Big Thank Yous

Porchfest Sebastopol would love to THANK all 42 bands who played this year.  We know some of them had other gigs that day and we salute their efforts to keep music local and accessible.  They played for free!

Please people, if you can, SUPPORT THESE ARTISTS when you see them playing around town and support them on the social media.  They all probably have Venmo accounts which can be found.

 

2025 Acts to check out

Julia Hunt
Mazon Mendoza
Barbed Wire Valentine
Lady Bloom
Doron and Friends
House Catz
Marcos Pereda
Aaron Ruiz from Hard Medicine Corporation
Deeep Cover
Revolve
BMR
Late But Ready
School of Rock Dad Band 3
School of Rock Funk Band 2
School of Rock House Band 1
Hubbub Club
Bohemian Highway
SABIEE
Brittany Aquamarine
SPACE
Finding.Nic0
Roots Fusion
Petrified Sun
Matty Tucker
Sonomacana
Under A New Sun
Gill Brothers
Osito
Sakoyana
Marshall House Project
945 The Band
Gradina
Clementine Darling
Mazie Lewis
Dantana
Sloan Irving
Peyton Roze
Lola Guthrie & Kai Guthrie
Mama Crow
Space Walker
Ellie James
Flowstone

Five artists will kick off PorchFest this year promptly at Noon.

Julia Hunt - Campanella Stage

Bohemium Highway - KB Properties Stage by Chimera

Matty Tucker - Solful Stage

Gradina - Taste West County Stage

Revolve - The Judd Patio Stage by School of Rock

We have schedule boards and a mobile schedule so you can keep track of all the artists and stages throughout the day. Have fun. Stay safe. Be kind. Make friends.

A model attendee..

Whatever you bring, pack it out too. Leave no trace. This is our park, in our neighborhood.
Bring your own beer cup if you drink beer.
Use the port-a-potties (really!)
Respect the park, follow the normal park rules.
Bring a folding chair if you like to sit.
Visit the food trucks and wine garden.

Check out the SebArts gallery! There’s a fiber arts exhibit there right now that blew me away! They’re doing a terrific job there and more people should know about them.

Visit local businesses on your way in/out!  We are members of the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce and there are many different businesses you’d sure like to support.

Porchfest by MusicWire

Sebastopol’s Porchfest Grows Into “Hardly” Porchfest

By Dee Gee, Punmaster MusicWire

A Porch With Seven Doors

In Sebastopol, California, the porches got too small. What started as a quaint idea—neighbors opening up their stoops for musicians and passersby—outgrew itself overnight. Last year’s inaugural Porchfest on High Street was supposed to be an intimate neighborhood stroll. Instead, it became a full-on block party that quadrupled expectations, with fiddles and guitars competing against traffic, kids, dogs, and the occasional PG&E truck. The event was so alive, it scared the infrastructure.

So this year, the porches are moving into the park. On Saturday, September 13th, “Hardly” Porchfest takes over Ives Park and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts with 40 bands, seven “porchlet” stages, and a whole lot more room for the music to breathe. Think of it as Sebastopol’s own folk remedy: a way to keep the neighborly spirit while turning the volume up to community scale.

Porchfest has always thrived on its homegrown angle. This isn’t a festival with tour buses and barricades—it’s the bands you’ve heard in backyards, at farmers markets, at HopMonk open mics, and in that funky tasting room on Main Street. Some are debuting for the first time; others are old hands at turning a three-chord song into a singalong.

And leave it to Sebastopol to add a little quirk. This year’s program promises a “musical mushroom” installation—fungi wired with sensors that create tones and rhythms when touched. Only in this town could you grab a glass of kombucha, tap a chanterelle, and find yourself in a jam session.

Free In The Afternoon, Flowing Into The Night

From noon to six, the park will be alive with every flavor—folk harmonies, reggae grooves, blues growlers, jazz heads, indie dreamers, and plenty of bands that don’t fit into any neat label. Then, as the daylight winds down, the party shifts indoors to SebArts.

The after-hours lineup is a statement of Porchfest’s future: Ellie James, a rising local pop artist who cut her teeth at last year’s event, shares the stage with Flowstone, a jam band whose sets often stretch into the stratosphere. A $10 donation is suggested, but true to the Porchfest spirit, no one will be turned away.

A Local Spin on a National Phenomenon

Porchfests have sprouted everywhere—from Napa to San Rafael to New England towns that inspired the whole movement back in 2007. But Sebastopol’s version has its own DNA. It’s a mash-up of small-town hippie roots and a serious commitment to showcasing artists who don’t always get stage time at ticketed clubs. The “Hardly” in the name is a wink at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, but the intent is all Sebastopol: keep it free, keep it fun, and keep it real.

Looking Ahead

Organizer Greg “Ceni” Ceniceroz, who has hosted nearly 400 open mics in town, says the long game is still to bring Porchfest back to the porches—with a little more prep and community dialogue. Until then, the park is home, and Sebastopol has itself a new September tradition: seven porches, no fences, and a whole lot of music for the price of showing up.

So grab a blanket, grab your neighbors, and get ready to hear Sebastopol the way it was meant to sound: one porchlet at a time.

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The music at "Hardly" PorchFest this year is going to be supported by several local food, wine, and beer merchants.

We have Reggae Rasta Styles serving great Jamaican food and Lucha Sabina offering Oaxaca street food. And to cool you off, we have Kona Ice.

Back for a second year is our friends Old Caz who have donated some of their micro-brews. And joining us this year for the first time is Taste West County who have been so kind to provide us with West County wines Purple Pachyderm, Joseph Jewel, Dutton Estate, and Pellegrini.

While you're enjoying the great music, please take the time to taste some of what our food and beverage partners and volunteers are serving in the south parking lot at the Sebastopol Center for The Arts.

 

"Hardly" PorchFest
September 13th - Noon to 6 PM
Ives Park and Sebastopol Center for The Arts.

Bike parking

The fine folks at Bike Sebastopol (Thanks, Tor!) will be providing free, valet bike parking at Porchfest near the pool.  You bike will be secure and we encourage biking to Porchfest and anywhere else.

This will be FREE with a donation/tip option which helps them be able to keep doing things like this.

Note:  They’ll only be there until 6pm-ish so if you’re planning to attend the after-party, you should bring a lock and bike light as you might have to move your bike after 6pm.

This year we've partnered with the Sebastopol Center for The Arts (SebArts) to be the central hub for PorchFest. SebArts was founded in 1988 and as many of you know, part of it's mission is to "...[cultivate] creativity and [inspire] appreciation for the transformative power of art." It only makes sense that Sebastopol PorchFest and SebArts came together to promote and cultivate this year's lineup of talented acts that will perform across seven stages. Three of those stages are located at SebArts.

In conjunction with PorchFest this year, SebArts opens its Art Trails preview. Starting September 13, some of the work of the ~150 artists who will participate in Art Trails this year will be on display in the galleries at SebArts. Please take some time on PorchFest day to visit the galleries and see the work of these local fine artists.