Isn’t it amazing what a festival can do to bolster a community’s prideful spirits? This past Saturday was the inaugural South Buffalo Porchfest, and according to orchestrator Paul Blake (Can You Dig It, Inc.), it was even better than expected. The band turnout was enormous (70 music acts) and music lovers flocked out in all directions to hear their favorite musicians play on their favorite porches.
Incredibly, it looks as South Buffalo Porchfest might just surpass the Elmwood Village Porchfest in years to come, according to Blake. If it sounds as if Blake is being a bit competitive about the dueling Porchfests, he is. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, the more zealous that people get about their neighborhood pride, the better it is for Buffalo. Heck, maybe someday there might even be a battle of the neighborhood Porchfest bands? How cool would that be? Take a couple of the crowd favorites, put them on some of the best porches, and let them duke it out.
As for the Saturday’s Porchfest success, Blake says, “It was fantastic. Weather cooperated, and the people loved it! Bigger and better next year! We couldn’t be happier with the turnout for the 2019 South Buffalo Porchfest. The community and artists really embraced the event. We had over 65 porches and bands, and the weather could not have been better.
“The wide variety of musical genres that were represented, provided something for everyone. The feedback that we have received from the community, people from other towns that made the trek in, and the artists themselves, has been overwhelmingly positive. To us, this event was about neighbors meeting neighbors, bringing people into our part of town to learn about our shops and restaurants, and most importantly supporting the very talented local musicians. We believe that the community supported our thoughts on this, and really bought into the idea and power of the Porchfest model.
“In addition to the support we received from volunteers, porch owners, artists, and sponsors, we have to thank the folks at the Elmwood Village Association for taking our call last winter, and providing some helpful tips that gave us a running start. We look at their event as the example for excellence, and we believe that we can be every bit as big and successful as them, and we look forward to the challenge!
Can You Dig It, Inc, our not for profit that ran this event, is now turning our attention to the 2019 South Buffalo Irish Festival that will be held in Cazenovia Park on September 7th. This event is a free all day event that has two stages, nine bands, Irish dancers, pipers, local vendors, a kids zone, and business expo never disappoints and typically gets over 5,000 visitors each year. This year we have Coheadliners Emish and Larry Kirwan (of Black 47 fame) playing. We hope that some of the new faces that we saw yesterday saw that we can throw a party, and will come join us in September for the 19th year of this wonderful cultural festival.”
Photos courtesy South Buffalo Porchfest
