Stage of Nations Blue Rain ECOFest

It was appropriate to hold the Stage of Nations Blue Rain ECOFest press conference outside on June 27. It’s a festival that will celebrate Haudenosaunee values and environmental stewardship in one event at Hanover Square on Friday, July 27, and Saturday, July 28, coinciding with Syracuse ArtsWeek. 

Syracuse New Times publisher Bill Brod hopes the merging of two events will result in a festival that brings out the best in both parts. “The Stage of Nations Native Music Festival happened intermittently over the years and the Blue Rain ECOFest has been going on for three. But I think merging the educational and entertainment aspects of the events will create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.” 

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. on July 27 with a performance from Haudenosaunee singers and dancers who will appear several times throughout the weekend and who also performed in full dress at the press conference. Morris & the Hepcats and Corn-bred, two local, Native groups, will also perform on July 27, with local bands Los Blancos and the also-Native Fabulous Ripcords on July 28. Grammy-nominated Native American singer Jana will also perform on July 28, with the world-renowned Joanne Shenandoah, a Grammy winner, and the Shenandoah Trio closing out the night. 

The event will also feature Native artists and vendors as well as educational environmental sessions in the City Hall Commons Atrium, 201 E. Washington St., in which Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy and an internationally known environmental leader, will be an integral part as a speaker and organizer. 

 “Every time you look left or right the Haudenosaunee influence is all around you,” Irv Lyons, president of H.A.W.K. Productions and guitarist in the Ripcords, said at the press conference. “The street names, the food you eat, the games you play. And every time your foot strikes the ground you have a connection to the earth.” 

“Where else do you have an internationally recognized environmental and faith leader, a Grammy Award winner {Shenandoah} and business executives meeting on the same corner?” said Melanie Littlejohn, regional executive of National Grid, another sponsor of the festival. “We’re honored to be a part of this event.”

For more information on the festival, visit bluerainecofest.org.

—Jessica Novak