Midtown hosts the annual Porchfest

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — From porch to porch and even backyards, music could be heard throughout Midtown’s Garden District on Sunday.

Glen and Imelda Lyon live next door and started a band with a family friend. Their yard was surrounded by people they knew and people from all over Tucson who were enjoying Porchfest.

“Music constantly brings people together. I think it’s as simple as it gets,” Glen Lyon said. “We were at Mount Lemmon the other day and a couple there told us they were coming here. We just ran into them.”

Laurel Bellante and her partner Kiri Escalante live in the Garden District and play in the band Aztral Folk, one of fifteen bands featured at the festival. They’ve been playing together for 18 years and were part of the first Porchfest back in 2014.

Since then, they’ve been to about five festivals, performing songs ranging from Mexican folk to gypsy jazz.

“We each bring our own unique ingredients to complement the music,” Bellante said.

For them, playing music is about communicating with neighbors and playing for new people.

“Performing our music in such a public place always gets new ears,” Bellante said. “Afterwards, people are always curious and we like to share what we do with the world, so it’s fun for us.”

Some people, like Jackson Morris, have been coming here for years. He lives in a neighboring area and would like to see something similar in other areas.

“It’s a public event that attracts so many groups of people, and I think that’s really cool,” Morris said. “I hope they can become more visible.”