Youngstown State University’s Fire Fest will blaze in a new location this year.

The festival that kicks off YSU’s homecoming weekend festivities will take place at the Daniel H. Becker Family Fountain Commons at the center of campus instead of the parking lots near Stambaugh Stadium.

“We, as a group of students, decided that we wanted to move it closer to campus and have it at the core, especially with the construction at Kilcawley (Center),” said Brynn Brunston, Penguin Productions’ event lead for the festival. “We felt like the parking lot was kind of removed, and we just wanted to change things up.”

“Since the construction is going on, it’s a good time for us to try new things,” added Stacy Rubinic, coordinator of graphic services at YSU and a Penguin Productions advisor.

That’s not the only change past attendees will notice. A vendors market has been added to the event.

“We usually have it for Federal Frenzy, and a lot of people enjoy that,” Brunston said. “We were talking to our student government, and they (suggested) the idea of potentially bringing the vendors to Fall Fire Fest, and we like the idea.”

Rubinic added, “We worked with Penguin City Night Market, and they curated a selection of vendors who will have things that might be relevant for students’ dorm rooms, smaller stuff that makes more sense for students.”

A main component of Fire Fest is a pep rally ahead of the homecoming football game, which will be played against Murray State at 2 p.m. Oct. 25 at Stambaugh Stadium. The pep rally starting at 8:45 p.m. Thursday will include a performance by the YSU marching band and speeches from student-athletes, the homecoming court and President Bill Johnson.

In the past the pep rally preceded a concert. This year the music will serve as the opening act for the rally. Negative Zen, a Youngstown band whose music is described as a blend of 1990s grunge and 2000s alternative rock, will perform at 7 p.m. Nineteenth Paradise, a hard rock / punk band from Youngstown that has released three albums, will play at 8 p.m.

About 25 students on eight different committees are involved in different aspects of putting together the three-hour event, Brunston said. And the students involved with Penguin Productions get hands-on experience with organizing large scale events.

“We start, as advisors, with the template of what’s been done before and we guide the conversation,” Rubinic said. “But all the decisions, as far as choosing bands and working with activities and whatnot, is really student focused.”

The experience working on Fire Fest helps in the spring in organizing the much larger Federal Frenzy, which has expanded into a two-day festival in downtown Youngstown that’s held in April.

“Students join Penguin Productions in the fall,” Rubinic said. “So this is preparing them on a smaller scale for Federal Frenzy.”