Front porch stages and backyard greenrooms — inside Fresno’s signature music event

Joshua Lara is in full-on go mode prepping for Tower Porchfest.

He’s serving double duty, as both a performer (he’ll be playing in two bands) and as a promoter, helping curate a day’s worth of music at one of the festival’s 90 porch/stages.

As a co-presenter at “Roosevelt Manor,” Lara has nearly two dozen, mostly young bands lined up to perform Saturday on two makeshift stages at the house on Roosevelt Avenue, just off Olive.

“Logistically, it’s a nightmare, but we’re figuring it out,” says Lara, co-founder of Great Room Shows, which typically hosts all-ages concerts at University Presbyterian Church in Fresno.

“We’re pretty ambitious about this one,” he adds.

“The bands realize how big this is.”

Indeed, in its five years Tower Porchfest has gone from a well-received neighborhood party to Fresno’s signature music event.

A pandemic silver lining?

When it debuted in 2021, Tower Porchfest was a pandemic work-around: a way to give space to musicians when options were limited. The city’s venues had yet to reopen from mandated shutdowns, so organizers saw potential in a do-it-yourself outdoor event. It seemed a perfect fit for Fresno’s most walkable neighborhood.

Things were loose and decentralized.

There were no auditions or ticket sales; no big pay day. The “festival” was led by residents and open to anyone with a porch or a front lawn and a willingness to share. Musicians and hosts were connected mostly by word-of-mouth, but also through a Facebook group, which has since become a central hub for the entire festival.

Thirty porches signed on that first year, hosting 45 mini-concerts throughout the day.

This year, there are 90 porches and more than 360 individual performances planned, along with several after parties. The music is cross-genre and cross-generational, making Tower Porchfest a good meter of Fresno’s vast talent pool.

“It’s a good time to be around friends,” Lara says, but also meet new people and hear new music you maybe wouldn’t be introduced to, “even if it’s from a block away.”

Brad and Beth’s Pine Porch

Beth Zobian and Brad Showalter attended that first Porchfest as spectators.

“We just loved walking around the neighborhood and hearing music and finding out how talented some of our neighbors were,” Zobian says. That year, many of the porch hosts were also performers.

The pair have been Tower District residents for 30 years, but Zobian grew up in a place where “you drove into your garage and shut the door.”

People don’t know, or even see, their neighbors.

The Tower District is the antithesis of that, she says — a real community that can be there for each other.

Tower Porchfest, is a showcase for the neighborhood, proof that it’s more than the bar scene that most people know.

This is the fourth year that “Brad and Beth’s Pine Porch” has been part of the festival. Performances will run from noon to 4 p.m., with music from Thomas Hayes, Shoot for the Sun, Stoneshiver and The Stereo Hopeful.

“The vibe was exactly what we subscribe to,” Zobian says of becoming a porch host.

While it seems like inviting hundreds of strangers to party in your front yard might be questionable at least, “everyone is super respectful,” she says, “of the space and each other.”

She judges the success of Tower Porchfest not by the crowd sizes or number of bands playing (or businesses that have jumped on as sponsors) but by the number of kids and dogs she sees out, how many bicyclists are cruising around, how many people are dancing on lawns.

The Good Manor

Alleha Navarro’s “Good Manor” will look familiar to anyone who’s seen Tower Porchfest’s media blitz over the past few weeks. The yellow, white-trimmed two-story house (and accompanying porch) has become the visual representation of this year’s festival, recreated on its posters, T-shirts and the like.

Navarro bought the house in 2022 to operate as an vacation rental for out-of town travelers.

It sits on Linden Avenue just off Olive Avenue’s commercial corridor, within eye sight of the old Sequoia Brewing Company building. And while Navarro didn’t buy the home specifically to be part of Tower Porchfest, she can’t say it didn’t cross her mind in the process.

“I love music. I love community. And I love Tower. It’s just obvious,” she says.

The festival is a model of how to do things, just for the sake of doing them, not for money or clout.

“This day highlights the best of Fresno, in so many ways.”

This will be year three for the Good Manor porch and the first year Navarro has curated the performances herself.

The music starts early (like before 7 a.m.) with DJ Mr. Leonard and will be in full swing by 10 a.m. The lineup includes some jazz (Jim Schmidt, Shap Hill Jazz), funk (Vibe Check, Primary, the Freznenz), Americana (That Guy Kevin) and indie rock (Bad Camper).

Originally, Navarro blacked out Porchfest day to renters, just for the sake of ease. But last year, a traveler from Australia found out about the festival and begged to stay on another day.

So, this year, Navarro left the day open. She warned the renters, a couple from Italy, that it would likely get loud and there would be people around for most of the day. She offered a refund.

Far from being turned off by the event, they were excited by the prospect, Navarro says. That’s a win.

“Our community is just cool and I love showing that to people,” she says.

“I get the opportunity to show someone from another part of the world that Fresno is f---ing awesome.”

Tower Neighborhood Association

While the content of Tower Porchfest is left up to the resident/hosts, coordination happens.

The nonprofit Tower Neighborhood Association was formed to handle the high-level promotions and day-of logistics — things like media hits, but also parking, porta potties, permitting and insurance.

To whit: Porta potties will be found throughout the neighborhoods and parking is free at Fresno City College for the day. A tram will run people into and out of the neighborhood, though organizers also encourage walking/bicycling/skateboarding.

The association also runs a website that houses all the information one needs to enjoy the day, including a full schedule of all porches (or the ones they know of anyway) with functionality that allows users to create (and share) their itineraries for the day.

The idea is accessibility, Navarro says. So, while the format may seem seem confusing and a bit overwhelming compared to other street events or music festivals in town, she suggests just finding your way into the Tower District.

“Park your car and just start walking around. That’s as simple as it is,” she says.

“Just show up.”