RoxYunk Porchfest, a free music festival celebrating local artists in Roxborough and Manayunk, will return for its third year on Saturday at properties scattered across the two Northwest Philly neighborhoods. Roughly 100 performers are scheduled to play at about 50 different locations — porches, parks and yards — as a way to build community around the joy of music.
The festival is inspired by similar concepts elsewhere, including the annual West Philly Porchfest that's been held in June for the last eight years. In an age of exorbitant ticket prices for concerts and festivals, the porchfest ethos is about making music accessible at the neighborhood level.
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"Every porchfest is a little bit of a different flavor," said Eliot Duhan, one of the organizers of RoxYunk Porchfest. "It's music for the people, by the people, of the people."
Saturday's festival runs from about noon to 6 p.m., with an 11 a.m. kickoff event at Fairview Park at 4418 Manayunk Ave., where singer-songwriter Ben Arnold will perform a set to get the music started. From there, people can travel to numerous locations to catch a variety of performances.
The official boundaries of the festival are Henry Avenue south to Main Street and Dawson Street west to Parker Avenue, although a few of the hosting properties fall elsewhere in the 19127 and 19128 ZIP codes. Some performances also fall outside the festival's official hours. The map below shows when and where artists are scheduled to perform throughout the afternoon. Some locations will be hosting multiple artists.
Duhan said RoxYunk Porchfest is "spiritually related" to West Philly Porchfest, but there are some logistical differences in terms of geography and community.
"We're obviously a lot more vertical. It's a lot more uphill and downhill," Duhan said. "We try to time the festival such that the earliest bands are near Ridge up the hill, our later bands are in the middle and the end bands are down the hill."
Compared to West Philly, where many bands book Porchfest shows at their own properties, RoxYunk Porchfest relies on a bit more of a matchmaking formula to connect performers with hosts. All hosts are advised to be good neighbors and communicate with their blocks to let them know when performances are scheduled.
Duhan said the point of RoxYunk Porchfest is to give people a nudge to get outside and meet their neighbors.
"The music is good and that's why we do it — to give people a chance to hear music they might not otherwise hear, and for players to play to people they might not otherwise," Duhan said. "The subtext is cementing and furthering the bonds of community to make sure as many people as possible know each other's names and have neighbors they know as opposed to living in a faceless city and faceless neighborhood without ties."
Duhan, who plays upright bass and banjo, said Roxborough and Manayunk are filled with talented musicians.
"When you start to dig into the neighborhood, you find all these people who play stuff and you want to get them together," he said. "Life is complicated and we're worried about other things. Unless you go out of your way to find time to play music, it doesn't happen on its own."
Two block parties with live shows will run from noon until after the festival ends. One is on Pechin Street between Roxborough Avenue and Rector Street. The other is on Gates Street between Manayunk Avenue and Silverwood Street.
Some of Saturday's standout sets will include music from Purple Sandwich, an Irish folk band performing from noon-2 p.m. at 540 Martin Street; a punky quartet of bands (You're Laughing, Astro Alloy, Stealing Society, Allayna Farmer) from 2-4 p.m. at 300 Lyceum Ave.; and a funk-led group of artists (Outer Space Boogie Band, Sauce Boss and SmathyKat) at 358 Green Lane from 4-6 p.m.
In the event of rain on Saturday, RoxYunk Porchfest will be moved to Sunday with the same schedule.
Duhan said the most important part of the festival is fostering the "invisible bonds" of community that give neighborhoods their character.
"There's not a lot of rules and regulations, except talk to your neighbors," Duhan said.
Check out some of the bands performing at RoxYunk Porchfest using the Spotify playlist below.
RoxYunk Porchfest
Saturday, Oct. 12 (rain date Oct. 13)Noon.-6 p.m. | FreeVarious locations in Roxborough and Manayunk
