Relaxing on the front porch of a Lancaster home on a summer evening is idyllic city life, local front-porch sitters say.

"There's no place I think I'd rather be than on my front porch," Ralph Fox Wolf said as he sat on the porch of the North Plum Street house he and his wife have owned for 64 years.

He likes talking to the people who pass by — newcomers and the regulars, including the little girl and her grandfather who make a trip to Turkey Hill on East Chestnut Street every day.

"The nicest people pass here," his wife Ida "Billy" Wolf said. "Everybody has a cheery hello. They stop and talk. Everyone here is so friendly."

That's how they know who all their neighbors are, who the newcomers are and where they work and what's going on in the neighborhood.

Even a loud motorcycle going by doesn't faze the former agriculture teacher at Thaddeus Stevens Trade School. He can tell by the sound of the muffler that it's a Harley-Davidson.

That put him in mind of the days when he owned a motorcycle and rode it with his nephew, Ralph Peelor, who likes to sit on the front porch with Wolf and talk to people too.

James and Betty Bell were visiting their niece's house on a July afternoon, chatting with another relative, Charles McNeil.

They all were enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze, they said, as they watched what was going on around them.

People just want to be outside. All winter, you're closed up inside the house, James Bell said. Summer — you want to be outside.

He's been known to play some one-eyed jack, checkers, chess and 21 courts on the porch.

Activity in the neighborhood adjacent to McCaskey was pretty calm as Bell reminisced about growing up in South Carolina, where everybody would come out on the porch at night. Some would sleep out all night, he said, if it was too hot to be inside.

The familiarity front-porch-sitting creates makes the whole neighborhood safer, he said.

"Everybody knows everybody," he said. "Everybody's watching everybody's house."

You don't have lock the door, not even today, he said, because there's always somebody watching out for you and your house.

McNeil said people often sit on their front porches on South Ann Street for the entertainment factor.

"There's a lot more people and a lot more drama," he said. Lovers' quarrels, police, gossip and more, he said.

No need for television, Bell said. Go out on the street.

No TV, just free-play, is what Sara Wendler wanted for her son Owen. When she and her husband, Jeff Wendler, were looking for a house, a front porch was top priority.

Sara and Jeff have fond memories of childhood summers playing with other kids on their front porches.

On a Sunday evening earlier this month, Owen played with Matchboxes and army men while the Wendlers relaxed with their aunt and uncle, Bill and Kate Bendson. The Bendsons and Wendlers share a semi-detached house on Rider Avenue.

Bill's been known to saw a few logs on the Bendsons' porch swing, and double chairs are illuminated by a lamp with a bug bulb. Bill, who likes to sit on the porch and read, said he wasn't sure if the bug bulb repels or attracts bugs.

Just sitting out on the porch does attract people to stop by, the Bendsons said. As extroverts, they both enjoy the spontaneous conversations.

When the Bendsons had younger children, Kate loved having the neighborhood kids on the porch, sharing a watermelon on a hot afternoon. The older man next door, Carl Brubaker, was like a grandfather to the kids and was a listening ear for Bill when he was frustrated with supporting five children.

Even this night, Kate's twin sister and her husband stop by while they are out for a walk. Friends wave as they drive by.

With or without other people, the front porch is one of the best places to unwind, many people said.

People are so busy today, said Marianne Stoltzfus, owner of My Secret Garden Bed and Breakfast on West Chestnut Street. She and her husband, Amos, and their guests use the front porch. People need places where they can go sit and quiet themselves and enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

"A front porch can almost feel like it's extending an invitation to come and sit and relax for a while," she said.

E-mail: lespenshade@lnpnews.com