This weekend marks a big milestone for a Rhode Island institution: Nick-a-Nee’s is celebrating 30 years. And in honor of the anniversary, they’re putting on a three-day music festival.
The beloved little bar in Providence’s Jewelry District has long had a reputation as a great music venue and community hub. And when a place like this can stick around for as long as it has, that’s special. So I stopped by the bar Saturday afternoon to talk with Stephanie Finizia, who opened Nick-a-Nee’s in 1996.
She said it feels “a little surreal” to be celebrating 30 years. “It feels like it’s gone by really fast, and other times feels like it’s dragged on and on,” she said. “But yeah, I’m excited, I’m proud of the accomplishment. It’s been a long haul, but through it all, we’re still hanging in there. And people enjoy the place, and that gives me a lot of satisfaction, just knowing how much this place means to people.”
There’s a relaxed, welcoming vibe when you walk into Nick-a-Nee’s. Folks bring their dogs, sometimes their kids. There are a couple of pool leagues, and there’s live music every day of the week. On any given evening, you’re liable to find people of all ages – and a lot of regulars. So what does Finizia think it is about the bar that keeps people coming back so faithfully, week after week?
“I think a lot of it has to do with the music,” she said. “And I think because it is so low-key, and there’s just such a mesh of different types of people, that anybody feels comfortable coming here. I was always very proud of, like, single women would come here because they felt comfortable, they wouldn’t be bothered. You can have some really great conversations here with people. And we do have a very large group of regulars that make sure that people feel welcome.”
Thanks to Finizia, the space really feels homey, full of pictures, pool trophies, little personal touches and fixtures that have clearly been there a long time: CD jukeboxes, an old couch next to a working wood stove. You get the sense that, if you walked into the bar in the 1990s, it might not have looked much different. And Finizia says that’s how she likes it.
“I do, I do,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll come in and I’ll get bored, and I start moving all the pictures around and stuff.” But other than that, she said, it stays the same.
Finizia says she still comes in every day. She’s not bartending so much anymore, but she’ll do whatever needs to be done, or just come in to play pool and enjoy the music.
Looking back over the bar’s history, Finizia says the good times tend to blend together – but there is one night that sticks out, from about twenty years ago. Folk-country artist David Rawlings was set to play the Newport Folk Festival, and he was in town with his longtime musical partner, singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.
“And she called up and she asked if she could play here,” Finizia said. “I didn’t know who she was at the time … so I was like, well, what kind of music do you like? She goes, ‘well, you know, I like, like Bob Dylan.’” That struck a chord.
Nick-a-Nee’s hosted a surprise, last-minute show from Welch and Rawlings before the folk festival, and it was packed to the gills. “It was the only time that I’ve ever had to turn people away,” Finizia said. “It was that busy. And it was so magical.”
The bar’s three-day, 30th-anniversary festival takes place June 12-14, featuring more than two dozen local bands, including Nick-a-Nee’s favorites like The Teledynes, Sourpunch, and Ghost Cat Rodeo. The music starts at 2 p.m. on Friday and at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There will be food throughout the weekend – and, as always, there’s no cover.
