Historic Kenwood's Porch Music Day Left August Behind. Here's How to Walk It This November

On Sunday, November 15, from 1 to 5 p.m., musicians will play from more than a dozen front porches across Historic Kenwood. Admission is free, the artists play for tips, and you bring your own chair. Kenwood's version started as a local stop on a worldwide event. It now runs on its own calendar, and most of its growth has come from the same group of neighborhood musicians who first filled these porches three years ago.

The Global Date Is a Saturday in August. Kenwood's Is Not.

Play Music on the Porch Day began in 2014 as an idea from Los Angeles artist Brian Mallman. It has since grown into thousands of musicians in dozens of countries, all playing on the last Saturday in August.

Historic Kenwood followed that date at first. In 2023 the neighborhood's event fell on August 26, according to the Kenwood Artist Enclave's announcement. Neighbor Luci Westphal photographed it that year. In her recap, she called the afternoon a smash success "despite the August heat."

By 2025 the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association had moved the event to Sunday, November 16, from noon to 5 p.m. This year it lands on Sunday, November 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. The worldwide event is still in August. Kenwood's porch day now belongs to the neighborhood's own fall calendar.

How One Porch Became More Than a Dozen

Westphal's recap describes where it started. In 2022, Kenwood took part with one porch and a handful of musicians. In 2023, neighbor Bryan Klopfenstein put together a much bigger event. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay covered that year's six porches and 22 artists.

The 2026 numbers depend on the source. The neighborhood association's event page lists thirteen porches and more than 25 acts. Its full schedule shows fourteen porch addresses. The I Love the Burg listing gives 30 acts across 14 porches. Whichever count you use, the event has gained more porches since last November than it did between 2023 and 2025. The number of acts stayed nearly flat between those two years, then jumped this year.

Many of the 2023 Players Are Back

Compare the 2023 photos with the 2026 schedule and many of the same names show up. Westphal's 2023 photos include these performers, and every one of them is on this year's schedule:

• Deb Ruby and cellist Melissa Grady, who play together again this year
• Steve Isaac and Sam Shube, who share a porch in the 2400 block of 4th Avenue North this year
• Acoustic Madness, playing 1980s and '90s new wave, rock and pop on acoustic instruments
• Bite-Size, the indie folk rock band that Klopfenstein played in when he organized the 2023 event
• Marty Fouts, who played in 2023 as half of Those Lovebirds
• Due Angeli, the ukulele act listed as Duo Angeli in 2023

The association says the event showcases "the musical artistry available in our neighborhood and the surrounding area." The returning names back that up. When the event grew, it kept the players it already had and added more porches around them. So if you went in 2023, many of this year's sets will be familiar.

The Porches Fall Into Two Clusters

Most of the fourteen addresses on the schedule fall into two groups. To plan a route, use those groups rather than the alphabetical list.

The western cluster covers the 2700 to 3100 blocks of 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th Avenues North, plus the 200 block of 29th Street North. Most of the Americana and folk is here. One porch in the 2700 block of 3rd Avenue North, hosted by Chris Nadeau and Friends, has experimental and indie music for the full four hours. That makes it an easy place to start or finish.

The eastern cluster covers the 2000 to 2500 blocks of Burlington, Dartmouth, 2nd and 4th Avenues North. The singer-songwriters and cover duos are mostly here.

Most porches have a set at the top of the hour and another at the half hour. That leaves time to walk a block or two between sets without missing the start of the next one.

Three Ways to Walk the Afternoon

Each route stays mostly inside one cluster and follows one style of music from 1 to 5 p.m.

1. Americana along 7th and 8th Avenues North

1. 1 p.m.: Marty Fouts plays Americana, folk, rock and country in the 2800 block of 7th Avenue North.
2. 2 p.m.: Americana and folk singer-songwriter David Warren plays in the 2800 block of 8th Avenue North.
3. 3 p.m.: Wicked Muse plays indie folk rock and Americana in the 3100 block of 8th Avenue North. Bite-Size plays the same porch at 1:30 if you'd rather start there.
4. 4 p.m.: Head back to the 2800 block of 8th Avenue North for Deb Ruby and Melissa Grady's Americana and indie folk with cello.

2. Singer-songwriters in the east

1. 1 p.m.: Sam Shube plays mellow fingerstyle guitar, mostly his own songs, in the 2400 block of 4th Avenue North.
2. 2 p.m.: Bill and John play 1960s and '70s guitar and song in the 2300 block of 4th Avenue North. The set covers classical, pop, jazz and blues.
3. 3 p.m.: Shelley Cardoos plays indie folk covers and originals in the 2100 block of Burlington Avenue North.
4. 4 p.m.: Emily Turnage plays acoustic folk, rock and alternative in the 2500 block of Dartmouth Avenue North. Fred Bluestone plays pop and jazz on chromatic harmonica from the same porch at 2 p.m.

3. One porch, start to finish

The porch in the 2700 block of 2nd Avenue North is the only one with three scheduled acts back to back:

• Electric Sea plays blues-influenced rock at 1 p.m.
• Drunken Shrubbery plays Irish pub music at 2:30.
• Mulligan Road plays Celtic-Americana at 4.

If you'd rather set up a chair once and stay put, this porch fills the afternoon.

You can mix the routes too. In the 2400 block of 2nd Avenue North, Acoustic Madness plays at 1:30 and the rock and country duo The Winking Pitbulls play at 3. In the 2000 block of Dartmouth Avenue North, Lady Stardust plays acoustic rock and new wave at 2:30, and TopCasters close at 4. In the 2700 block of 7th Avenue North, Jessica Tomlinson plays a solo piano set at 2 p.m. Her covers include Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.

What to Bring, and Where to Check the Map

The neighborhood association asks for two things. Bring portable chairs, and bring cash, because every artist plays only for tips. The event page has the full schedule as a PDF and an interactive map of all porch locations. Open them on your phone before you leave the house.

At 4 p.m., several porches start their last sets at the same time, including the Ruby and Grady porch, the 2500 block of Dartmouth Avenue North, the Celtic porch on 2nd Avenue North and the Beach Bum Barry porch in the 2100 block of 2nd Avenue North. Pick your last porch before 3:45.

Kenwood's front porches are a big part of why this afternoon works, and they're the part of the neighborhood we know best. If November 15 has you looking more closely at which Kenwood blocks and bungalows fit your life, Melody Stang can walk those same streets with you on any other day of the year. Let's connect and schedule a consultation.