Federal Frenzy Saturday in downtown Youngstown

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The annual Federal Frenzy Music and Arts Festival will take place Saturday with headliner Robert DeLong and 23 other musical acts from the Youngstown area, Akron and Cleveland.

Now in its fifth year, Federal Frenzy will take over a few downtown blocks, with outdoor stages on Federal Street between Phelps Street and Central Square, and in the water department parking lot.

North Phelps Street between Federal and Commerce streets will also be closed to traffic, and will be the location of six food trucks: The Big Green Thing, The Alternative, Hot Diggity Donuts, R&J Smokers BBQ, The Frytanic and Babcia’s Lunchbox.

The festival – sponsored by Youngstown State University Penguin Productions, the city and the Summit FM – also will include arts- and-crafts vendors, food trucks and beer stands. The vendors village will be set up along West Federal Street, near Hazel Street.

The event runs from 2 to 11 p.m. and includes a full slate of live music in four bars in the area: O’Donold’s Irish Pub, Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts, The Federal and Rhine Haus Bier Hall. Events will also take place in the Lemon Grove (inside the Knox Building) and the Whistle and Keg.

Admission to the festival and all bars is free.

Federal Frenzy is operated by Penguin Productions, which carefully curates a musical lineup that includes the region’s top rising acts. The Penguin staff sifted through a deluge of band submissions before settling on its picks, said Megan Crees, event lead for the festival.

Last year’s festival attracted a record 6,000-plus in attendance and probably much more. “We stopped counting after 8 p.m.,” said Crees.

The festival will culminate with Robert DeLong, who will take the main outdoor stage at 9:30 p.m. The LA-based one-man pop-dance band who sings and performs with a bank of electronic equipment. DeLong creates songs by layering sound loops and adding to it with his voice and guitar.

Preceding DeLong on the main stage will be Spirit of the Bear, the Youngstown-based indie-pop band.

Samfox, a soulful blues ensemble, and the soul-punk Mourning [A] BLKstar, both of Cleveland, will also play the main stage.

Akron indie-rockers The Dreemers and rockabilly band The Shootouts, as well as Youngstown’s experimental rockers Sam Goodwill will play the other outdoor stage, which is sponsored by The Summit Radio.

Bands performing in indoor venues include Radio Lark, the Super Babes, Frank Toncar Project, East 9th, The VVilderness, Very Good Friends, Black Wolf and the Thief, Northern Whale, Pleading the Fifth, Juliet, JanaeSound, the Broken Relics, the Safest Ledge, Steve Wright, Ziya MC, Delinquency Jones and Pella Penguins, the a capella vocal group from YSU that sings pop covers.

New this year is a free Federal Frenzy app, which includes the schedule, said Crees. It can be downloaded beginning today.

A program titled The Art of Dancing for Fun and Fitness will take place at the Lemon Grove, which is above The Federal bar, from 2 to 6 p.m., and Gorilla Joe live screen printing will make Penguin City Beer T-shirts in the Whistle and Keg at 2 p.m.

A number of family-friendly activities will be offered in the afternoon along West Federal Street.

An artists village will feature works by Kimberly Pavelko, Kinsley Shaver, Carla Mattiussi, Isabella Starkey, Kelsi Federspiel, Cassidy Swick, Harley Hall, Philip DeRobbio, Isabella DeRobbio, Julian DeRobbio, Charlotte Niemczura, Michelle Davis, Evan Von Thaer, Rachel Hritz and Ieshia Walker.

MUSIC SCHEDULE

Main Stage

4-5 p.m.: Samfox

6-7 p.m.: Mourning [A] BLKstar

8-9 p.m.: Spirit of the Bear

9:30-11 p.m.: Robert DeLong

The Summit 330 Stage

3-4 p.m.: The Dreemers

5-6 p.m.: The Shootouts

7-8 p.m: Sam Goodwill

O’Donold’s

2:45-3:30 p.m.: Steve Wright

4:15-5 p.m.: JULIET

5:45-6:30 p.m.: Very Good Friends

7:15-8 p.m.: The Super Babes

Suzie’s Dogs & Drafts

2:15-3 p.m.: Delinquency Jones

3:45-4:30 p.m.: The Broken Relics

5:15-6 p.m.: Northern Whale

6:45-7:30 p.m.: East 9th

The Federal

2:30-3:15 p.m.: Ziya MC

4-4:45 p.m.: JanaeSound

5:30-6:15 p.m.: Black Wolf & the Thief

7-7:45 p.m.: The Frank Toncar Project

Rhine Haus Bier Hall

3-3:45 p.m.: The Safest Ledge

4:30-5:15 p.m.: Pleading the Fifth

6-6:45 p.m.: Vvilderness

7:30-8:15 p.m.: Radio Lark

Lemon Grove

6:15-6:45 p.m.: Pella Penguins