Sitting on his own porch on Wednesday, Hughes explained what a PorchFest is, while listening to some music — The Red Clay Strays, Rolling Stones and Eric Lindell.

From noon to 6 p.m. that day, people can walk through the neighborhoods around downtown, stop on someone’s lawn and hear local musicians performing from porches for free.

“You grab your backpack, you grab your lawn chair or a blanket, you check out the map, figure out which acts you want to see,” Hughes said. “It’s very family-friendly. … You meet your neighbors, you check out a different neighborhood that maybe you haven’t explored yet.”

The first PorchFest was held in Ithaca in 2007 by a group of friends who wanted to gather their neighbors together to make and enjoy live music. It started with 20 acts and today features more than 100. The concept has spread around North America, with more than 250 communities holding their own PorchFests.

Saranac Lake PorchFest organizer Jeff Hughes sits on his porch on Wednesday. PorchFest comes to town Aug. 2, bringing music to downtown neighborhood lawns for a six-hour festival. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Somerville, Massachusetts had its first in 2011. Hughes, who lived there at the time, immediately got in on the action with his neighbors, being a host backyard for music. He loves live music and estimates he’s been to thousands of shows and dozens of festivals. At these events, it’s not just what’s happening on stage, he feels. It’s about being immersed in a temporary community. PorchFest is like that, he said, but spread all around town.

Somerville, which has a population of 80,000, started with a bit more than 40 acts and now has 450 acts and draws tens of thousands of attendees each year.

Saranac Lake PorchFest has around a dozen acts currently scheduled. For a population of under 5,000, that’s not bad, he said.

Hughes grew up in Peru and his sister has lived in Saranac Lake for decades. During the pandemic, he finally fell to his family’s pestering him to move back to the North Country, and brought his love for PorchFests with him.

“I’ve thought about it ever since I moved here, to be honest,” Hughes said. “In Saranac Lake, it just felt right.”

He said the event combines a lot of what he sees in Saranac Lake — musical talent, grassroots volunteering, a close community and, of course, some big cure porches. Starting a PorchFest is easy and difficult, because it is done through grassroots organization.

“It’s all very organic. There’s not a governing PorchFest body,” Hughes said. “Every community approaches PorchFest in its own individual way.”

It took him a year-and-a-half to drum up the guts to put a post on Neighbor Helping Neighbor, but he instantly got response from people wanting to volunteer. A self-described “concept guy,” Hughes said he is incredibly grateful to the organizers who have been doing a lot of the planning — “IT wizard” Calli Shelton; Eileen Mowrey, who is “a force” of communications; his sister, Janelle Bennett, who is an art teacher at Petrova Middle School and artistic coordinator for the event and Sydney Schmidt who designed the festival’s logo. The logo, outlined by mosaic tiles like the village’s signs, shows a porch with instruments against a backdrop of mountains. The number on the house? “1.” Hughes said the house number will be “2” next year.

The porches are open to performances of any kind. If people don’t have a porch in town, they can be placed at a host porch. People can sign up to be a musician, a host or a volunteer at saranaclakeporchfest.org. The website also has a map showing where all the acts will be.

On the day of the event, volunteers will be headquartered at Berkeley Green with maps and T-shirts.

The event is collecting 100% tax-deductible donations. Money left after covering the event expenses will go to benefit the Mountain Melodies youth music camp and Camp Pendragon.

Musicians are scheduled on the back deck of Fiddlehead Bistro, Woodruff Street, Marshal Street, Olive Street, River Street, Lake Flower Avenue. Franklin Avenue and Helen Street.

Scheduled artists include Andy Walkow, Curt and Kary, David Harrison, Eddy Lawrence, Galen Halasz, Jae Dani, Karen Loffler and Chris Bohl, Keith Gorgas, Mary’s Basement (who will be performing on the roof of Mountain Mist), SloJam, Ham Jam and Singing with the Bills.

All shows are free to attend, though tips for musicians are appreciated.

The event is rain or shine.

Hughes said now that they’ve done the hard work of laying the foundation for the festival, he hopes to grow it next year and make it part of Saranac Lake’s summer music lineup.