Wallingford Porchfest Returns!

Back by popular demand for its fourth consecutive year, Seattle’s most DIY music festival, Porchfest, will bring the rock, folk, hip hop, punk, and even a little marimba to northern Wallingford (aka Tangletown) on June 15.

Wallingford Porchfest began in the summer of 2021, as Seattle was slowly creeping out of COVID lockdown. We the people were newly vaxxed but still a little wary of indoor crowds, so a group of neighbors opened up their porches to local musicians, providing concert lovers a much needed dose of the live music experience they’d been craving for the previous sixteen months. And a street party was born.

The past two years have seen the festival become slightly more organized, with printed posters and a little more buzz on Facebook and Instagram. Still, the event has remained low key and there’s no reason to think this year’s event will be any different (even if they have doubled the number of porta potty locations…from one to two).

Beginning at Noon this Saturday an ecletic group of 16 bands will perform on eleven separate porch “stages” until 8:30 pm. If you didn’t attend Porchfest I, II or III, you will be amazed by the coordination of the small festival, with each band performing almost immediately after the previous one. The event is free and open to all ages, but donations via Venmo (@wallingfordporchfest) are welcome and all money will go directly to the musicians.

As in previous years, Dave Hernandez will be selling New Mexican food in the middle of it all, and there will be an ice cream truck rolling through the neighborhood. Local dive bar Leny’s will be selling hotdogs and other snacks for carry out, and will also be hosting their second annual “Pourfest,” featuring even more live music.

But wait…there’s more! Restaurant Christine will have live music from 6:00 to 9:00pm, and Zoka will be featuring a Porchfest Lavender Chai or Cold Brew drink special for $3.50. Finally, a close examination of the Porchfest poster shows that Darkalino’s and Lil Woody’s are listed as “local sponsors” of the festival. Could their grand openings at the corner of 56th and Kirkwood be far behind? That’s news for a future Wallyhood story.