First Annual South Wayne PorchFest slated – Main Line

Radnor >> When Cathy Agnew heard a story on WHYY about musicians playing on front porches in West Philadelphia it resonated with her. She remembered a next door neighbor, Carol Inman, playing on her front porch in Ardmore with musician friends when home from Indiana University every summer.

I remembered how beautiful it sounded, said Agnew, who was sitting on her own porch in Wayne when she spoke with a reporter recently. We just loved it when they would playIt was such a beautiful memory.

The idea for musicians playing on porches for the community or PorchFests, began in 2006 in Ithaca, N.Y. and has since spread. Agnew is spearheading the First Annual South Wayne PorchFest set for Sept. 9 from noon to 5 p.m. With all the porches in Wayne, Agnew believed the town was a perfect location for PorchFest.

Joining with friends and neighbors Susan Stern and Sue Metzger, who set up the website, Agnew began organizing. She said everyone she approached about lending their porch was very enthusiastic.

She obtained a permit from Radnor Township and praised Commissioner Luke Clark and Radnor Police Deputy Superintendent Chris Flanagan who she said were extremely helpful. Charlotte Higgins designed the logo.

The South Wayne PorchFest musicians will play on 17 porches along St. Davids and Windermere avenues. Portions of those streets will be closed to allow families to walk safely from porch to porch. Maps will also be provided once scheduling for the various bands is completed, said Agnew. The South Wayne PorchFest will be a family-friendly environment, she said.

I think its an interesting concept for Wayne, said singer Jackie Covatta, who will participate with guitarist Joe DiStefano. Together they are the group JC Lauren. I think it will go over really well. The Wayne townspeople will really enjoy that and the businesses will benefit. I think it will be a good thing.

Covatta characterized her style as soulful, blues with a soft rock edge.

A King of Prussia resident, Covatta has been performing for about 20 years and has written more than 40 songs. Shes been performing with DiStefano for two years.

Singer John McKee is also looking forward to PorchFest.

A pastry chef who lives in Bryn Mawr, he moved to the area about seven years ago with his partner because the cost of living in the San Francisco area had become unaffordable.

McKee sings songs from the American canon, mostly standards from Sinatra, Michael Buble and Nat King Cole.

Im looking forward to it, said McKee about PorchFest. He has sung at weddings and at a nursing facility but also started going to open mic events at local clubs to perform and met Agnew, who was scouting for talent for the PorchFest. McKee will also perform at the Taste of Berwyn on Sept. 17.

Folk musician, Jerry Krantman, will play guitar and sing during PorchFest.

My range of folk music is unconventional, he said. It includes traditional songs as well as songs from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. These include political songs and humorous songs. I pride myself in having a far-reaching set of surprising acoustic tunes, many that youve never heard, some right on the edge of memory, some destined to become new favorites. Ive played music since I was a child, and played the guitar since what we then called junior high school.

Krantman grew up in Harrisburg and now lives in Plymouth Meeting. A Temple University graduate, hes lived in New Mexico and Georgia, and spent 30 years living in northern California. Hes worked as a family therapist, a computer consultant, and is currently a college instructor.

I always enjoy playing to a receptive audience, wherever they might be, said Krantman. Well see whether thats what actually happens. I am a big fan of building community, though, so I hope that this will bring people together with their neighbors, perhaps without the use of electronics.

PorchFest will also feature a porch for Rising Stars, said Agnew. These performers are teenage musicians from area high schools. The Archbishop Carroll High School Pep Band and the Radnor High School Pep Band are slated to play, too, she said.

Agnew also had help from the Eastern University music department. Sara Herman, office manager, and Sarah Shulman, a senior music education major, gave advice on how far apart the porches with performers should be sited and whether bushes and trees would dampen the sounds.

Agnew recommends that people bring blankets or lawn chairs. They can also picnic or walk into Wayne for restaurant fare. Each band will perform for about 45 minutes. St. Katharines parish will allow the PorchFest patrons to use their restrooms, said Agnew. The event is free and the performers are also volunteering their time, she said.

This is a low budget endeavor, said Agnew, a lawyer who is working from home in order to focus on writing her first novel, tentatively titled The Gravity of Regret. She described it as literary noir. Her husband, Brad Mortensen, is also an attorney at Kennedys CMK. The couple has two grown children, Anne Mortensen-Agnew, 26, a writer who lives in Los Angeles, and Colin Mortensen-Agnew, 22, a student at the University of Alabama.

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First Annual South Wayne PorchFest slated - Main Line