By Kathleen McKenna

This Saturday, the streets of Kenberma will be transformed into a music festival featuring 30-plus bands from all over the Boston area – in genres including bluegrass, jazz, blues, plus plenty of rock’n’roll – who’ll perform for attendees of all ages on donated porches and driveways that become stages for the one-day event.

Anna DALEY YOUNG, shown here during a preview show on the kenberma sidewalk, will be one of the performers featured during this weekend’s hull porchfest 2024. [Photo by jennifer Whelan]

Hull PorchFest, which is scheduled for September 14 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., follows a series of successful preview shows staged outside Nantasket Paint & Hardware and the Saltwater Diner for the past eight Saturdays.

Organizers are relieved that this weekend’s forecast calls for sunny skies and summery temperatures, especially since the 2023 festival was washed out by a day of relentless rain. New additions this year include MJ’s Food Truck, which supplied lobster rolls, salads, slushies, and more to beachgoers at the HRA lot this summer, and the Vitamin Sea Brewing truck.

“We are so excited to celebrate the Hull community and showcase our local musicians on what appears will be a beautiful day,” said PorchFest President Sue Lynch. “Our team has worked collaboratively with our town leaders and businesses to make this year’s family-friendly event happen.”

Begun in 2018, PorchFest has become a beloved Hull tradition. It’s a highly walkable and bikeable event that takes place in the rectangle formed by Kenberma and Revere Streets, and Nantasket and Manomet Avenues.

The PorchFest tradition began in 2007 in Ithaca, N.Y., with neighbors teaming up to offer their front porches as venues so that attendees could stroll the streets and experience local live music.

An increasing number of Massachusetts cities and towns besides Hull now embrace the idea, including Milton, Quincy, Jamaica Plain, and Somerville, which hosts upward of 400 bands at its PorchFest each May.

Hull’s PorchFest is unusual is that it’s also a registered non-profit that raises funds for a rotating list of worthy causes. In the past PorchFest raised money for the Anne M. Scully Senior Center and the Hull High School band program. Net proceeds this year from PorchFest merchandise that will be sold Saturday, plus donations raised at a series of off-season fundraisers at the C-Note Music Club and The Parrot, will go toward programs for veterans organized and run by the Hull Lifesaving Museum.

“We’re so grateful for everyone’s support as we raise funds for our local veterans,” said Lynch, who currently serves as a U.S. Army colonel. “We hope everyone comes out and joins us Saturday.”

For PorchFest map and more info, visit hullporchfest.org.

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