​​Years ago in Ithaca, New York, Lesley Greene and Gretchen Hildreth had an idea: What if we had an afternoon when porches all over the neighborhood became stages and everyone just meandered from yard to yard, listening, hanging out, and connecting/reconnecting with their neighbors?

 

Porchfest, the ultimate grassroots music festival, was born. 100% resident owned and operated, it’s been going and growing every year since. And in that time, other neighborhoods all around the country have taken the model and run with it. Including us — the Oakhurst neighborhood in Decatur, Georgia — when we launched our own Porchfest in October, 2015.

 

The success that materialized that year — more than 130 performances in four hours — took us all by surprise and culminated in what Georgia's music tourism bureau called "very likely the most diverse lineup of any festival" in the state.

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Until 2016, that is, when we bested that effort with 185 performances over six hours. And then again in 2017 with 220 all in. And so on and so on.

 

This year marks our tenth year putting (or trying to put) it on. So now, on Saturday, October 19, 2024 from Noon to 7pm, we'll do it all again. And like previous years, the more folks who take ownership of it, the better it will showcase the best of what Oakhurst can be.