The Miller Historic District's eighth annual Porch Fest music festival will feature 38 bands across 11 different porches.
Porch Fest started in 2007 in Ithaca, New York as a free, local music festival held on neighborhood porches during the last Saturday of August in different communities around the United States. The tradition came to Norman in 2016.
Wess McMichael, owner of McMichael Music, co-founded Porch Fest in the Miller Historic District with Sara Kaplan, Norman's chief business and community relations officer.
“She came up with the idea. She read about it or something. It's like, … we could have music on porches,” McMichael said. “As a musician, I know tons of musicians in the Norman, Oklahoma City area, and so the two ideas just kind of came together.”
According to McMichael, Porch Fest paused for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so this will mark their eighth year putting on the festival.
“It builds itself. The people that have the porches love it,” McMichael said. “There's no sponsorship. It's just grassroots, and they help me. They're helping me a lot this year, so it just kind of was a good idea, and people want to have it continue.”
This year's Porch Fest event was scheduled later in September in hopes of cooler weather, McMichael said.
The musician line-up and playing times can be found on McMichael’s website. Parking and t-shirt purchases can be found at 230 Alameda St.
The Miller Historic District streets will be closed for the event. If the provided parking is full, there are public parking lots and ample street parking in the surrounding area.
Porch Fest is 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, and performances are mainly at houses on Miller Avenue.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron. Hannah Lambert and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
