Somerville Porchfest

Saturday, 10 May 2025

Cloudy with a chance of White Claw at Somerville Porchfest.

Footage featuring Pink Slip, sunnydaze, Defiant Together, Michael Boezi & the Stipulations, Mallcops, Eva Gertz, and See You At Rogers.

Seriously though, the crowds would not be put off by the weather, which, in any event, cleared up by 2PM.

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

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Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️

Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

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Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️

Pink Slip

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. There was a lot of chatter in advance of Somerville Porchfest about changes being made to the event in response to last year’s Guster Affair. But neither rain nor nanny-stating was going to stop the Truly tribes, Hoppy hordes, and White Claw clans from claiming their rightful place in the streets for a day of local music.

To review, the two major changes were (1) certain streets were now “off limits” to performing acts, ostensibly to maintain through access for emergency vehicles, and (2) a new volunteer force of fest “ambassadors” materialized, hanging about and looking fly in their exclusive Somerville Porchfest-branded t-shirts.

The first change produced a supremely predictable result. All the streets where musicians were allowed became that much more crowded. Which was good for performers looking for an audience, even if it artificially manufactured a greater number of uncomfortable pedestrian “pinch points” than in previous years. “Pinch points” are as unfun as they sound, but the locals remained in reasonably good humor.

To the Somerville Arts Council: it’s not at all clear that making certain streets “off limits” to musicians will improve safety or reduce traffic.

The argument that “emergency vehicles can’t get through” is flimsier than drivers care to admit. Pedestrians move out of the way just as easily as cars and they take up less space. Further, are emergencies not just as likely to happen on these suddenly overcrowded sidestreets, jammed up with all the bodies that have been shunted off the main thoroughfares? We’re in danger of making one half of the streets impassable when we make the other half “off limits.”

Also, the old auto transportation adage about “induced demand” (adding lanes increases, instead of reduces, traffic) proved true to my observing eye. The new rules incentivized visitors to Uber to Porchfest instead of taking public transportation. And, once they arrived, to Uber again to more distant porches instead of walking. Meanwhile the Uber drivers didn’t know or care which streets were barricaded for “pedestrians only” – they drove around barriers to collect their fare, and that was that.

Dare to dream of a festival intended for pedestrians that doesn’t need to waste all the available oxygen talking about how to appease auto traffic. But designing an event like Porchfest, planted in the heart of neighborhoods instead of dusty fields or vacant lots, is a challenge. And as long as Porchfest keeps drawing crowds, it’s a circle that the city is going to have to square.

sunnydaze

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