SEVENTH ANNUAL BINGHAMTON PORCHFEST
STRIKES A CHORD ON THE WEST SIDE
Binghamton, NY – Residents of Binghamton’s West Side neighborhood are tuning their guitars and pruning their begonias in anticipation of Binghamton Porchfest 2022, back for a seventh year next Sunday, August 28, from noon to 7 p.m.
Porchfest invites thousands of community members each summer for a free afternoon of live music performed from the residential porches, stoops, and yards of the Abel Bennett Historic Tract. The 2022 festival features a whopping 165 local and regional bands and 59 host locations, showcasing folk music alongside hip-hop, opera next door to heavy metal, high school rock bands, bassoon quartets, Irish fiddling, jazz, country, steel drums and punk.
Food vendors and restroom locations dot the neighborhood and a free shuttle traverses the perimeter of the roughly quarter square mile festival footprint, defined by the rough borders of Riverside Drive, Chestnut Street, Recreation Park, and Beethoven Street.
Most roads will be closed to traffic, however Lourdes Hospital is offering free parking in their back lot at the end of Lourdes Road. Trash and recycling bins will be available throughout the neighborhood, and for the first time this year, cans will be collected to benefit fundraising efforts for the Danielle House. Directly following the festival, clean up crews will gather bins and accumulated waste (in addition to regularly scheduled weekly pickup).
“Porchfest has grown into one of Binghamton’s most anticipated annual events, drawing crowds to the West Side each year for a unique community experience and some of the best live music our region has to offer,” said Mayor Jared M. Kraham. “Since its start in 2015, Porchfest has become a defining event for Binghamton and what makes it a great place to live, from a flourishing arts and culture scene to our vibrant neighborhoods. Thank you to festival director Chris Bodnarczuk, his staff and all the volunteers who work with the City of Binghamton to bring Porchfest to our community.”
Like the many other Porchfests operating independently throughout the country, Binghamton Porchfest is modeled after a DIY community festival hosted by the residents of Ithaca, NY since 2007.
Binghamton Porchfest 2022 is made possible by presenting sponsor True View Security Solutions, with additional support from the City of Binghamton and Mayor Jared Kraham, Cavanaugh’s Grocery, Davidson Fox, and Visions Federal Credit Union. This event is made possible with public funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and administered by The Earlville Opera House. Additional support for the Broome SCR Program graciously provided by the Stewart W. and Willma C. Hoyt Foundation, Inc.