Music blared from the stage and vendor tents lined the usually sparse Waban Alley Park in Oak Bluffs for the ninth annual Ladyfest last Saturday.
The music festival raises money for Connect to End Violence, a Martha’s Vineyard Community Services initiative that provides services for victims and survivors of domestic violence.
Addressing the crowd, Susan Mercier, division director of Connect to End Violence, advocated for the well-being of domestic violence survivors.
“We stand here today and every day and refuse to accept the world where fear is considered the price we must pay for simply existing. We should not have to ask how they can protect themselves from violence. We should be asking how can we build a world where violence against them is no longer accepted,” Mercier said. ”They deserve safety. They deserve dignity. They deserve justice, and they deserve it now.”
Katya Brush and Emily Hall attended Ladyfest together. Hall said that both her and Brush are survivors of domestic violence.
“We personally love the idea that activism is paired with music because that’s how you can get loud. We don’t have to sit around and hold each other and smile through pain,” Hall said. “We get to dance and get to know each other a little bit better and make some fond memories where there might be crappy ones.”
Brush emphasized the joy of Ladyfest.
“It’s so much fun. Incredible music, incredible scene, and a very good cause,” Brush said. “It unites, and there is power in uniting.”
This year, Ladyfest was one half of a weekend of woman-centered music festivals. On Friday night, Sarah Shaw Dawson, Island musician and a staff reporter for The Times, hosted HERitage, a new festival that celebrated the legacies of Island women from the past through the music, art, and food of contemporary Island women and nonbinary inhabitants at Stillpoint in West Tisbury.
Ladyfest’s musical lineup featured a myriad of both Island and off-Island performances, including DJ Dolce Vita, Elda Berlin, Gabi, Sunny War, Wolftrap, the Alpha Gals, Island Hip Hop, Ali McGuirk, Kate Taylor, and Delanie Pickering.
Taylor, who performed a set heavily inspired by Appalachian folk music, said that she uses her songs to tell stories, such as through a song she wrote about growing up with four brothers as the only sister in her family. Two of her brothers — James Taylor and Livingston Taylor — are also musicians.
“I wanted to write a story in the honor of having that kind of a circumstance to grow up with and the beauty of my brothers,” Taylor said in an interview with The Times. “Music is such a wonderful vehicle with which to communicate with people.”
Miguel Samuel is a member of Wolftrap, a Los-Angeles-based folk-rock duo with his wife Bailey Mae Gardener. Samuel, who performed with Wolftrap at Ladyfest multiple times, expressed his love for performing on the Island.
“My favorite part of being on a stage on the Island is looking out in the crowd and seeing so many faces from the community show up,” Samuel said. “One of the things that makes this Island very special is that music and the arts are such a heartbeat of the culture.”
Jessie Pinnick and Lexie Roth are members of the group Alpha Gals, an Island-based rock duo who played with a full backing band Saturday. Pinnick said that she felt “grateful and excited” for the group’s performance at Ladyfest.
“I’ve imagined playing a stage where I overlook water with people, and so it feels slightly manifested from visualization,” Pinnick said. “Thanks to Ladyfest for giving us a platform to play music and to bring the community together for such a great cause. And we love women.”
Roth emphasized both the beauty of the festival and the importance of advocacy on the Island.
It’s a “perfect time of evening with the golden light coming down and overlooking the water,” Roth said. “A lot of people just think it’s all roses and rainbows here. But it’s really important to highlight that people need support. We need to check in on each other and hold each other accountable. In a tiny community, it takes a lot of bravery to stand up for the right thing and we need to be better at that.”
Kelly Feirtag, the organizer of Ladyfest, told The Times Monday that a final count of funds raised for Connect to End Violence isn’t available yet.
