I got to attend one of my favorite events all year last weekend with my friends.
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 9 years, let me paint the picture of what our Highland Square family calls PorchRokr.
The day starts with sunrise yoga at The Merriman.
Just kidding... no one attending PorchRokr (12 hours of day drinking, dancing, and eating food truck foods) is doing yoga before the sun comes up.
But the festival does open up at 9:30am (now that’s more like it!) with free yoga on the lawn hosted by Yoga Squared.
From there, the streets are filled with smiling, happy neighbors looking for good music, entertainment, the city’s best street treats, dancing, and cold beer.
Neighbors apply to have their front porch used as a stage for live music during the event, and the festival moves its borders every year so that all of Highland Square can take part in the action while still keeping the event in close quarters and cozy.
Each year, the layout is small enough to tackle the entire map by foot, but with enough space between porch-stages to accommodate over 130 bands throughout the day.
And it doesn’t matter if you want to hear alternative, Americana, funk, soul, pop, rock, country, R&B, jazz, hip hop, or blues, PorchRokr has it all.
As I walked up and down the streets (some of them are legitimately old brick roads) in this historic neighborhood, I couldn’t help but think about how special this little West Akron nook really is.
While some families have been here for more than half a century, other families just arrived and are ferociously putting down roots. And if you saw the two types of residents walking side by side, you’d never know the difference.
Because Highland Square attracts a certain vibe—artists, gardeners, musicians, activists, and truly humble movers and shakers.
Even the non-local and out-of-state guests who attend PorchRokr wouldn’t know a stranger on these streets because everyone is so welcoming.
PorchRokr doesn’t have an age, income, race, gender, or sexuality demographic. Literally, all humans are welcome.
And dogs, too!
There are more dogs in yards and kids playing in the streets than anywhere else in the city. It’s reminiscent of the 1980s in that way, complete with a record store on the main strip that has survived every digital progression in the last 20 years (not to mention a global pandemic), even with skyrocketing commercial rent.
And PorchRokr is the epitome of that kind of eclectic and nostalgic energy that makes Highland Square so special.
I mean, where else could you host a live music event with tens of thousands of guests, a beer garden promoting 12 hours of day drinking, an extremely small police presence, and zero altercations or problems?
So yes, I can proudly and loudly say that this is one of my favorite events of the year in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Ohio.
