All over town local musicians set up shop on any porches willing to host them.
By: Stephen Finn
The streets of Palmyra were alive with the sound of music on Saturday, Sept. 15. After a week of almost non-stop rain, residents were granted a reprieve to come out and enjoy the town’s first Porch Walk Music Festival.
All over town local musicians set up shop on any porches willing to host them. The event featured a wide variety of music from folk to classic rock to pop and world music.
The porch walk was the brainchild of the Palmyra Improvement Association (PIA) starting with its president John Casparro. The group’s stated mission is to instill pride in Palmyra residents and create an even stronger sense of community among its members and in their town. “The town has a lot of talented people,” said Casparro of the participating musicians.
On the day of the event Casparro met with friends and neighbors outside of a corner house on Cinnaminson Ave hosting the aptly named Front Porch Ukulele Band. His biggest hope was that the event would get people out of their homes and into their community. “People can meet some of their neighbors they’ve never met before. There’s some outstanding positivity here,” said Casparro.
Another musical act performing around the corner was a group playing classic rock covers under the name The Hip Replacementz. Alongside band mates Bonnie McCleary and Rick VanArtsdalen is Lewis Yetter, an active member of both the PIA and the Palmyra Borough Council who lends his voice and guitar playing to the group.
The Hip Replacementz got involved shortly after Yetter heard of the event through the PIA. “I try and keep a hand in things and I like what those guys do. When they had the idea I said ‘This is great!’” said Yetter.
Yetter was not the only member of the council who came out for the event. Councilwoman Mindie Weiner was there to show her support. “I hope events like this become tradition. We have a great community and a lot of the council is involved,” said Weiner.
A key piece of the event coming together was the director of The Guitar Guild and Academy of Musical Arts, Renee Cappetta. The Guitar Guild has a long history in Palmyra and recently celebrated its 40thanniversary. Throughout the day students young and old had the opportunity to show what they had learned performing outside of the music school at 329 Cinnaminson Ave.
Cappetta is involved with the PIA and was approached by Casparro last February about helping to get the porch walk off the ground. Her initial reservations about pulling an event together with such short notice were put to rest with the help of Casparro and fellow members of the association.
“They had done a lot of work. They had done the logo, they organized the porches and the hosts,” said Cappetta. “When the time came all I had to do was put the word out and we had plenty of volunteers.”
Cappetta has been involved with festivals and events her whole life but the porch walk was unique when it came to the planning phase. Dealing with neighbors and friends rather than businesses has its advantages. “From an economic standpoint it’s much cheaper so it can be a free event,” said Cappetta. “It makes it a real community event that everyone can participate in regardless of economic circumstance.”
Cappetta believes community events like the porch walk are now more important than ever. “In times of division I like to see neighbors and friends gathering to enjoy music, setting aside all their other differences” said Cappetta.
Although she doesn’t consider Palmyra to be a divided community she stresses the importance of music as a force for bridging gaps and bringing people together who might not otherwise get to know each other. “We are rhythmic creatures, we are born with rhythm,” said Cappetta. “It’s the thing we all have in common even if we don’t speak the same language.”
