Carmel Porchfest, the outdoor music festival that uses neighbors’ front porches as stages for bands, has landed a title sponsor for its second year. Huntington Bank, which has been increasing its presence in Carmel, has signed on as a major sponsor.
The event will be held on Sept. 13 with times to be announced. During the event, musicians, singers and bands from a variety of musical genres set up on the front porches of homes in the neighborhood just north of Main Street in the Carmel Arts & Design District.
It ended up being a mix between a music festival and a neighborhood block party, as attendees leisurely strolled from house to house to not only admire the architecture of the unique neighborhood, but also to enjoy free live music. Families brought coolers and lawn chairs and attendance was around 3,500 in 2014. The event was organized by City Councilor Sue Finkam, who is aiming for 5,000 attendees in 2015.
“We’re so happy to have Huntington Bank as a title sponsor this year,” Finkam said. “They are continuing to grow their presence in Carmel and have a commitment to the area and they’re a great partner. We hope this year’s Porchfest will continue to showcase what’s great about Carmel.”
Huntington Bank just opened two new locations nearby where they event will be held. There’s a new branch at the Sophia Square building that features 24/7 lobby access. A larger, full-scale location was also opened at Old Meridian.
“We’re continuing to make an investment in Carmel,” Mike Newbold, regional president for Huntington Bank in Indiana, said. “We’ve opened our two new branches and we have a couple others in the process and as part of our investment in Carmel, we wanted to be part of the area because we love this walkable district. We actually got the idea when we talked to some city councilors at our ribbon cutting and it seemed to make sense because of the interest around the event and it helps get our name out there as well.”
Newbold said they’ve entered into a multi-year arrangement with their name being listed as “presented by” on event materials.
“We hope our support will help to continue to grow the event,” he said. “I think it has some great momentum coming off of last year’s event and we think it’s a great way for us to engage with the community.”
