Before you can have a PorchFest, you got to clean up the porch

Marie Frank is all smiles as she bags up weeds and debris from a planter on North Main Street on Saturday. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - Musical groups from dozens of different genres will make sure attendees to Rochester's Second Annual PorchFest have a swinging time today, but on Saturday it was time to set the stage with a dozen volunteers swinging a few brooms.

Organizing the cleanup was Todd Radict of Skele-Tone Records and Tri-City Coop program manager Cathy Allen, who brought a half dozen volunteers with her to help beautify the city in advance of Porchfest, which will play out throughout the downtown from noon-5 p.m.

From left, Todd Radict of Skele-Tone Records, Cathy Allen, program mgr. of Tri-City Coop, and Tyler Webber and Kerri Merrihew, who were volunteering with Tri-City.

Radict said it was important to bring together the consortium of cleanup volunteers, which included store owners, some from the homeless community and other civic-minded folk.

"These are some of the people who you have involved in beautifying downtown," he said. "We all bonded together to show community spirit."

Cleaning up one of the flower planters near the alley to Wyandotte Falls was Tri-City Coop volunteer Marie Frank, who freely admitted she sometimes struggles with mental issues, but that working on Saturday was some of the best therapy she could hope for.

"I'm doing it to help the community," she said as she pulled weeds from a planter. "We're going to make Rochester beautiful for tomorrow. And I love doing this for the city."

Radict said the downtown improvement group he founded, Rise Up Rochester and another downtown improvement group, Make Rochester Great, also recently planted flowers at the downtown Bennett Building.

A listing of some of the PorchFest venues. (Rochester Opera House graphic)

PorchFest, which drew thousands last year, is a free outdoor music festival featuring more than 40 bands of all genres that are placed on outdoor stages throughout downtown.

The event allows attendees to freely walk around and hear a little bit of everything. There will also be some food trucks in the Union Street parking lot.

The bands will be set up at various streetside venues along North Main, Hanson, Wakefield and Union streets as well as the Union Street parking lot.

Some of the bands include Lead Foot, Texas Pete, The Toe's, Gypsy Owls and Dancing Madly Backwards.