Porch Café Music Festival to Support Local Musicians and Pay Tribute to Bud Summers

Our Daily Show Interview! Porch Cafe Music Festival in Honor of Bud Summers on 10-13

ALTON - Porch Café will host its annual music festival in honor of Bud Summers this weekend.

From 1–5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, community members are invited to the Alton Amphitheater for a free concert, complete with food trucks, craft vendors and more. All proceeds will go to the Bud Summers Music Foundation, a new local nonprofit that supports kids who want to play music.

“There are so many stories. Everybody had a story about Bud,” said Jamie, one of the event organizers. “We get to hear so many different stories and it’s really cool to see everybody just pay a day of tribute to him. And the family has been very gracious. They’re very thankful. It’s for Bud, but it’s for all the local musicians.”

Several bands will play at the festival, as well as solo acts who will perform in between the bands’ 45-minute sets. Jason McAtee, another organizer and member of the band Porch Café, teased that attendees can expect “anything from acoustic to classic rock to some country, blues, hard rock, all of it.”

Porch Café, Rum Buggie, Soulard Blues Band, Coping In Blue, Max Michael, Erin Jo, Cole Tarrant and Big George will be featured at the festival. Bud Summers’s band The Stingers will also reunite for a performance. Alivia Levi, the lead singer for Porch Café, promises “continuous music,” with Porch Café performing “all our bangers.”

There will be several craft vendors onsite at the festival. Attendees can enjoy food from Quick Bite Frozen Treats, C-Rations and Taqueria Los Toros. A vendor through the Alton Amphitheater will be selling drinks, and a portion of proceeds will go to the Bud Summers Music Foundation.

Jamie explained that the nonprofit wants to support music education by sponsoring scholarships for students. Formed this spring, the Bud Summers Music Foundation recognizes Summers’s contributions to the area while advocating for other young musicians.

“I think one of the biggest things we want to do this year is pass it on, pay it forward,” Jamie said. “We want to do a scholarship for a kid, either help pay for music lessons, pay for an instrument, because that’s what Bud was all about. He was a music teacher. There are a lot of kids that can’t afford music, so if we can give a child that opportunity, that they can do that, that’s really what’s behind this whole thing.”

It’s also a special night for Porch Café, who will say goodbye to keyboard player Lenny Levi after the festival as Lenny moves to Sweden. This weekend will be the last chance to see him perform with the band, and Alivia said the community wishes him well.

Jamie, Jason and Alivia hope to welcome many people at the Porch Café music festival in honor of Bud Summers. They noted that it’s a powerful experience to see hundreds of people come out to support the musicians and remember Summers.

“It’s cool seeing the community come together and supporting local talent,” Jason added.

For more information, contact Porch Café on Facebook or visit the official Facebook event page.

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