On the evening of July 7th, neighbourhoods across Stittsville were filled with life and song as performers made stages of driveways, garages, and front porches to join in on the excitement of the 3rd annual Stittsville Front Porch Concerts.
Organizer Sarah Blakely was thrilled to have yet another successful year of the event under her belt, “I’m so pleased with how it turned out, I was able to get out to 8 shows, and each performance I saw was so good and all the people out and about were having a great time.”
Just like in previous years, the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts raised money through pay-what-you-can corporate sponsorships in addition to donations made online and in-person at performance locations for a local organization offering mental health services. This year, Sarah chose to donate the funds raised from the event to the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre (WOCRC), a local not-for-profit organization that provides health and social services to communities in far west Ottawa. “The funds raised from the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts will be directed towards their counseling, crisis walk-in and phone support mental health services.” One hundred percent of the proceeds from the Front Porch Concerts will be donated on behalf of Stittsville residents.
This year, the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts has raised $7,532 for the WOCRC. There is still time to donate and get the fundraiser to its $10,000 goal. Donations continue to be accepted until the end of the month. Visit the fundraiser’s page to donate.
A new and helpful addition to the event this year was a Google map created by Sarah to mark performance times and locations, allowing attendees to find performers more easily. Sarah continues to seek ways to best outline performers, locations, and performance times. “I’m always looking to improve visual communication of the event, I thought the Google map was a great improvement this year, but I think I will add a clearer text option as well next year.”
A new consideration for the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts this year was the overlap with Ottawa Bluesfest. The city’s biggest festival returned this year after being cancelled or scaled down in the previous two years due to the pandemic. Sarah recognizes that this year seemed to be impacted by Bluesfest, stating that she will look into having the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts at the end of June next year to avoid an overlap.
Having started the Stittsville Front Porch Concerts as a way to entertain the community while being mindful of pandemic restrictions – and after many other beloved local events had to be cancelled – the neighbourhood concerts have become a welcome addition to Stittsville’s calendar.
We look forward to the future Stittsville Front Porch Concerts!
Well done young folk!