Taylor, MS — The Conference on the Front Porch, the only known gathering devoted solely to the significance of the front porch in American society, will return to the Plein Air Neighborhood in Taylor, Mississippi after a 2-year COVID hiatus. Dates for the 2022 gathering are October 28-30.

“We are very excited to bring the conference back. Even more so with the incredible lineup of speakers and musicians we’ve got in store for ’22” said conference founder Campbell McCool.

Keynote speaker will be Robert Davis, the visionary founder and developer of Seaside, Florida. Seaside is credited with introducing new urbanism, a development philosophy that emphasizes human scale, walkability, and mixed use planning. Davis has been recognized as one of the most important real estate developers of the 20th century, as Seaside is studied worldwide by architects, planners, and developers.

New to the conference this year is a singer-songwriter component. Mississippi’s own Mac McAnally will perform as the conference’s headliner on Saturday night. McAnally is a country music legend, part of he Nashville singer-songwriter Hall of Fame, and has written hits for groups such as Alabama, Jimmy Buffett, Sawyer Brown, Rascal Flatts,and more.

The three day gathering will also showcase Mississippi Today editor Marshall Ramsey, Southern Foodways Alliance co-founder John T. Edge, poet January O’Neil, podcaster Abe Partridge and others.

Joining McAnally on the music front will be Charlie Mars, Bedon Lancaster, and other local acts.

Tickets to the 3-day event are $449 and include all events, meals, speakers, picnics, bonfires, and story-telling sessions.

“It is truly one of the most unique events in Mississippi.  We intentionally limit attendance to 200 people to keep it fairly intimate and let people get to know each other.  In the seven years since we started the conference, we’ve had attendees from California, Canada, Europe, New York, and just about everywhere.”
The standard response is, “that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever been to.”  It’s not cheap – a $449 ticket price, but people say we could charge lots more and they would have no issue.
Why the front porch?  Because the front porch is a physical manifestation of all that is good in our society.  A front porch encourages visiting, is a semi-public / semi-private space where you can invite friends over or keep your distance and talk over the shrubs.  A front porch is emblematic of a slower time before the internet and the metaverse, when actual physical and human interaction was more of the norm.  So, we celebrate the front porch.
And, tour our knowledge, this is the only conference in America that is devoted solely to the importance of the front porch.

Sponsors for the 2022 Conference on the Front Porch are: Krutz Family Vineyards, Argent Financial Trust, Old Dominick Distillery, and McCaffrey & Company International Management Consultants.

Tickets and information can be found at :  www.theconferenceonthefrontporch.com

Conference on the Front Porch Returns to Plein Air

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