JIM CATALANO

CORRESPONDENT

X Ambassadors — the popular rock band led by Ithaca natives Sam and Casey Harris — announced Monday morning it will host a new hometown festival in September.

Cayuga Sound: A Festival for the City of Ithaca will take place Sept. 22-23, with a daylong concert in Stewart Park serving as the centerpiece of the event.

Curated by X Ambassadors, the festival will feature the Roots and several other acts chosen by the band, including Jukebox the Ghost, the Knocks, K. Flay, Tei Shei and Savoir Adore. A few local bands, including Izzy True, Sammus and Stone Cold Miracle, will round out the lineup. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31.

X Ambassadors singer psyched for fall festival

“My brother Casey and I are proud to call ourselves native Ithacans,” said lead singer Sam Harris in a press release. “The city is an important part of our identity — personally and professionally. We cut our teeth as musicians in Ithaca, so X Ambassadors owe the city a great deal. We wanted to curate a music festival in Ithaca that celebrates the city we hail from. With an eclectic lineup of artists from all genres of music, wonderful food and drink from local vendors and the opportunity to give back to the community we are so proud to be a part of.”

Along with the Stewart Park concert, there also will be shows in local clubs and other events around the city.

Some of the festival’s proceeds will benefit local nonprofits, including Friends of Stewart Park, The Ithaca Youth Bureau, GIAC, Planned Parenthood Ithaca, Community School of Music and Arts, Ithaca City of Asylum and the Youth Farm Project.

Last May, X Ambassadors sold out the State Theatre in an emotional homecoming show that served as an exclamation point for the group’s rise in the pop music world — one marked by hit songs such as “Renegades,” “Unsteady” and “Jungle.” Soon after, the band’s manager, Seth Kallen of This Fiction, encouraged them to think about creating their own festival, similar to what Wilco has done with its Solid Sound event in Massachusetts each summer.

“I told them I think there’s some real hometown love and we should really do this,” Kallen said in a phone interview. “It’s something they got really excited about, because they knew they could do something great for the community. It’s something they would’ve loved to go to as teens growing up in Ithaca, and they knew it would be a really fun time to invite a lot of their friends to play and bring something new to Ithaca.”

Kallen and Dan Smalls, founder of DSP Shows, began working on the festival together last summer. Smalls has put on similar events at Brewery Ommegang for the past eight years, which helped him as he embarked on talks with the city for permission to stage Cayuga Sound.

“The city certainly was happy to give approval based on knowing that we do this on a regular basis,” Smalls noted. “They want a pro event. Obviously, the park is huge and has plenty of amenities, but getting there can be a challenge. So we’re going to spend most of the summer educating people on ways to get there.”

He added: “We really want this to be a celebration not just of X Ambassadors and the bands they like, but also local music, local food, local charities and local not-for-profits. There are so many great things here, it just feels like a real winner for the city.”

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick agrees.

“Cayuga Sound is an enormous opportunity for the City of Ithaca. It promotes what's best about our community — culture, the environment, and the economy,” said Myrick in a press release. “As a fan, I'll be camping out to see X Ambassadors, and as a recovering drummer I'm extremely excited to see QuestLove and the Roots.”

Capacity for the event is being finalized with the city, but it’s not likely to exceed 5,000.

“We want it to be small and intimate,” Smalls said. “This is year one of something we hope becomes an annual thing, and for this first year the band and I and their management are working really hard to pull it off with limited resources. We’re all about being in it for the long term and building it for next year.”

If You Go

♦ Who: X Ambassadors and other bands

♦ What: Cayuga Sound: A Festival for the City of Ithaca

♦ When: Sept. 22-23

♦ Where: Stewart Park, Ithaca

♦ Tickets: $10-$210, on sale March 31

♦ Info:www.cayugasoundfestival.com