NOTE: The Vine St. stages will be open later than neighborhood locations. If any players want to join there, it will be open to audience participation.

CORRECTION: In our original version Eric Reneker's last name was misspelled.

By Benji Bergstrand

Porch Fest is coming to Bluffton on Saturday, August 31. This community-wide music festival held on porches throughout the Bluffton community will feature 15 different performers/groups playing at 12 different locations. 

Porch Fest coordinator Eric Reneker drew inspiration from a global movement called Play Music on the Porch Day. “The event is a celebration of music world-wide,” Reneker said. “The Bluffton library has a Monday evening Strummin’ and Hummin’ group that has celebrated this for many years on the front porch of the library. They will be doing it again this Saturday at 10:00 a.m.”

This year, for the first time, the group at the library will be followed by a roster of local musicians offering music from genres including folk, rock, indie, funk, country, rap and jazz.  There are cover bands and bands that play original music. There’s even an open mic stage. If you can’t find something your speed in this group of offerings, maybe you just don’t like music. 

There will be multiple bands to choose from at the top of every hour from noon-7:00 p.m. Each set is scheduled to run for 45 minutes, giving attendees time to travel to their next destination without missing any of the music.

With the exception of the Bluffton Public Library and Vine St. locations, all of the music will be played on porches provided for free by Bluffton residents. 

The musicians are also playing for free, but Reneker hopes that people will take time to show their appreciation: “The performers are not being paid, so I am asking everyone to tip generously!”

More information and copies of the map and schedule are available at the library and online. “I will have updates throughout the day of the performances on the Facebook page. The map and schedule list the general genre of the performers and the location/time.” Reneker said.