WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Porchfest Committee has formally opened registration for Porchfest 2025 launching a form for musical acts interested in performing and a separate form for residents or businesses interested in hosting acts during the event which will take place on Saturday, September 6. Both forms are available on the event homepage at wakefiedporchfest.com.
Wakefield Porchfest 2025 aims to build on the success of the inaugural event held in September 2024 which featured 105 acts that performed at 50 locations across the North Shore town. The community-wide event is coordinated by a group of volunteers who collaborate with musicians and the residents, homeowners and small businesses who host performances.
Porchfest hosts are unpaid community volunteers who are critical to the success of the event including coordination with the musicians ahead of the event and in the design of the outdoor space for the performance which includes all site logistics, engagement with neighbors and ensuring that attendees can watch and listen safely while using the space. Wakefield Porchfest’s volunteer organizers will work with registered hosts to place performers at their location, but hosts and performers can also mutually agree to be matched, noting the match on the performer registration form.
“We launched Wakefield Porchfest to celebrate live, local music and we welcome artists from around the Northeast to introduce our community to new voices and new styles of music,” said Porchfest committee member Nate Johnson. “We thank the hosts who make this event possible. Wakefield is home to many amazing musicians and talented young performers, who represent the next generation of pop singers, jazz musicians, Broadway artists and music educators. Porchfest is a wonderful celebration of community, but it is also an important way to show our kids that live music and the arts are critically important.”
Wakefield is known as one of the top communities for music education in Massachusetts and in the nation. In May 2025, the NAMM Foundation named Wakefield one of the “Best Communities for Music Education” in the United States, the 14th time the community has received that recognition. The community boasts a strong support network for performing arts and for emerging musicians, sustained by the Town of Wakefield, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Music Boosters, The Wakefield Performing Arts Department, Children’s Playhouse of Wakefield, the Wakefield Marching Band and other local organizations.
Wakefield Porchfest is supported by grants from the Wakefield Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as well as in kind funding and support from residents across the community. Organizations interested in contributing to the 2025 event can email sponsor@wakefieldporchfest.com. Wakefield is one of more than 200 communities that host a Porchfest, according to organizers in Ithaca, NY which launched the first iteration of the community-focused music event in 2007.