Colorado’s biggest PorchFest is coming to Denver’s Baker neighborhood
DENVER — About four months ago, Bradley Schwartz played at PorchFest Atlanta, a music festival where bands and artists perform on porches and lawns. He got the idea to bring the unique festival style to his hometown of Denver.
In just a few months, he assembled a team of volunteers, recruited nearly 200 artists, built a brand and helped plan Denver’s first PorchFest. On Oct. 3 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., 193 local acts will play throughout Denver’s Baker neighborhood.
“I like to go big; I’m not gonna do it halfway,” Schwartz said.
Volunteers will convert porches, lawns, side alleys, backyards and even churches into stages for the free music festival.
PorchFests are held in cities across the country, though organizers from the host city independently run each event. Boulder introduced PorchFest to Colorado more than a decade ago, and Colorado Springs and Walsenburg got in on the action as well. When Denver resident Schwartz played in Atlanta earlier this year, he felt inspired to bring the event back home. Denver’s will be the biggest in terms of scheduled artists.
Schwartz just needed a neighborhood. He said Baker was an easy decision.
“I know there are neighborhoods in Denver that would have better space suited in terms of wider streets and bigger porches and all,” Schwartz said. “But there's not a neighborhood in Denver that is more excited about this type of thing. If you're in the music scene or the art scene, you already know that Baker is the artists' neighborhood. It's the music neighborhood.”
Out of 580 applications, Schwartz and his team narrowed down the artists to 193. They wanted to be intentional about the variety of music offered at the festival; everything from indie, punk and grunge rock to blues, jazz, hip-hop and EDM.
Schwartz said the goal “was to make it so that the lineup was broad in a way that anybody walking around, as long as they enjoy live music, [was] going to find something.” Each pop-up venue will take a short break between performances, but across the seven-hour event's 85 stages, festivalgoers will always have something to listen to.
He and his team spread the word through social media, a little bit of word of mouth and plenty of door knocking. Schwartz said the neighborhood was thrilled about the festival and wanted to be involved.
“We've got the church over on First [Avenue] hosting, and they've got a parking lot, so that's a perfect space. Their music director plays in a jazz band. The pastor was like, ‘Hey, can we be a host?’ I was like, ‘Heck yeah! That sounds awesome,’” Schwartz said.
Word of the festival spread fast in Baker, and residents wanted in. Joe Fassler said he heard about the festival through word of mouth, and as a musician himself, felt it just made sense to provide a venue space. His band, Slowdance, conveniently won’t have to travel far when they perform at PorchFest at his own house.
Fassler also said that PorchFest feels like a replacement for the void left behind in Baker’s identity after the Underground Music Showcase moved to RiNo after occupying South Broadway for 25 years.
“Everyone I talk to is really excited,” said Blake Piper, another Baker resident who will be providing his home as a venue. “Live music is getting so inaccessible, and Denver has a really good local music scene, all the local bands are awesome, and the community is so good. It's just really fun to have free festival community-based music.” Piper also plays in a band, The Heartless Busters, which will play on his porch for the festival.
One unique thing that Schwartz wanted to do was pay the artists — a rarity at other PorchFests. He didn't get paid for his performance in Atlanta, and while he doesn’t want to make promises to the artists, once all the costs of putting on the festival are covered, he plans to distribute the rest of the money to the performers for their time.
Last week, the organizers of Denver’s PorchFest put on a fundraiser concert at Bar 404 and — in addition to jamming on stage — raised about $1,000. Jay Gindi, marketing ops for Denver PorchFest, performed with his band, Everybody but Jay. October’s event will be his first time at a PorchFest.
“We have a great team, and everybody cares. Nobody here gets paid; everybody is just literally in it for the love of the game. They're really working hard,” Gindi said. He’s looking forward to sharing the stage with the rest of the artists Oct. 3 at the state’s largest PorchFest yet, of which he said, “size matters.”
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