story and photos By Brent Thompson
Olivia Pierce and Clay McDowell knew there was a way to pull their Crestwood community closer together, have some fun and raise money all at the same time. They just needed the right idea. The answer came in the form of Crestfest, a day-long, family friendly music and arts event that launched in 2025. Crestfest is unique in that neighborhood front porches serve as live music stages. This year’s Crestfest will be held on Saturday, November 7. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Crestwood North at the intersection of 8th Terrace South and 7th Avenue South.
But before there was a festival, Greater Crestwood—the community’s overseeing body— had to be restored back to order. Pierce and McDowell recall the process of rebuilding the community-focused, nonprofit entity. “The Greater Crestwood board was around 10-plus years ago, and it fizzled out,” McDowell says. “It tried to get too big, and then it fell apart. Four or five years ago, someone posted on (website) Nextdoor about restoring a 501(c)(3) for the greater Crestwood area, and I just happened to see it. I thought, ‘I’ll check this out and get involved.’”
Pierce recalls, “About seven other individuals saw the post on Nextdoor and decided to show up. We restored the board from scratch. No one from the prior board was there to help—we just started running with it.”
The reformation was a perfect storm of the new board’s enthusiasm and the foundation laid by the previous board. “The groundwork (from the previous board) really helped us,” Pierce continues. “We were already a registered 510(c)(3). For other nonprofits, it takes years of financials, and you have to provide proof to the IRS. We had that. The skeleton was there, and it really helped.”
Another fortuitous piece for the new board was the existing friendship and working relationship of Pierce and McDowell, both of whom happened to be Crestwood residents. “We serve on the Rotaract Club together, so we have worked together, and we knew how a board should run,” McDowell says. “We started meeting—it went from seven to nine people, then down to four. It ebbed and flowed. We finally built a board and a website and started getting traction with good members from both the north and south sides.”
With a solid foundation in place, Crestfest could now become a reality. With dual purposes of fun and fundraising, the event became a labor of love for Pierce, McDowell and their fellow board members. “Olivia had been working on Crestfest for three years, trying to get it ready to actually go live,” McDowell recalls. “Two years ago, we were about to launch, but it didn’t feel right, so we punted it to the next year. It’s our large fundraiser. Some nonprofits have a gala—this is our big fundraiser for the neighborhood. We’re raising funds for an all-inclusive swingset. [Crestwood Park] is the only public park that doesn’t have a swingset, and so many young families live here and want to come to the park. So, we are working on fundraising for that.”
With neighborhood support that literally requires some residents to open up their homes, the infrastructure for Crestfest is unique. “It’s just a big neighborhood music festival,” Pierce offers. “Instead of bands playing on stages, they play on porches. It keeps our overhead really low—we don’t have to construct anything. The stages are already built, and electricity is already there. Last year, we had 18 bands, and this year we’re going to have 30.”
McDowell adds, “We had the bands across eight porches, and we had a local improv comedy group. We ask each band to invite its crowd. The bands donate their sets, and they’re welcome to sell their own merch.
Though Crestfest is a free event, the board asks that participants visit the website prior to attending the festival. “Admission is free,” Pierce says. “All we ask is that people ‘buy’ a free ticket online so we will have a head count. The money we raise is through vendors and sponsors. We had $10,000 in sponsorships last year. It helped cover the overhead of the event, and the rest went into our pot to benefit the community.”
What is the biggest challenge in planning Crestfest? “I think it’s working full-time jobs and trying to put on a music festival,” Pierce says. “But we’re trying to put on a music festival and raise money for the community. A music festival seems like a good way to do it. The city of Birmingham has been really helpful and supportive of what we’re doing.”
But McDowell adds with a laugh, “Pleasing the neighborhood is a challenge. You can’t control every neighbor. The comics had to clean up their acts a little.”
When not planning for Crestfest, Greater Crestwood stays busy throughout the year and partners with local establishments. “We do ‘give back’ nights,” McDowell explains. “We partner with Crestwood Tavern, The Filling Station and Rojo, and we get 10 percent of the proceeds from those nights. We do quarterly neighborhood cleanups in the parks and alley ways. We started a neighborhood lottery for neighbors who fall on hard times. If your neighbor is elderly or has medical issues, we put them in a lottery, and we pick a yard to fix up. We do a neighborhood social once each quarter, and our organization provides coffee and snacks. We are in charge of the Easter egg hunt. So, we have a lot of foundational items that we do and repeat every year. We have 15 people on our board now.”
But for now, the focus is on a day of music. “Last year was the epitome of Crestwood,” McDowell says. “The neighborhood showed up and showed out to support a brand-new event— between 400 and 500 people showing up for something they’d never heard of. There are 200 porch festivals in the country, but this is the only one in Birmingham.”
For more information, visit: greatercrestwood.org
