BareRoots Music Festival hosts CNY talents as love letter to Syracuse
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On Saturday, music lovers clad in flannel shirts and denim jackets gathered at the Thornden Park Amphitheater. They stayed for seven hours of performances by nine local indie-folk artists, part of the BareRoots Music Festival.
“Syracuse has a ton of creatives in it, and we just wanted to showcase all of them in one spot,” Jillian Hagadorn, one of the festival’s organizers, said. “Where they’re living right now is a cool place to be.”
For the second time, BareRoots hosted its annual music festival, which brings in local artists and vendors. The festival bridges the gap between artists and spectators by introducing the community to local talent, establishing a firm sense of pride in its audience.
This year, the festival brought several central New York-based artists: Foxrow, Blue Affliction, Beautiful Losers, Mt. Erebus, Clove, Allen Fellows Project, Emma Hedrick, Jessie Elizabeth and Pat Tato.
“Syracuse can be a little disjointed,” Hagadorn said. “This is another way of just bringing people together.”
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Hagadorn, 29, has helped organize the festival since its launch. After the COVID-19 pandemic, she said she was trying to find a space for young people to come together to listen to live music. Hagadorn realized the artists she’d see in concert were only visiting Syracuse, so working with BareRoots helped her “prove that there’s a lot of fantastic things happening already” in the area she lives in.
Among these local artists were Emma Jude and Seth Becker, who opened the festival as the folk duo, Foxrow. The central New York duo have been professional musicians for over a decade. Their lyrics convey themes of love, loss and optimism, having been compared to artists like The Civil Wars and Noah Kahan. Foxrow’s debut album, “Fly from Here,” comes out on Oct. 2.
Early in her career, Jude moved to New York City and performed on cruise ships and at college coffee shops around the country. It was when she returned to Syracuse two years ago that she met Becker, who was then part of The Old Main, an indie-folk band based in Utica.
“I really appreciate the fact that I left and came back because now I appreciate it so much more.” Jude said. “And I love what the arts community is building.”
From 12 to 7 p.m., families, students and curious park-goers attended the festival for free, made possible by donations, sponsorships and grants. The idea was to have people choose how they wanted to spend their day, whether that be “out in the field, listening to music from a distance, or dancing right up at the front,” Hagadorn said.
Syracuse locals, Kathy Donovan and Kathy Nash, attended BareRoots for the second time on Saturday. The friends sat in camping chairs above the amphitheater, enjoying the live music and a Toss ‘n’ Fire pizza, one of the festival’s food truck vendors. The two enjoyed listening to the new and upcoming artists they discovered through the festival.
“We haven’t heard a lot of these,” Nash said. “You get to hear a lot of artists throughout the day.”
Another important factor of BareRoots is what its programming does for these artists: it helps them reach new audiences. Another BareRoots organizer acted as an emcee, introducing each musician onto the stage with a brief overview of their work. Throughout their set, artists were then given the opportunity to speak about their upcoming projects or simply shout out their social media.
Attendees at the BareRoots Music Festival draw self-portraits on the festival’s sign. This year marks the festival’s second anniversary. Madison Cox | Staff Photographer
Alongside music, BareRoots also hosts a variety of vendors, like Jay Zinteck of The Leather Bone. Zinteck, who owns a leathercrafting business specializing in handmade goods, was a first-time vendor at BareRoots this year, where he sold one-of-a-kind wallets, pouches and hair-pins.
BareRoots vendors like Zinteck showcase the talent in Syracuse and the surrounding areas, and their diversity ensures there’s something for everyone who walks by, Hagadorn said. Other shops include Nikki’s Bikkies, a small-batch bakery inspired by recipes from the United States and Australia, and Paschkes Pottery, creating handmade ceramic pottery and figurines.
For Hagadorn, BareRoots functions as a love letter to Syracuse. The festival allows for the creative expression and growth of its local artists, while opening up a world to the community that they may not have noticed otherwise.
“Syracuse’s largest export is talent and young people,” Hagadorn said. “What does that mean if people don’t think there’s a space and a place for them?”
