Porchfest Athens 2024!
Porchfest is this Sunday, October 20th, 2024! Porchfest is an Athens event where seven historic neighborhoods host 200+ local performers on people’s porches for TOTALLY FREE concerts! It’s so much fun. If you’re anywhere close to Athens, Georgia this weekend it is worth coming to Porchfest. It’s one of my favorite events of the year (the Wild Rumpus is my favorite!)
Porchfest has 200+ Concerts
With over 200 shows happening on one day, the streets of historic Athens turn into fun, music-filled corridors filled with people walking, biking, riding on their golf carts, and driving to their next location. The number of shows fills this spreadsheet! It’s pretty spectacular to me that something like this happens, totally for free, annually in Athens.
Historic Athens
The venues are peppered throughout historic neighborhoods in Athens: Normaltown, Reece Hancock, Cobbham, Buena Vista Heights, Boulevard, Newtown, and Pulaski Heights. While this might seem like a fairly large area, this walking in this part of Athens is extremely pleasant. There are a few hills, but if you choose wisely you can navigate the streets without having to trek up too many of Athens’ hills. For the trek downtown from Cobbham and Normaltown, I suggest a stroll through Buena Vista Heights on Boulevard instead of Prince Ave. Prince is such a busy vehicle corridor that it’s less pedestrian friendly.
Bikes are the Best
I strongly encourage a bicycle for Porchfest. It’s the best way to get from place to place, especially since some of the neighborhoods are fairly long walks apart. Driving is hit or miss, some places will have some parking available but this is predominantly a walking/biking event, so if you drive you might be looking for parking a lot.
Boulevard gets BUSY during Porchfest
Do not try to drive on Boulevard East of Chase Street. Boulevard hosts two events on Sunday, which happen concurrently. The whole of Boulevard between Chase St. and Barber St. gets shut down for the massive street party, concerts, and the Boo-le-Bark contest and parade.
Multiple concerts are going on as the famous Boo-le-Bark parade goes down the street. It’s a blast, if not a little chaotic with a bunch of people packed onto the streets. Author note: Make sure to come back to Boulevard on Halloween, as it’s such a cool street to go Trick-or-Treating on. Catch the Ghosties and sing Karaoke in the yard, and marvel at the throngs of people in their costumes! It’s my favorite.
Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard
The Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard happens at the same time as Porchfest, and it can get the most packed on Boulevard. Last year I made the mistake of getting stuck on a side street in my car and had to wait to even be able to turn around to get back on Nantahala. I was also looking for my son and walking the length of Boulevard in an absolute crush of people looking for him only to find out he was in Pulaski Heights for another show. Teens.
Click here to view the interactive map of the many locations for concerts this weekend. Come out and catch some live music!
Summary
Porchfest happens in 7 historic Athens neighborhoods and features 200+ musical shows all for free. Come out and experience the fun for yourself!
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