Porchfest draws thousands for outdoor music at 14 homes
‘This is the first slice of normal Shore life I’ve had in months'
The fourth annual Asbury Park PorchFest that features musical acts on porches in Asbury Park broke prior attendance records with an unofficial estimate of 4,000-5,000 attendees on Saturday.
“This was clearly the most,” said PorchFest founder and organizer Jordan Modell. “I think people were starved for music. One woman told me ‘This is the first slice of normal Shore life I’ve had in months.’”
This year’s Asbury Park PorchFest featured over 70 musical acts on 14 porches in the city. Modell said the estimate of 4,000-5,000 attendees came from police officers who he spoke to on the scene. Crowds observed at the event appeared consistent with that estimate.
At one Sunset Avenue venue, for example, a large crowd spilled well across the street into Sunset Park to listen to veteran area bluesman Chuck Lambert.
“Next year for the fifth year we want to go all out with 25 porches and 130-150 musical acts.” Modell said.
Organizers were very concerned about pandemic safety, and Modell — who was “on mask patrol” — said we “had incredible mask compliance.”
“People had a good time in a safe environment,” he said. “Ninety percent of the people wore masks. The rest self-isolated and moved enough distance away. It was almost perfect compliance. We were so happy with that.”
Modell said that aside from himself there are four other volunteers who do the overall organizing: Dave Vargo who handles all the music, Kathleen Whipp who does the website and some social media, Evie Task who does social media and organizes all the ushers and John Grant who Modell says “is the person who fills in for everything. He’s the backbone.”
Modell also had high praise for the Asbury Park Police Department.
“I’d also like to thank the Asbury Park Police Department. They were great. They all wore masks. They were nice to everyone. They were tremendous,” he said.
PorchFest was founded in Ithaca, New York in September 2007 by neighbors Gretchen Hildreth and Lesley Greene. Over the years the concept of hosting performances on front porches, for an audience who moved from home to home, has grown with communities around the United States organizing PorchFests of all sizes.
For more information on Asbury Park PorchFest visit their website at apporchfest.org.
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