Jacksonville Porchfest 2026

The idea of Jacksonville PorchFest came in 2014, when the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR) council wanted to advertise and draw attention to the Historic Springfield area of Jacksonville. Although there are other Porchfests in other major cities across the country, including New York (2007), Minnesota (2023), and Atlanta (2015)… they all offer the same experience of seeing bands play on the front porch or lawn. It’s a nice, intimate, and cool way to see and hear music. However, with the good, there is the bad – which is terrible sightlines (random tree in the way or a structural beam), not a comfortable experience (unless you brought your own chair and then you have to find a good spot), sound audio is so-so (sometime it’s not audible, sometimes it’s overblown), and logistics.

This is my first Jacksonville Porchfest, and from what I can tell, it’s incredibly well-run. The entire area is blocked off from traffic, so only foot (and bike and golf carts) is permitted. The maps provided was very helpful (especially where all the stages are located). My only complaint is that the schedule didn’t include the music genre, so you never knew what kind of music you were getting once you get there. I also didn’t like some of the layout – for example, why would you put #14 all the way in the north, while #15 all the way in the south. At my slow walking speed, it took me a good 20 minutes to walk to the opposite end (sometime you have to walk through a crowd that can be very slow-moving).

The first hour (noon to 1pm) there were six bands, playing about the same time. In the second hour, there are five bands, then four, until the last hour, which there can only be one band. In 2026’s Porchfest, that band is The Rumble, from New Orleans.

The band currently features frontman Big Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Young Eagles / Golden Eagles Black Masking Indian tribe. Big Chief (with the headdress and traditional clothing) blends Indian culture and music with big brass Mardi Gras and funk and hip-hop, and even jazz.

Most of the bands on the lineup are from Florida. I will break down them, in order of appearance:

Douglas Anderson Guitar Ensemble, Jazz Combo Band, and School of Rock Mandarin House Bands, are all part of a music program to bring music students to Porchfest. Based on the school and hearing them, it sounds like folk, jazz, and pop/rock.

Heart Of Elaine is a local dance and gospel-infused group formed by the brother-sister duo Jonathan Hansell and Mia Salter. The band’s name honors their mother, whose middle name is Elaine.

There were a couple who were really excited to check out “the phunk” of Nikayla And The Phunk (Nikayla Byirt). She is a retro-afrofuturistic cellist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and music producer.

St Augustine’s Kirk Whalen is a banjo player, who self-describe himself as “Grandpa-Music generator” (John Prine and Roger Miller).

Jazz fusion band Mr. Dinosaur, led by Pablo Duque, drew in a good crowd… with some people setting their chairs down well before the band showed up on the porch.

I really liked Roadie (aka Alexis Rhode). They played some tracks from their debut album Jump Start, which came out in August 2026. Rhode describes her music as “introspective lover girl energy.”

Moonstalker was a lot of fun. I think they had two singers (Mark Williams and Geej Williams) and sounded Americana. That weird looking guy with glasses on the keys? That’s Arvid Smith, the famed sitarist.

Former Caribbean and Nashville, Cacique Jakar brought his love of R&B, rock, country and reggae.

Ukulele lover Sun Lowly (aka Sun Lowly of the Lowliest) lis a first-generation Filipino-American singer-songwriter. One of her song, she had a 17-year-old Lux (?) play trumpet.

The Queens Of Tulua was a drag show, lead show producer is The Lady Visaya. I didn’t see the entire show, but I think there were other drag acts. The drag show had some of the biggest turnout (at least at that time).

Higher Learning was a hip-hop collective that started late (I think they were waiting for someone on the team to arrive). Before they explain and teach about hip-hop, they had a DJ mix some of the hip and the hop.

Fortune Child is a classic rock and blues-infused power trio, featuring Christian Powers on vocals/drums, Buddy Crump on guitars, and Jon Ward on bass. The band is known for reviving an old-school, high-energy rock ‘n’ roll sound reminiscent of acts like Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Junco Royals is a large New Orleans-style jazz ensemble. It was hard to see the band, because they all sitting down.

Kenzie’s Place is really the stagename for Mackenzie Conaway. She’s been on the indie rock, neo-soul game since her debut self-titled album in 2021. She opened up for Yung Gravy.

There was a lot of buzz for 1Blackfrend, ahead of their appearance. Most of the excitement stems that the singer Randi Johnson is from Detroit and that NPR spotlighted the band. They’re compared to The Noisettes (who I saw in Chicago a long time ago), and YYY (who we saw in 2013).

I don’t think that’s their Halloween costume – that’s just the standard look for The Kreepy Tikis. They play surf rock, or they described it as “doom surf”.

Willie Evans Jr was more of an educator and storyteller. When he does rap, he likes to have the crowd participate in his songs. He’s part of Asamov. I feel like he could easily open up for Deltron 3030.

Spanish for “the dead”, Los Muertos is a large cumbia rock jam band. The songs I heard them sing were in Spanish, and I love their vibe.

Fernandina Beach’s Gilberto ’77 was named after the Gilberto, a cargo ship that caught fire and burned off Amelia Island on Thanksgiving Day in 1977 after carrying 25 tons of marijuana. Not sure if that is a cautionary tale of the captain smoking a joint and, just like that, it was gone in a puff of smoke.

Flag On Fire is a skate punk band, who probably spent too much time at Kona in their youth. Singer Bo Dillard had the craziest dreads.

5-piece hip-hop Penthouse (featuring singers whoissdream and Deron Mayes) teamed up with award-winning funk and jazz fusion Let’s Ride Brass Band to bring us “Two Player”.

That was fun. I think next year, I will bring food and drink, so I can snack throughout the day. I clocked in over 20k steps, so maybe next year I will buy a pair of rollerskates.

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