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Larchmere PorchFest – Cleveland, Ohio – My Experience

The Larchmere PorchFest is fun neighborhood festival where multiple porches and lawns become the stages for local bands. Walk, run or bike from porch to porch to catch as many performers as possible while nabbing food along the way.

2023 DATE: June 24, 2023
Location: Larchmere Blvd. around E 128th Street (Cleveland)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/larchmereporchfest

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This post documents my experience on June 25, 2011.

Just north of Shaker Square, the second oldest planned shopping district of the country…

…Larchmere Blvd. is home to interesting, independent shops…

…colorfully dressed trees…

…and a community celebrated through its surrounding neighborhood…

…by an event called PorchFest.

PorchFest is unlike other festivals.

There are no rides nor are there games or funnel cakes…

.…although I did find one opportunist food vendor while walking the streets..

Instead, PorchFest presents a rather unique experience as it turns its neighborhood into a stage for many local bands…

…who perform on porches…

…as well as in gardens or alleys.

For the festival goer, the feeling is a quite liberating…

.…to lay about on people’s lawn….

…crowd into the street in total rebellion…

…and enjoy some great tunes.

I really enjoyed it!

There were two booths at PorchFest:

1.) A bike rental booth

2.) An info booth

From the latter, you could purchase PorchFest merchandise and/or acquire some maps of the area with performance times and locations. Performances occurred in blocks of 45 minutes around the area, and they were rather easy to get to on foot.

So easy, in fact, that I got to check out the following bands…

…Rita Bole (acoustic)…

…Cool Matt (hip-hop)…

Shivering Timbers (folk rock)…

…ShiSho (Comedy/Indie/Pop)…

…Kevin Ortiz (Acoustic Pop Covers)…

…and Church of the Lazy Bastards (alt-country/bluegrass).

By the end of my journeys….

…I had almost wished I took advantage of this Pedicab.

Fortunately, all that walking/running…

…helped me feel better about eating the free cookies I found.