Carmel’s newest festival will bring live music to neighbors’ front yards
By Adam Aasen
Carmel’s historic downtown will be transformed into an outdoor music festival on Sept. 14.
And this inaugural free event – called PorchFest – will give new meaning to the phrase “lawn seats.”
Neighbors are encouraged to spread out a blanket, open up a cooler and relax on someone’s lawn as they watch local bands perform on people’s porches.
It’s a way to not only enjoy live music, but to explore the architecture of Carmel’s Old Town neighborhood just north of Main Street in the Arts & Design District.
“The festival lets us showcase the musical talent in the community while, at the same time, it will expose many new people to ‘urban living, Carmel style,’” said city councilor Ron Carter, one of the members of the organizing committee.
From 1 to 5 p.m., attendees can wander through the closed off streets and watch 43 musical acts on 20 different porches.
After attending a conference, Mayor Jim Brainard became aware of similar events through the country and thought it would be the perfect fit for Carmel. He asked city councilor Sue Finkham to chair an organizing committee to bring the vision to life.
Organizers include Finkham, Carter, Justin Moffett, Blair Clark, Heather Ramsay Clark, Austin Johnson, Jeff Worrell and others.
Since it’s the first year for this festival, there are a lot of challenges.
There’s not a huge budget, so all of the musical performances are being, in essence, donated by the artists free of charge. In the future, Finkham said they would love to provide honorariums, but that will take time to build.
“We would also like to use this event to give exposure to up-and-coming young musical acts as they build their reputations,” she said. “We have lofty goals in the future but this first year we want to keep our costs low and highlight this wonderful area.”
Staff at the Midwest School of Voice in the Arts & Design District helped recruit local acts – from a wide variety of musical genres – to play for free.
Then there was the task of getting the porches. Moffett, of the Old Town Design Group, had a hand in building many of these homes so he convinced neighbors to lend their private property for this public event. Residents are even donating their electrical costs.
Finkham said it’s important to make sure homeowners have a great experience lending out their yards. Porch monitors will help ensure no flowers will be trampled or trash strewn on lawns. Although, she doesn’t expect any problems because there’s a sense of community that blossoms out of these PorchFest events.
“I expect this event will really drive a lot of community pride and engagement,” Finkham said.
The day of the event is when the real logistical tight rope act begins. Bands and artists have to set up their equipment in a very short period of time. They’ll be a small window for sound checks to keep everyone on schedule. That way there won’t be one performance bleeding into another within earshot.
Old Town Carmel was a natural fit because the homes almost all have beautiful porches that are perfectly sized.
“What made this area a win for the community was the wide variety of housing stock in the area. We’ve got some historical properties. We’ve got some brand new properties and everything in between,” Finkham said. “So we want to showcase what we call the ‘undiscovered streets of the Arts & Design District.’”
Finkham said organizers considered other areas, such as the Village of West Clay or Prairie View, but there are a lot of infrastructural benefits to Old Town. It has ample parking in the arts district and access to the Monon Trail. Plus, nearby restaurants ease the need for food vendors for attendees.
Brainard said he expects the event to be a success and could continue for years to come.
“A lot of work goes into the first year of a festival like this,” he said. “But I have no doubt that people are really going to love it.”
