Lexington Porch Fest is a city-wide celebration of Lexington's neghborhoods and musicians!
The 2nd annual community-wide event is a 2-day, “choose your own adventure”-style celebration of Lexington’s neighborhoods and musicians, taking place on June 6-7, 2026.
Anyone in the city is invited to apply to perform or to host a performance (including residents AND small businesses that have a great porch!). If you're a band who already has a porch in mind – or a host who alrady has a band in mind – that's great! If not, we will do our best to pair everyone.
We've extended the deadline to sign up to APRIL 17 – links to apply are posted below!
►Click here for the application to perform
►Click here for the application to host
FAQs:
- What is Lexington Porch Fest? Initially launched in 2025 as part of the 250Lex celebration, Lexington Porch Fest is a free and family-friendly event designed to bring the community together in celebration of the city's neighborhoods and musicians! Individuals and businesses across the city will host low-key, intimate musical performances on their front porches or lawns throughout the weekend. It's a choose-your-own-adventure format, with attendees encouraged to attend as many performances as they’d like throughout the weekend. Stick to your own neighborhood, or venture out and make new friends!
- When is it? Lexington Porch Fest will take place Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, from 12-6 p.m. each day. Most venues will host one band for an hour-long performance, but several locations will have more than one band.
- Where does it take place? Performances will take place all over Lexington. Most of the locations are residential porches and lawns, but we have several neighborhood businesses that have signed up to host events as well.
- What type of music is it? Porch Fest will feature a great variety of music – expect Americana, bluegrass, R&B, alternative rock, blues, singer-songwriter, experimental and everything in between. Some of these bands are well-traveled bands who are regulars on local stages, some of them rarely play outside their garage. Prepare to be surprised and find something new.
- Who's behind Lexington Porch Fest? The event is coordinated by Smiley Pete Publishing, the producers of Chevy Chaser and Southsider Magazines, Business Lexington, Lexington Burger Week, Lexington Pizza Week, Lexington Taco Week, tadoo.com, CRAVE Food + Music Festival and more!
- How do we find out who's playing / where / when? We will post a map and schedule in the weeks leading up to the festival!
Tips for Attendees:
- Pack a camping chair & a cooler with snacks and beverages. If you are packing food items, be sure to pack a trash bag as well!
- Tell all your friends! Share this website and our Facebook Event.
- Please be extra cognizant of additional foot traffic as you drive through these neighborhoods & don't block any driveways or park illegally.
- The bands are donating their time for this event — we've encouraged them to have tip jars and/or Venmo QR codes. Please tip them when you can!
- There will not be any public restroom facilities available, and hosts are not expected to allow people inside their homes. Please plan accordingly.
- This is a RAIN OR SHINE event! If we get rain, hosts are encouraged to reschedule to a later time in the weekend, if they would like. We will update the schedule and map to the best of our ability, but patience and flexibility on everyone's behalf is much appreciated for this grassroots event; it has lots of moving parts.
For more details / questions, please email lexporchfest@smileypete.com.