Every summer, Minneapolis residents turn their front porches and yards into makeshift stages for Uptown Porchfest. Now in its fourth year, the festival will bring 85 bands to 37 porches across the neighborhood. Local musicians will perform everything from folk, blues and brass to metal, punk and hip-hop. 

Keep reading to meet local singer-songwriter Abigail Walker and her band, pity party, which channels the nostalgic sounds of early 2000s alternative rock. 

Plus, get details on this year’s IndiaFest in St. Paul, an exhibit featuring more than 30 Latinx artists, and a new installation by Saudi American artist Hend Al-Mansour. 

A pity party that rocks

Minneapolis alternative rock band pity party, led by singer-songwriter Abigail Walker, will open the Uptown Porchfest on Saturday at 1 p.m. at 2533 Bryant Ave. S. 

The performance brings the band back to the area that inspired its latest single, “Anymore.” 

“I was going through a pretty rough time in my personal life and not making very wise life decisions,” Walker said. “I had a terrible experience at a bar in Uptown and I blacked out after being roofied and couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror.” 

The next morning, she began writing. 

“The words just poured out of me,” she said. “I had never written like that in my life and I knew I didn’t want to stop.”

For Walker, who had dreamed of being a rock star since age 3, songwriting became a way to process her experiences. Growing up, the soundtracks of “The Twilight Saga” introduced her to formative bands like Paramore, The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead and Muse. 

While studying musical theater in North Dakota, Walker traveled to the Twin Cities with her class and saw Wayward Theatre Company’s 2018 production of “Hamlet” at the James J. Hill House. She remembered being particularly drawn to local theater artist Tim McVean. 

Years later, after relocating to the Twin Cities, Walker was cast in Wayward’s “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story,” where McVean invited her to join the company’s house band. By 2024, with McVean on guitar, the pair began working on what Walker describes as “nostalgic alternative rock” music for pity party. 

“‘Anymore’ feels the most personal out of all of the songs we have released,” Walker said. “Coming to terms with having a drinking problem in your 20s and sharing that with the world is a difficult thing to work through.”

Through music, Walker found a way to externalize the pain and loneliness she once carried in silence. 

“I didn’t know who to talk to about it,” she said. “If I had a ‘pity party’ of my own when I was going through that, I would have felt seen and understood. That’s what I want our band to be for people.” 

The band is just one stop on a packed afternoon. Be sure to stick around for sets from Fanaka Nation at 4 p.m. and The Tribe at 5 p.m. on Bryant Ave. S. 

Solana & The Sunsets will bring indie soul to Aldrich Ave. S. at 4 p.m. and J-Mo on the Beat will deliver blues on Colfax Ave. S. at 4:45 p.m. Find the schedule here. 

Bollywood and bazaars at the State Capitol

Saturday marks India Day in Minnesota, and the State Capitol grounds will turn into a full-day celebration. IndiaFest will kick off at 11 a.m. with traditional dance performances, a 1 p.m. parade and a flag-raising ceremony. 

The afternoon will feature a bazaar, henna artists, 16 local food vendors, and nonprofits focused on the health and wellness of the local community. The festival will close with a Bollywood show from 5 to 8:30 p.m. 

Latinx artists make room for maximalism

More is always more at the new Serpentina Arts exhibit “MEXIMALISMO.” The Minnesota-based Latinx artist collective will bring together more than 30 artists exploring pop culture and Latinidad through an explosion of color, pattern and texture to prove excess can tell a vivid story. 

Saturday’s opening reception at the Northeast Sculpture Gallery Factory will also feature a maximalist fashion show at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to dress in maximalist attire. 

Inside a Palestinian story

Saudi American artist Hend Al-Mansour uses geometric forms, screen printing, embroidery and calligraphy to explore the lives and histories of Arab American women in Minnesota. 

Building on her previous exhibit, which honored women from across the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region, her new exhibit at Rosalux Gallery, “Living Threads,” shifts focus to one Palestinian woman’s lived experience to explore what it takes to carry a homeland across generations. 

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