On Saturday, August 17, the porches of Dayton's St. Anne's Hill neighborhood will be transformed into stages. Dayton Porchfest's seventh year will kick off at 12:15pm with TRSS Drum Corps and then over 50 bands will perform from 1 to 6pm. Two of the artists involved, Midwestern Mrs and Wreck League, visited the WYSO studios for a preview of the event. They were joined in studio by Dayton Porchfest co-organizer Peter Benkendorf, who talked with WYSO music director Juliet Fromholt about this year's festival.
For Midwestern Mrs, songwriting and performing are a relatively new practice. She began making music during the pandemic and eventually was able to take that next step onto local stages after lockdown.
"To be able to connect with people, especially in songs that mean a lot to me, and then they connect to it," she says. "It's one of the best feelings in the world. I don't know how to describe it, but when you share your vulnerability with someone and then they share theirs with you as well, it's kind of magical."
Taking that magic of musical connection and bringing it onto local porches for a neighborhood based event is something Dayton Porchfest co-organizer Peter Benkendorf is at the heart of the event. But with over 50 performances over a period of six hours, there's also some strategy involved.
"You know, I posted yesterday, 'are you a planner or are you a pedestrian?'" says Benkendorf. "Some people are going to sit down a week before and they go, 'at 1:00. I'm going to go see these, these, these. And at 2:00...' and other people are going to say, 'hey, I'm just, you know, I'm bringing my wagon and my cooler and my chairs and I'm just going to start walking and, you know, all of this doesn't matter.' It's a chance to go discover musicians, that you've never heard before or, you know, come across the genre of music maybe you hadn't thought you might, you might enjoy. So, it just works on on so many different levels. And, we're excited to be able to bring it back and, and bring it to the community."
For Max Souders of Wreck League, Dayton Porchfest marks an important milestone for the band.
"I think Porch Fest and also being [at WYSO] are things that have been goals of ours. So being able to do that and being able to do it with so many musicians that we love, so many groups that we love, and that we have seen and played with is really awesome. It is like the master collaboration of the year. It's so special. There's nothing like it. What a hallowed event."
Learn more about Dayton Porchfest at https://www.daytonporchfest.org/
