By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Saturday’s show in Bowling Green was a first for Rose Cora Perry and the Truth Untold. The trio has played in a bowling alley and a boat storage warehouse. This was the first time the rockers from London, Ontario had played on a porch.
The band traveled from their home in Canada Saturday to participate in Porchfest in Bowling Green.
In an interview before the show, Perry said they were looking forward to a welcoming community event. And that’s what they got. “This is what music is about,” Perry said after schmoozing with fans and signing CDs and t-shirts. “This is what any musician would want, playing for an appreciative audience.”
It was a day of “dancing around with folks from the neighborhood,” sang another performer Justin Newcomb, who performs as It’s Somewhat Humanoid.
The Truth Untold traveled the furthest to get there, though Perry laughed off the idea of their coming “all the way” from Canada. It wasn’t so far a trip considering they’ve recently played a show in the state of Delaware and have a forthcoming show in Wisconsin.
Porchfest also featured Sam Shaba, a BGSU student from Malawi. He performed with his band that included a couple other African students.
Porchfest 2024 gathered 18 bands performing mostly on porches but also garages and inside Arlyn’s Good Beer. Eberly Avenue provided the main strip with venues also on Gorrell and West Wooster as well.
The organizers estimated about 800 people attended year’s Porchfest.
“Great day, Great crowd. Great weather,” said Sean Brennan, an organizer whose house hosted bands.
The festival was laid out to leave plenty of room between stages. That both minimized any bleed through of sound from one act to the other, and it also spread out the audience, said Mary Dennis of the organizing committee. Dennis said attendees were considerate of the restrictions inherent of staging an event in a neighborhood, including not blocking the street.
Eugene Paik came from Findlay. He was planning for a day at Lake Erie, but when he perused events listings for the Toledo area he spotted Porchfest and decided to spend the day in BG.
He’d recently attended the New Orleans Jazz Festival, which has a porch concerts component.
Other places would seem likely hosts for this kind of event, especially towns with good university music programs. “But not every place is this hip,” Paik said. “So props to BG.”
Sean McGavin and Tyler Burg, who along with Craig Spicer, are The Jolly Gabbers, played a set right across the street from Perry and The Truth Untold.
Burg performed at Porchfest’s earliest incarnation when single shows were performed on porches the summer of 2020 during the pandemic.
He played solo then, but since he’s brought along the band. Attendance has grown over the past three years. “This is a really great crowd,” he said.
The event has provided good exposure for the band, all BGSU graduates, he said. “It’s a great outlet.”
McGavin appreciates the opportunity the hear so many other local bands and get to talk with other musicians and listeners.
Saxophonist Mike Williams has been a Porchfest regular. Last year he played three sets. This year, he played only with openers Illegal Smiles.But when the festival was wrapping up at 7 p.m. he was still there chatting with fans and fellow musicians and enjoying the scene.
Tom Vasey opened and closed Porchfest. He filled in for Greg Rich fronting Illegal Smiles, the John Prine tribute band, which was made up for the occasion by Freight Street’s violinist Kathleen Schnerer and drummer JP Stebal along with Williams on saxophone. Freight Street’s Flan Murnen stepped in to sing “Paradise.”
Freight Street was back four hours later on stage closing the show. In between Vasey and Stebal performed with Cowboy Car.
Vasey said Freight Street has performed for the past three years, and returning has shown how much both their performances and the festival has grown.
They were more uncertain when they took the stage at Porchfest in 2022. Now they were confident as they closed out the show playing for several hundred gathered in front of 208 Eberly.
Brian Young, one of the founders, said having Freight Street close is a testament to the band’s popularity.
A group of cousins set up a lemonade stand on Eberly for the third year. Though originally the idea was for them to keep the money, they decided instead to donate the proceeds to the Brown Bag Food Project, said Weston Giesige. As they were closing up, they said they’d raised $400, bringing their total of money raised in three years to about $1,200.
“I feel it gathers everyone together,” his sister Addie said of Porchfest.
“People are chill,” Weston added.
Tahla Wilhelm, their cousin, said running the stand is fun especially because they can hear the music from the porch over on Gorrell.
Harmon Wilhelm, another cousin, was also on hand.
They credited their aunt Chris Wilhelm with giving them the idea for the stand and assisting with the effort.
Brennan said there are no plans to expand the festival.
Young said the organizing committee will meet in a week to discuss how this year’s event, which costs $3,000-$4,000 to stage.
In early fall they will gather again to start planning the 2025 Porchfest, and another day of dancing with folks in the neighborhood.
