Porchfest is Midtown Sacramento’s sweetest end-of-summer secret | Opinion
For some people, the end of summer is Labor Day weekend. For others, it’s the autumnal equinox, or when the kids go back to school.
For me, it’s Sac Porchfest.
Porchfest, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last weekend, is a community fundraiser that takes place every year on the streets of Midtown Sacramento. Just as the leaves from the tree canopy over Midtown begin to drop, hundreds of Sacramentans show up with blankets, food, dogs, kids and coolers to listen to live music and enjoy their community from the best seat in the house — the street.
The event is free, but donations are encouraged and go to the Mustard Seed School, a school serving unhoused children at Loaves & Fishes, Sacramento’s largest homeless charity.
The only rule at Porchfest is to stay out of the street, as there is no permitting for the event and thus, no street closures. Three houses within walking distance of each other give up their porches for the day and host a large rotation of local bands. Attendees settle on the grassy lawns and sidewalks of Midtown, listen to a set, then pack up and meander to the next house for the following set.
This pattern is followed from around 1 p.m. until about 10 p.m. The makeup of the crowd changes with the waning of the light: From families, dogs and picnic baskets early in the day to mainly young adults, undulating in a mass of sweaty bodies on sidewalks and berms, and not a few suspicious-smells wafting in the air, all activities backlit by twinkling strings of fairy lights and the soft orange glow of the city streetlights. Because it’s centrally located in Midtown, attendees can split off and go to lunch or dinner at any one of the nearby restaurants or bars, and wander back in time for another set. Pre-parties and after-parties stretching into the morning hours are a given.
The centerpiece of festivities is always a home on the corner of 21st and I streets known as the Flop Haus, a Victorian-era building with a communal living arrangement and an outsized artistic flair.
You’ve likely seen the Flop Haus if you’ve ever driven down I Street. Perhaps you’ve wondered why a giant ant was crawling up the side of the house, or gawked at one of the two upstairs balconies with a giant chandelier of candles. (I can attest that the inside of the Flop Haus is even more fascinating, and boasts a blood-red bathroom filled with an unimaginable number of crucifixes.) There’s always someone sitting on the roof, blowing bubbles or throwing candy at the crowd while a band plays on the front porch.
The main attraction of Porchfest is certainly the music, which this year featured a host of semi-well-known names in the local music scene including Bro Brocean, Bad Barnacles, Be Brave Bold Robot and Band of Coyotes. (The alliteration is delightful, but incidental.)
My favorite, though, was The Sugar Pushers — a Halloween-themed band that only plays from now through that holiday. This year, they asked me and my group of friends to help out during the show by getting inside their towering, ghoulish costume: An approximately 8-foot-tall raven head with glowing red eyes that wandered out for their song “Cold Finger.” There was something incredible that came with the anonymity of dancing through the crowd of strangers with a mask on.
It was ironic, or perhaps planned, that this year’s Porchfest aligned with the autumn equinox on Sept. 21, and that this week, the city’s temperatures have dropped so dramatically. The kids are back in school, the leaves are crunchy, a breeze is in the air, and it finally feels like fall is back in Sacramento.
Porchfest, for all of its hundreds of attendees (and growing every year), still has the indescribable magic of a semi-secret, private event. It’s relaxingly easy to make new friends while stretched out on the grass of a stranger’s lawn, watching as mystified, trapped drivers come upon the crowd, forced to slowly pick their way down the street. Eventually, they always roll down their window to ask what’s going on.
I like to think they’ll be in the crowd next year, now that they know the secret of Porchfest.
