2023 F.I.R.E Festival at Oswego Music Hall. Perfomance by Stress Dolls. Credit: Courtesy of Jess Novak

Before Jess Novak pursued a full-time music career, she was a music journalist. 

As she covered concerts and festivals for the Syracuse New Times, she saw the same thing: Each one was run by a man. 

“Ninety-nine percent men on stage,” Novak said. “When they did have a female stage or female showcase it was one female singer.”

Novak decided to change that. This March, she’ll be running the fourth iteration of the F.I.R.E Festival — which stands for “Females, Inspire, Rock, Empower” — an all-woman music festival. 

A lineup of all-women music performers will take the stage on March 9 at ONCO Fermentations in Tully. It will run from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Novak believes it’s the first festival in the area to feature all women acts. 

Jess Novak (left) and Ashley Cox (right) Central New York-based musicians. Novak is the founder of the F.I.R.E Festival and Cox is a particpating vendor and performer. Credit: Courtesy of Jess Novak

“Everyone told me that it was the most supportive environment they’d ever been in,” Novak said of previous iterations of the festival. “…It’s just that everyone’s so excited and empowered to be there, sharing everything. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

The event will celebrate Women’s History Month and serve as a recognition for some of the region’s independent women artists. Novak will be joined by several music performers and more than a dozen business owners. Some of the performers include Ashley Cox, Amanda Rogers, Caitlin Berry, Jessica Brown and Joanna Nix Jewitt. Local vendors and businesses will also be at the festival, including Michelle DaRin, Foxxy Bones, Music For the Mission and Artisan Elements. 

Novak first wanted to start the festival in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced her to cancel it. She was able to put on the festival in October 2022 at the Oswego Music Hall (in subsequent years, it was held at the Center for the Arts in Homer). 

Cox, a returning performer and longtime friend of Novak’s, played that first show in Oswego. She’s been playing music in Central New York since the 1990s and is in the band Professional Victims. Cox has seen better representation compared to when she started performing, she said. 

“When she [Novak] had the event in Oswego — so it wasn’t even really in Syracuse, our hometown. It was on the outskirts. — to see so many new faces that I didn’t recognize was inspiring to know that you could still go outside of your hometown, and people will come both because they love music and for the cause,” Cox said.

While most festivals generally take place during the spring and summer seasons, Novak wanted to kick off this year’s festival to celebrate Women’s History Month. 

Novak intentionally held the festival indoors rather than outdoors in the summer to dodge any potential for rain or inclement weather, she said. She also imagined creating an intimate experience when she developed the festival.

Novak hopes the festival will over time increase representation for women in Central New York’s music scene.

“My friend Ashley said it great, ‘I can’t wait for the day where we don’t have to call it a female festival, female showcase,’” Novak said. “The end goal is just to make it normal that this is just a festival with amazing, talented people, and everybody just treats it the same way as every other festival. But we’re not there yet. Right now, it’s still a novelty.”

All ticket purchases are available now: presale tickets cost $10 while tickets at the door cost $20. 

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Yolanda Stewart was raised in the Bronx, New York City. Before choosing a career path in journalism she found a voice in writing plays, short stories, and a myriad of other creative outlets. She is a 2022...