Looking for a little more bang for your buck? How about more drums for your dollars? More bluegrass for your bills? More country for your coins?
RappArts has the event for you: six hours of music for $10.
The fifth annual RappArts PorchFest sets up in Fredericksburg’s College Terrace neighborhood on Saturday. From 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., 14 acts set up on the front porch of homes in the 1300-1400 blocks of Franklin Street and the two 900 blocks of Monument Avenue.
It’s a neighborhood block party that fulfills three goals, said RappArts president Cathy Walker.
“First, we want to showcase both the novice and the veteran musicians that we have locally,” Walker said.
She also wants to shine a spotlight on the wide range of musical styles area artists create and expose people to new genres of music.
“We hope people will come and listen to a different type of music that they might not have been comfortable with…to just sort of widen their horizons,” Walker said”
The last goal is the most important to Walker and RappArts: encouraging connections.
“We do want people to come and realize that meeting together with friends and talking to each other, being part of a community is really important and it helps us,” she said. “I think we become better human beings when we are united through music.”
Guests are invited to set up their camp chairs on the sidewalk or street to enjoy six hours of music. (Photo courtesy of RappArts)
The nonprofit RappArts was organized exclusively to advance the region’s arts and cultural life. Musicians interested in playing PorchFest must apply to the arts organization to be considered for the lineup and submit a video showcasing their style and sound. The performers are asked to consider that the event is family friendly and adjust their sets accordingly.
“This year, in fact, I did talk to one of our groups that are a ‘loud’ group,” Walker said. “I said, ‘I really need you to know that this is a family-friendly group event. We want everyone to feel comfortable there. So, you may need to tone down a little bit of the metal’.”
The event is alcohol-free, so no coolers are allowed in; food trucks will be on site. Guests are encouraged to bring folding chairs, sunscreen and water. For kids, there will be sidewalk chalk, bubbles and possibly cornhole boards.
Stay all day or get a wristband and come and go as you please, Walker said. Each act performs for one hour.
This year’s lineup includes The Rappahannock Choral Society, The Wellbillies, Jon Tyler Wiley, Moch Pryderi, Laurie Rose Griffith and Peter Mealy, Nowhere Band, The Fall-Line Band, Emily Woodhull, Brother Reggie Carreker, Brian Lyra Brown, Anderson Gould, Ladia, The BST Band and Timbre.
Walker said the first PorchFest in 2018 on Marye Street felt like a novelty. Five years later, she has had no trouble finding a neighborhood to volunteer to host the next one.
“We want people to just come and really revel in the music more than anything else and in the sense of community,” she said. “It just warms my heart and I think everybody leaves there thinking, ‘Wow, this is really a great thing’, and ‘Wow, I didn’t know that we had this many musicians that were so good’ or ‘Hey, what about that young girl? I can’t believe she’s so good. How old is she?’”
Admission for PorchFest is $10 for adults, teens 11-17 $5, children under 10 are free. Cash is preferred.
Walker suggests parking at the UMW lot on Sunken Road but added that there will be plenty of street parking in the College Terrace neighborhood. Stop by the RappArts Welcome Tent to see an exhibit on the history of the neighborhood plus a program and schedule for the day via QR codes.
“We may have differing opinions about a lot of other things, but music brings us together as people… arts unite us. Arts reflect us. We ought to be able to enjoy an afternoon or even an hour together and share in the joy of music or share in the laughter. There’s an innate rhythm in every one of us and music sort of brings it out for us to join that rhythm together.”
