Thirty local bands lead people around east Cleveland Saturday afternoon as it moved from 30 different porches during the 9th annual Larchmere Porch Festival.

The Larchmere Porch Festival is a nonprofit organization working to build community cohesion through promoting local music and art in the area surrounding Larchmere Boulevard.

“Music moves people’s souls and it’s super cool to literally see it move people from place to place while they follow it through the neighborhood,” said Caisee Cover, porch fest attendee.

A variety of genres played throughout the afternoon with performances from Juniper Dust, The Modern Electric, Carlos Jones & the PLUS Band and many more.

“Carlos Jones was absolutely amazing” said Melissa Bell, porch festival attendee. “He and the band had the entire crowd surrounding that porch, moving to his reggae vibes. It was incredible to see how much fun they were having on that porch and how the crowd fed off of their energy.”

Madeline Smith, student at Lakeland Community College, said the crowds showed overwhelming support for local music.

“It is so important to show gratitude to these artists because what they do for people through their music is unexplainable,” she said.

Aside from the music, vendors and artists lined the streets during the festival who sold their works and goods, or played their instruments for donations. 

Hishim El-Ra collected donations as he played his tongue drum in a doorway on Larchmere Street while he sang buddhist mantras to people walking by.

“I am not here to perform, but to enlighten,” said El-Ra. “These mantras center me; I want others to be able to feel this too while they are in a good place. I want my energy to radiate from this drum and hit those people directly in their hearts so that they too can center themselves.”

The fest ended at 10 p.m. with after parties and late bar crawls to keep the night going.

“This is my favorite local event,” said Cover. “The energy from the music and the people is almost over whelming and I mean that in the best of ways. It carries people through the night, that’s why no one leaves once the music stops.”

Holli Phillips is the health and wellness reporter, contact her at [email protected].