Porchfest returns to Elmwood Village

Since 2013, every third Saturday in May has been Porchfest in Buffalo’s Elmwood Village neighborhood. Music groups spanning many genres descend on the neighborhood to… play on porches.

What started with a few bands playing on a few porches has grown this year to 185 bands playing on about 70 different porches.

Elmwood Village Association Executive Director James Cichoki says logistics play a big role in who plays, what porch they play on and what time.

“It’s a completely inclusive event,” he said. “If you sign up to play, you will play. We’ll find you a porch to play on. And sometimes hosts just sign up and say, I don’t have a group. Find me some. And conversely, sometimes bands sign up and say, find me a porch to play. So it becomes a big logistics game with me, and a lot of post-its and a lot of coffee and me matching things up because people have specific needs.

And sometimes groups do the work themselves.

“A lot of times, hosts will come up to me and say, ‘I already have a list of bands I’m playing for, or a band will come up and say, ‘Yeah, I’m playing on a friend’s porch,'” Cichoki says .

As executive director, Cichoki oversees other events in the village like the Farmer’s Market on Bidwell Parkway, the Elmwood Village ArtFest, a summer concert series and much more.

These events are not only a way to bring the neighborhood together, but also to bring people who don’t live in the neighborhood to discover the small businesses located along the Elmwood strip.

“They come to the neighborhood, visit the restaurants, stop and have a drink at one of the bars,” he said. “They might not do a lot of shopping on Porch Day or something like that, but they might see something in a store window and think, you know what, I have to come back here on the weekend next time, or I have to come back here and do my Christmas shopping. All of these events are great for the people who live here. They are perfect for businesses. It’s just nice to see our neighborhood thriving like this.

New this year, on Lafayette Avenue, is a carnival-style experience with a Ferris wheel and photo booths.