When Uptown Porchfest organizer Lisa Martelly lived in Boston, she said that “the best day of the year” was the porchfest in the Somerville neighborhood. When she moved back to Minneapolis and got more involved with the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Organization, she felt the neighborhood needed its own porchfest.
“I got a friend to help me, and it was really just like the two of us kind of winging it, operating on a lot of confidence that it would work out.” Martelly said, a few days out from the second annual Uptown Porchfest on Aug. 17. “I think it really helped that I had proof of concept of the Somerville Porchfest. Like, no really it can work.”
Ignoring people’s suggestions to make the event smaller, Martelly, “stubborn and confident,” worked alongside her friend Amy Goldstein to produce a successful inaugural Uptown Porchfest on Aug. 19, 2023.
“I have high expectations, and it totally blew them away,” Martelly said. ”People really embodied the spirit of Porchfest.”
Martelly wanted to create an event that brings the community together while maintaing a DIY attitude. The afternoon, music-forward event is a collaboration of neighbors in the Wedge hosting musicians on their porches, or yards, or steps.
“People kind of make it what they want to make it,” Martelly said.”It's local bands doing whatever they want to do. The people who are hosting music, do whatever they want to do.”
As for why the Lowry Hill East/Wedge-based gathering is called the Uptown Porchfest?
“Uptown is a state of mind,” Martelly said without missing a beat.
This Saturday’s Uptown Porchfest features 68 bands across 33 porches with Mueller Park being the event’s center point for bathrooms, food, information, and a kid's area.
“People need to choose their own adventure,” Martelly said about the event’s stacked line-up of musicians and activities.
What’s really important to Martelly is that people have the opportunity to connect during the four hours on Saturday.
“There are all these young people just craving opportunities to connect with each other,” Martelly said. “It can be really hard, especially after the pandemic, especially in a city. You live in the densest neighborhood in the city, and you can even still sometimes feel disconnected from your neighbors.”
The Uptown Porchfest runs from 1-5 p.m. on Aug. 17 throughout the Wedge neighborhood. A map of the event is online with analog maps available in-person. The Uptown Porchfest website has details about the performing musicians. There are free bus passes available for the event through Metro Transit.
