Vankleek Hill’s annual Porchfest will be back for 2018 on July 21 this year and registration is already open, with organizers looking to make this year’s festival the biggest and best one yet. That’s a goal that gets easier every year.

“Porchfest has grown each of the three years we’ve held it,” notes Porchfest founder Ken Duff. “This year we’ve had to start organizing earlier than ever due to the amount of inquiries we’ve already received from both musicians and those offering porches.”

But with growth comes a need for more attention to detail and organization. What started as an idea to have a few musicians play on some of the beautiful gingerbread porches in Vankleek Hill has become a major juggling act in arranging dozens of porches and musicians at different times. To help with the growing event, Vankleek Hill Porchfest has added a volunteer committee with individual members responsible for scheduling, promotion, signage and all of the other details that go into organizing such a large event:

“One of the things we want to improve this year is signage and information booths to help visitors know where to go at what times,” Duff says. “As well we want to maximize the usage of all of the porches offered and of the musicians who are volunteering their time and energy for Porchfest.”

Duff expects the 2018 edition of Porchfest to have in excess of 25 porches with music and double that in musicians: “Of course you have multiple music acts playing at different times on one porch, so overall we should end up with over 50 musicians playing on July 21.”

The event this year should be a great combination of Vankleek Hill Porchfest veterans and quite a few first-timers, judging from the contacts Duff and other members of the Porchfest committee have received thus far.

“A lot of the bands who played last year have already said they want to come back for 2018,” Duff says. “And we’ve received inquiries on our Facebook page and web page from people who have heard about the event and want to know how they can sign up for this year.”

Musicians and porch owners alike can register for this year’s event through this link: http://porchfestvankleekhill.ca/registration/. Just fill in the form and you will be contacted about scheduling and porch availability.

As well, you can check out the 2018 Porchfest Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/vkhporchfest/