Joanna Taft has a hypothesis: People say they want to live in a big city, but in their hearts, people actually want the small-town feel that comes with a connected neighborhood and close friends living nearby. It’s why Taft, executive director of the Harrison Center, has been porching with her family since 2007, and the Harrison Center started promoting porching events in 2014.
But wait, what is porching?
“It’s sitting on the porch,” Taft said. “Isn’t that crazy?”
Porch parties can take many forms, and they often do around Indianapolis. Some people host music-themed porch parties with musicians and instruments. In the Monon 16, which includes the Hillside and Kennedy King neighborhoods, residents can go to a porch party hosted by a motorcycle club.
The Harrison Center, in partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is kicking off this season of porching with an Indianapolis 500-themed porch party May 3 in the Harrison Center courtyard. Indianapolis neighborhoods are then encouraged to start their own porching traditions that carry on into the rest of the summer.
Terri Taylor, a long-time resident of the Martindale-Brightwood area, had a “porch party” last year (she doesn’t have a porch, so people set up tables in her front yard) where she told neighbors her stories about growing up in that community.
“People was coming by and blowing their horns,” said Taylor, 65. “Sometimes I didn’t even know who it was.”
To register your own porch party and become eligible for deliveries, celebrity drop-ins and ticket giveaways, visit indianapolismotorspeedway.formstack.com. You can also register a porch party at harrisoncenter.org.
Some neighborhoods have a big one-off event for everyone, while others prefer porch parties that spring up sporadically. Taft said the Central State neighborhood on the west side is doing a one-day porch party in the middle of May and is specifically looking to invite renters, who sometimes feel less connected to their communities than home owners.
“When you think about where we are as a culture today, modernization has affected all of us, right?” Taft said. “We have air conditioning, we have TV. There are all these things that call us inside. … That whole front porch thing is kind of an old-fashioned idea that people are hungry for once again.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
FIRST FRIDAY PORCH PARTY
When: 6-10 p.m. May 3
Where: Harrison Center City Gallery courtyard, 1505 N. Delaware St.
Cost: Free
Registration: To receive deliveries, ticket giveaways and other goodies, register at indianapolismotorspeedway.formstack.com. You can also register your porch party at harrisoncenter.org
