By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
An organizer of the neighborhood music event on Eberly Avenue called Porchfest assured city officials earlier this week that steps are being taken to ensure the event is neighborly.
Mary Dennis, who lives on Eberly Avenue and is a musician, explained the purpose of the annual event being supported by several businesses and residents.
“It brings an afternoon of community, friendship and joy to the neighborhood,” Dennis told Bowling Green City Council.
(A story will appear on Monday about concerns voiced at the council meeting about Arlyn’s Good Beer.)
Porchfests are held across the nation, Dennis said, on neighborhood porches rather than in typical concert venues. “It’s about renewing friendships and creating new ones,” she said. “Porchfest is a peaceful gathering of friends.”
This year’s event is scheduled for four hours in the afternoon of June 4.
Dennis responded to complaints made at the previous City Council meeting, when fellow Eberly Avenue neighbor David Wilson said people walked on his lawn and a couple people came onto his porch during last year’s Porchfest.
She explained that organizers reached out many times to neighbors in person, through email, and by letters about their plans for the event. They met in person with a few concerned residents.
“We’ve welcomed everyone’s comments and suggestions,” Dennis said.
The organizers have taken action to respond to concerns about litter, access to bathrooms, parking and people walking on lawns, she said.
Trash receptacles will be set out, and volunteers will take care of any littering that occurs. Some nearby businesses have offered their parking lots for Porchfest parking. Safety cones will be positioned, so people attending know which yards to stay off of. And four homes have opened their bathrooms to those attending. The locations of those homes will be available on maps of the event.
Volunteers will direct people to the porches where music will be performed.
But Wilson, who was also at Monday’s City Council meeting, still wasn’t sold on the event.
This year’s Porchfest is “quite commercialized,” he said, and will potentially attract more spectators to hear more bands scheduled to play.
Wilson wanted it known that not all businesses in the area have agreed to allow Porchfest spectator parking. He said he has expressed his concerns to the police.
His goal is to “protect the privacy of our neighborhood,” he said. “Not everyone’s on board with this.”
At the previous City Council meeting, Wilson said Porchfest and its “unnecessary distraction threatening our neighborhood” has caused him many hours and days of undue stress and loss of productive work time.
Last year’s Porchfest was relatively low key. An estimated 120-150 people showed up throughout the free four-hour event.
But Wilson fears this year’s event – with more bands and with more publicity – will be out of control.
Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter explained the city’s stance on Porchfest, which she said is intended to foster unity and neighborhood cohesiveness. The organizers were asked to consider using a public site like the Wooster Green, but declined.
The event falls in a gray area for the city, since the organizers aren’t requesting a permit to block off the street, and they aren’t requesting to use public property, she said.
Tretter said Porchfest organizers met with city, police and fire officials about their plans.
“The Porchfest organizers were responsive,” and assured they would post which lawns are not part of the event, she said.
