Nine Years Apart performs during the 2015 Oakhurst Porchfest.
Photo: Jonathan Phillips

This story has been updated. 

Oakhurst Porchfest has grown by leaps and bounds in its second year.

The event, which is free to attend, is quickly becoming one of, if not the premiere event in the city of Decatur.

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Decatur Metro, one of the principal organizers of the event, reports that this year 185 acts have signed up to perform on porches in Oakhurst on Oct. 8. There were 134 performances last year. The event begins at 12 p.m. and ends at 6 p.m.

To get a size of the scale of this year’s event, check out this map:

The event is is modeled after a similar event in Ithaca, N.Y. That first year of event’s Porchfest had 25 to 27 performances.

For more information about this year’s Oakhurst Porchfest, click here.

To see Decaturish.com’s photos from last year’s event, click here.

The organizers of Porchfest put out the following press release on Sept. 26.

Unprecedented 185 Bands Scheduled for 2nd Annual Oakhurst Porchfest

Neighborhood-run event to be powered by over 800 volunteers

On Saturday, October 8, from 12-6pm, 185 separate bands will perform on an equal number of porches and lawns throughout Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood, in what’s now become “the largest organic, free-range, crowd-sourced music festival in the state of Georgia.”

It’s community-run, open to all, and one hundred percent free.

A joint collaboration of resident Scott Doyon, local blog Decatur Metro, and the nonprofit Decatur Arts Alliance, the Oakhurst Porchfest will transform the neighborhood into an expansive, musically-diverse event a square mile in size where all responsibility for managing the day’s logistics falls to the more than 800 volunteers offering up their porches or performing hour-long sets.

“We set the schedule, arrange for port-a-johns, and promote,” says Doyon. “Everything else — performance logistics, keeping order, providing food — gets delegated to the neighborhood. And they handle it beautifully.”

The result is a largely self-managed, neighbor-to-neighbor celebration of music and community.

Mirroring an event born in Ithaca, New York, in 2007 and since embraced by over 60 cities around the continent, the Oakhurst Porchfest is set to feature rock, pop, funk, folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, soul, electronica, and more. Porches and lawns throughout the neighborhood serve as stages and anyone is free to walk or bike around, enjoy great music, hang out on lawns and sidewalks, and connect with neighbors old and new.

Parking is available on-street or in decks and lots throughout the neighborhood, though visitors are strongly encouraged to instead arrive on foot, by bike, via carshare, or by exiting MARTA’s Blue Line at the East Lake Station.

Everything you need to know about attending, including the complete schedule, is available on the event’s website: www.oakhurstporchfest.org.

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