Sam Adams & Dunamis Present JP Porchfest 

The Samuel Adams Boston Brewery is working with Dunamis to host a porch again this year in our Beer Garden for Jamaica Plain’s Annual Porchfest. The festival takes place on August 19th this year and it continues to strengthen and unify our community through the appreciation of music and the arts. Artists who perform across many different genres and people from the Jamaica Plain community come together to facilitate an inclusive community environment through music, dance, theater, and more.  

At The Samuel Adams Boston Brewery, we are proud and honored to be the main sponsor of this festival for the third year. We are continuously inspired by our community, and it fuels our passion for brewing new craft beers for people to enjoy together. This year, we are bringing back Porch(fest) Rocker to celebrate our favorite music festival. Aged on raspberries and lemon, this gose is light and fruity with a tart, clean finish. A sessionable summer style, this beer celebrates the local Jamaica Plain community that opens its porches up to musicians and artists for a truly one-of-a-kind festival experience. 5.2% ABV, available on draft and in cans starting July 28th.

We wanted the label on this beer to reflect the character and vibrancy of our local community while telling the story of Jamaica Plain’s Annual Porchfest. That’s why we decided to work with local artist Felipe Álvarez de Toledo to craft the perfect label. Also known as FelipFecit (@felipfecit), this illustrator and cartoonist from Barcelona is now based in Boston, Massachusetts. Felipe remains passionate about the narrative power that an image can have, which made him the perfect artist to create our new label. We had the opportunity to interview him, and this is what he had to say:  

Q: Tell us about yourself! 

A: I am 31 and am originally from Spain and Argentina. I came to the US in 2016 to study art history. Now I live in JP with my husband and our lizard in an old apartment. 

Q: What made you want to create the 2023 JP Porchfest art? 

A: I wanted to make the poster for JP Porchfest because it is one of the big yearly events that makes JP come alive, contributing to its welcoming, grassroots, inclusive spirit that I love. 

Q: As an illustrator and cartoonist, what do you feel is your biggest challenge? What are your strengths? 

A: I do not have formal training in the arts, so I often struggle with trusting my choices and skills. I would also like to be more experimental with color. 

I find that when I am having fun, I get in the zone and create work I can be proud of, especially when I imagine joyful and whimsical characters. I love to make images with light humor in them. I also enjoy combining images with handwritten text. 

Q: Are there any new materials and/or techniques you are experimenting with right now? 

A: I love ink with a brush or a dip pen, but right now I’m training to be a graphic recorder - someone who takes illustrated notes live at company events. For this, I am beginning to work large scale with markers on foam core board or whiteboard. I love the flow state you achieve working a live event, simultaneously listening, creating and using your whole range of motion. I still struggle with my line work, though- it’s a work in progress! 

Q: Is there anything that inspires you when you’re creating a new illustration or cartoon? 

A: I find myself inspired by the little day to day things - quirky things humans do, or the small feeling of awe when facing an old building or a beautiful natural environment. I love looking at the wild rabbits in my neighbors’ yard these days, even if they end up eating up the plants in my garden. 

Q: If you could interview any illustrator or cartoonist, dead or alive, who would it be? 

A: There are so many. But I will point to two greats from Argentina. One is Quino, who passed away in 2020. In the 1960s, he created Mafalda, an intellectual girl who always spoke her mind, had strong political beliefs and hates soup. The other is Liniers, currently active and who I think lives in Vermont. His comic strips are full of whimsy and poetry. Look him up if you like penguins, gnomes and bookish girls who are friends with talking cats. 

Q: What do you love about Boston/JP? 

A: Of Boston, I love its history, culture and its proximity to the sea. Also its walkability. It reminds me of my hometown of Barcelona. Of JP, I love its spunk, the diversity of its people, how it feels like a neighborhood, and the density of greenery and small wildlife in the area. Even if it does mean that I have occasionally had raccoons living within the walls of my condo. 

Q: What’s your favorite beer? 

A: In the summer, I love myself a radler - similar to the JP Porchfest Rocker! 

Join us on August 18th and 19th for a celebration of community, art, and beer at the brewery’s Beer Garden Patio. We will be hosting the Porchfest Kickoff Party on August 18th to get the Jamaica Plain community excited and prepared for the festival. There will be live music and maps of the festival so folks can plot out who they want to see and where they will be performing. On the day of the festival, we'll be hosting a porch and welcoming folks from all over Boston to enjoy a full day of live music. We will also have a pop-up Beer Garden at the Loring Greenough House, which is another main stage of the festival. 

Cheers to another year of JP Porchfest!