Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Pete and Marge Smith of Warren celebrate the inaugural Warren's Front Porch Day by spending time on their front porch on Saturday greeting passersby. They celebrate with a Front Porch Day sign, a candy dish, and dog treats.

The inaugural Warren’s Front Porch Day was a hit.

People throughout the community spent time on their porches and walking around the community.

There were even signs letting visitors know a home was participating and postcards inviting people to join.

One of those signs was in front of Pete and Marge Smith’s Fourth Avenue home.

They are not strangers to the front porch, but they went to extra effort on Saturday. They had a Front Porch Day banner in the yard, a candy dish beside the sidewalk, and dog treats for that kind of visitor.

“We just love seeing people and greeting people,” Marge Smith said. “We try to greet anybody that goes by.”

They are on board with Front Porch Day.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Brianna Powers said as she and Don McWilliams walked around the corner of Fifth Avenue and Liberty Street with her son, William. “We live in a beautiful community. We should get out and appreciate it more.”

It was called Front Porch Day, but is was a weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

When the organizers, Gary Lester, Gary Candreia, Tom Schultz, Joe Whipp, and Doug Hearn, came up with the event, they envisioned one day of celebration.

But, City of Warren Mayor Maurice Cashman asked for them to expand to a weekend.

That was fine with the organizers.

The event is not a revenue generator, neither does it cost much. “It doesn’t cost the city anything,” said Hearn, who is on the city council.

Hearn said the group made about 50 yard signs and numerous invitation cards.

They advertised on Facebook to find some residents who would use the signs.

Hearn was in charge of delivering them. He got to experience some front porches as he did so. “I enjoyed seeing how they’ve made their front porches into little rooms,” he said.

Participating was very simple. All people had to do was sit on their front porches (or lawns or driveways) or walk around their neighborhoods.

Hearn and his neighbors decided to put together something of a schedule so some people would be at their homes while others could be out visiting. “I’m going to sit for a while on my front porch and then walk around the block,” he said.

On Sunday, Egypt Hollow performed from his front porch.

“One of the things that we’ve really missed during the pandemic is entertainment,” he said.

This year was a test run. It was successful enough to encourage the organizers to move forward and set up the event again.

“It would be awesome to see this happen every year,” Powers said.

“What we’re really hoping is it grows to Warren County and then to the state,” Hearn said.

And if it doesn’t, then at least Warren will be a little bit more neighborly place.