PorchFinder App

Once a year, the Petworth neighborhood of Washington DC becomes the scene of one of the nation’s largest music festivals. Petworth PorchFest started in the spring of 2021 as a way to bring together a community (that had been chilled by COVID-19 pandemic) through a shared appreciation for diversity and music. In 2026, this will look (and sound!) like more than 400 musical artists (bands, solo performers, DJs and more) performing on approximately 150 residential porches in a matter of four hours. Yes, more than 100 acts per hour.

There are many ways to enjoy PorchFest. If you live in the neighborhood, you can simply step out your front door and go where your ears take you. But if you’re a real music junkie and want to make the most of the day, choosing from over 400 bands isn’t easy. As volunteers for the event who designed, developed and maintain the festival’s website, we decided to tackle this opportunity and now proudly introduce PorchFinder.

PorchFinder is a lightweight, privacy-friendly, web app that lets festival goers search bands and addresses, as well as filter by genre, time, or specific areas of the large neighborhood. They can also listen to music samples and learn more about the performers. And then they can plan their own, custom PorchFest. After “starring” acts that look interesting, users can build a custom itinerary, including personalized walking directions, and then share that itinerary with their friends (or followers). Users also have the ability to “fork” an itinerary that was shared with them, revise it and make it their own.