake Ave and Yates Street to W Marshall Street and Cayuga Street
• Auburn Street from Tompkins Street to Yates Street
• E Marshall Street, from Utica Street to Tioga Street and Tioga Street to Aurora Street (Tioga remains open in between)
See www.porchfest.org for a map of street closures.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Additional volunteers are still needed for Porchfest, to help ensure pedestrian safety and reasonable performance volumes during the event. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up for a two-hour shift now at porchfest.org/volunteer. Perks for volunteers include having their name in the printed Porchfest program book and a free Porchfest Volunteer t-shirt, as well as the soul-warming knowledge that they’ve made an important contribution to a beloved community event.
A GROWING PHENOMENON: The number of new Porchfests around North America has grown by at least ten in 2015, including new upstate New York entries in Binghamton and Oswego. See the full list of more than three dozen known Porchfests in other cities at porchfest.org/porchfests-elsewhere.