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Community Rallies in Sanford to Save Porchfest
When it was announced that there would be no Porchfest in 2026 in downtown Sanford, the whole region let out a collective groan. What started as a couple of bands playing on porches in the historic district of Sanford in front of a few hundred people turned into a massive festival with 35 thousand in attendance in 2024, according to the event organizers. As they prepped for 2026, the festival leaders decided it was time for a pause, a chance to organize better and be better prepared for the monstrous crowd the festival now attracts.
“Rather than compromise the integrity and the overall experience of the festival, we as a board decided to take a step back, build that foundation,” Shelly Allen, the co-founder of Porchfest, tells Pulp City Magazine. “We didn’t feel that it was possible to move forward and deliver the level of magic that we’ve all grown to expect.”
Porchfest promises to be back in 2027, even stronger. Allen says planning has already begun. To ensure it happens, Sanford Main Street is stepping in to help, organizing a fundraiser on Saturday, February 28th, 2026, where some of that Porchfest magic will come to downtown Sanford’s bars, helping make sure Porchfest is returns. Sanford Main Street Director Dan Ping called it “vital” to downtown and the whole Central Florida community.
“The city gets so much attention for Porchfest. It is not unusual to get people from Provo, Utah or Seattle, Washington or upstate New York or Massachusetts that are coming to downtown Sanford to go to Porchfest.” Ping continues. “Porchfest is often some of our businesses’ biggest days. It is a big economic engine for many of our businesses in downtown.”
He also added that it is “a cool ass event,” a sentiment more than 30,000 people agreed with in 2024. “People have literally moved to downtown Stanford because of Porchfest,” Ping tells Pulp City Magazine. “They’re like, this is an outstanding community. I didn’t know you had this large of a historic district.” His organization brought together the biggest players in the downtown live music community. West End and Tuffy’s will lead the way with many other bars and restaurants participating. They will offer tickets for their live music events, with proceeds from the sales going to Porchfest 2027.
“We were just blown away,” Shelly Allen says about the reaction from the festival. “You know, something that we do has such an impact on other people that they are inspired to be advocates for us.” Bands have played Porchfest for free for 10 years now because the proceeds fund performing arts programming for youth and award fine-art scholarships through various beneficiaries. Now they’ll also play the fundraiser for free. “It doesn’t surprise me that the phenomenal musicians that are not only talented, but they’re so big hearted that are part of Porchfest stepped up to be part of this”, clearly warming Allen’s heart.
Longtime fan favorites like The Smoking Jackets have already volunteered their time to help on February 28th throughout downtown Sanford. Pulp City Magazine founder Dominic Ramone will bring his band, the Blue Streak Mamas, who are scheduled to play as well, telling me it is all about community, calling it “an honor,” and espousing the power of music to bring people together. You can learn more about attending this day of action for Porchfest at https://www.sanfordmainstreet.com/ and how to support the mission of Porchfest year-round at https://www.sanfordporchfest.org/
For more on how Central Florida’s music community is evolving, read our feature on how Gen Z women are redefining the local music scene.
