Local house show scene engages fans, vendors in intimate venues
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On show nights at The Harrington, the typical loud and electric energy fills the air as people dance and sing to the live music. But on the floor above, the environment is different. Past the herds of people and bathroom lines sits a room full of vendors, art enthusiasts and unexpectedly interesting conversation.
The Pits Vintage, run by Paul Sausville and his girlfriend Hailey Ballard, is one of these vendors. Sausville started the business during the winter of 2017 after his dad started pressuring him to clean out the clothes that he had been collecting since middle school. Though Sausville’s business fizzled out when he got to college, he restarted it halfway through his sophomore year with Ballard when they noticed vintage clothing was popular with students their age.
Since then, Sausville said that selling at shows has been a large factor of his success. Sausville was introduced to The Harrington when he ran into Sam Stehle — the venue’s co-founder — in an ESF building and complimented his shirt. Sausville then started a pop-up in The Harrington, which soon became a staple attraction.
“I think music brings really good people together and really interesting people together,” Sausville said. “This whole thing with my business and it being so intertwined with the music scene, I just couldn’t be happier because it’s something that I’ve always wanted to be involved with.”
The relationship between The Harrington and its vendors is a mutually beneficial one, Stehle said. The relationships that they have developed with the people who sell in their house has led to a partnership that is more centered around boosting the vendors, rather than having their space filled.
Guests bump and bustle in between floors as they enter the house. When they need a break from the cluttered basement, people move to the main floor to decrompress. Cassandra Roshu | Assistant Photo Editor
The Harrington also welcomes artists who want to share their work and concert photographers who want to get better at their craft. At the “Valentines at The Harrington” show, Sausville invited a friend, Nicole Byrnes, to share his table to sell her crochet pieces.
Redgate, another house show venue, viewed The Harrington as their model when they implemented their own business strategies. Like The Harrington, Redgate’s biggest priority is to utilize its space as efficiently as possible. But it’s started to limit vendors to make room for more guests.
“We are more prioritizing getting as many (guests) in and not turning away any people at the door because we want everybody to come inside and have a great time,” said Dylan Fox, co-owner of Redgate.
Fox said venue hosts and band members will often visit each other’s shows for fun, but also to observe and build off their ideas. Stehle said they’ll also share technical equipment and help out with staffing shortages.
“It’s all love, we don’t want to be competing,” Fox said. “In the scenes that we find ourselves in today, we’re all learning from each other.”
Sausville says that music venues attract crowds of people that are friendly, interesting and come from many different backgrounds. He loves being able to meet people from every corner of the country and further.
“I’ve been able to make good connections with not just the people that are organizing the events, but also the people that are attending the events,” Sausville said.
In the past year, three times as many guests have been attending The Harrington, Stehle said, something he attributes to the vendors.
Before the Pits became its primary vendor, The Harrington used extra space in its house to sell merchandise from the bands that were playing. Will Harrington, the venue’s co-founder, said its biggest goal is to make use of the house as well as it can.
“If it’s just an empty space you’re just generally going to have people milling around in their clumped up friend groups,” Harrington said. “But once you have some sort of shared medium that you can interact with, I think it allows people to talk to each other.”
Sophomore Adam D-J sells custom made stickers and sweaters, as well as displays his art with the help of his friend, Jordyn Marchinsin. D-J used the profits from The Harrington’s Valentine’s Day show in order to buy himself more art supplies. Cassandra Roshu | Assistant Photo Editor
The economy of house shows extends further than the relationship between vendors and hosts to also include the bands and collaborators that are hired for the event, Stehle said. The venues often hire people outside of the business to design posters and photograph the night.
Sausville said he knows almost every band and band member and that they often perform with the clothes he sells. While he may never be on stage, Sausville loves how Pits Vintage has immersed him with the Syracuse music scene.
For Fox, Redgate is a place where anybody can come and have a good time, regardless of the club, organization or college that they are a part of. All the owners of Redgate want is to make the music experience the best that it can possibly be.
“Every single person that puts on these shows loves music, that’s really where it stems from,” Fox said. “The economy runs it, but it’s really for the love of music.”
