Heading into its fourth year, BG Porchfest is growing, with more bands, more porches and their first international band, Canadians Rose Cora Perry & The Truth Untold.
The BG Porchfest organizers are bringing Porchfest to Eberly Avenue, and the surrounding Bowling Green streets, on Saturday.
BG Porchfest President Brian Young said the plan was to expand porches and bands this year.
“We have 18 bands of various genres playing on 15 porches on Eberly Avenue, Gorrell Avenue, Hankey, and West Wooster,” Young said. “We wanted to expand to some new bands that have not played Porchfest before while keeping some of the fan favorites and so we felt we needed to add a few bands in order to do that.”
Rose Cora Perry had heard about the national Porchfest phenomena, and the BG Porchfest fit into their touring schedule, but also fit the band’s attitude and philosophy.
They play a brand of rock that is often compared to a 90s-influenced alternative sound that has a punk influence, but with a personal message, that has been compared to writing like Alanis Morisette, but a rock sound that’s compared with rocker Joan Jett.
“I’m not going to be insulted by that comparison, as a young gal, who grew up in the 90s, in Canada,” Perry said. “I think what makes our music interesting is having a lot of diverse influences. I’ve obviously been a band frontwoman for many years, and I’ve also done singer-songwriter acoustic stuff, showing a more vulnerable sensibility, but ultimately, with this latest project, The Truth Untold, which we’re touring, I wanted to find a way to bring these influences together.”
With the steadily increasing attention to BG Porchfest, Young commented on their biggest challenge.
“Getting the bands to play has never been the hard part – It was getting the porches in the right areas for the bands to play on that had been an issue,” Young said.
Organizers found several homeowners in the area that were willing to host a band on their porch, by expanding beyond the original Eberly Avenue locations.
“A few of the bands that have been with us from the beginning are taking a break this year as we wanted to remain fresh with new artists every year but able to always maintain local favorites over the years,” Young added.
Other acts include: Cigar Box Scott, Corduroy Road, Cowboy Car, Freight Street, Ginger & the Snaps, GRUBs, Herbie & the Lovebugs, Illegal Smiles, It’s Somewhat Humanoid, Joe Baker Band, Jolly Gabbers, Kam Frankart, Over Medicated, Ramblin’ Rhythm, Sam Shaba, Samba, The Extras and Tom Gorman & Friends.
BG Porchfest has also expanded with merchandise – new T- Shirts designed by artist Amy Karlovec will be on sale in a limited number and artist and engraver Amy Davis of Round & Round Gifts donated time to provide Porchfest water bottles and bottle openers. Another artist and founding member, Mary Dennis is providing a limited number of ceramic porchfest mugs at the merch table as well.
“We just hope for good weather and fun times,” adds Young. “Because the purpose is to not only provide a unique music festival, free to the public with various types of music, but to also get people out to meet with each other and make new friends, It’s always been about that.”
The event begins at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, with the Bowling Green State University Falcon Samba Bateria kicking it off. A new band will start every 15 minutes, somewhere in the walkable area. Maps will be provided online and at the event. Each band plays for 45 minutes.
Porchfest ends at 7 p.m. Parking areas will be on the public streets, but also highlighted on the map, which is available at https://bgporchfest.com/home.
