PorchFest 2016 is coming to a stoop or balcony near you this coming weekend.

By Kelly Anderson 

If you are looking for free live music this weekend, you may not have to look further than your neighbor’s front porch.

Somerville’s annual PorchFest is returning on Saturday, May 21. Musicians and bands will perform all afternoon on porches, stoops and in yards for passersby to stop and enjoy. The porch is a classic American venue for neighbors to strum a guitar, and PorchFest aims to multiply that experience by the dozen.

Attendees at PorchFest can expect to see a wide variety of musicians and bands playing genres that range from blues, Balkan, gospel, space rock, Bollywood funk, claw hammer banjo, indie rock, and Moroccan

From noon to 2:00 p.m. the acts will perform from East to Central Somerville. The performances will move to the Central to Willow quadrant of the city from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., and from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. acts can be found on porches west of Willow.

The event will be the sixth annual since 2011, when PorchFest was established through the auspices of the Somerville Arts Council. The Arts Council sought to create a decentralized music festival that all parts of the city can enjoy for free. Unlike a typical music festival, the musicians and the listeners will move across the city. Up to 100 musical acts can be expected at this year’s PorchFest, and music fans should not be disappointed if they cannot catch every act. There are just too many of them.

The first PorchFest began in Ithaca, New York in 2007, and in years since the festivals have been popping up across the country. There are other PorchFests in the Greater Boston area, so one should not despair if they cannot make it to Somerville’s event. Brookline will hold a PorchFest on June 4, and Jamaica Plain will host the festival on July 9.

PorchFest is a great way to bring together a community through local music, so Somerville residents should definitely try to experience the music scene their streets have to offer. It may just surprise you.

PorchFest will take place on Saturday, May 21, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, May 22.