For one afternoon each year, the front yards of Wauwatosa’s Tosa East Towne neighborhood come alive as places for neighbors to meet, spend time outside and enjoy live music at nearly a dozen concerts staggered across several hours from porch to porch.
The Tosa East Towne Neighborhood Association’s fifth annual Porch Concerts is scheduled to return Sept. 19, bringing local musicians and fans to front yards throughout the neighborhood from noon to 6 p.m. The event will feature 11 performers, with music ranging from Americana and blues to jazz, soul, rock and folk.
[Note: Tosa Forward News editor David Paulsen is a Tosa East Towne Neighborhood Association board member but was not directly involved in coordinating the Porch Concerts.]
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The afternoon will end with a performance at Center Street Park. But for organizers and longtime residents, the event is about more than music. It is about creating a recreational opportunity for connection between neighbors.
From a backyard idea to a neighborhood tradition
Ryan Wallace, a Tosa East Towne resident and civil engineer, said the idea for the Porch Concerts began one afternoon while he was doing yard work. He heard live music coming from a neighbor’s backyard and began thinking about how more people could experience it.