by Charly Mann

On Sunday May 17, 1964 I attended special ceremonies to honor the late President John F. Kennedy at the University of North Carolina's Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. Tens of thousands of Tar Heels turned out for the memorial program which featured speeches by the Reverend Billy Graham, the mother of the late President Rose Kennedy, his brother Senator Ted Kennedy, North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford, and former NC governor and current Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges.

Joan and Senator Ted Kennedy with Rose Kennedy and Govenor Terry Sanford walking into Kenan Stadium on May 17, 1964

The event was a fundraiser for the construction of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. North Carolina was the first state in the nation to organize a tribute event for the late President. Ironically, I recall that President Lyndon Johnson, who disliked President Kennedy and his family, was the honorary national chairman of the Kennedy library. President Johnson was thought likely to attend the event, but did not. I suspect he wanted to for political reasons, but that the Kennedy family did all in their power to make him not feel welcome. Roland Giduz was the Orange County chairman of the event.

There was widespread speculation that President Lyndon Johnson would attend the President Kenndey Tribute in Chapel Hill

Tickets to the ceremony were $10, and everyone who bought one had their name placed on a list which was given to President Kennedy's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. That list has since been archived in the Kennedy library.

President John F. Kennedy's younger brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, speaks at tribute in Chapel Hill in 1964

The ceremony lasted for an hour and was preceded by a concert by the UNC band. The highlight of the tribute was a short speech by the late President's mother, Rose Kennedy, after which she was presented a check of $250,000 for the library. This was Rose Kennedy's second trip to Chapel Hill. In 1960 she came to town to campaign for her son when he was running for President.

Rose Kennedy, President John F Kennedy's mother, speaks at tribute to her son at Kenan Stadium in May of 1964

There is a rare color film which was made of the event titled North Carolina's Tribute to John F Kennedy and is 29 minutes in length. It was produced by James Beveridge and narrated by Ben Mast. As far as I can tell, The John F. Kennedy Library in Boston has sole possession of this movie, and I am sure many Chapel Hill Memories readers would enjoy viewing it.

Days before the Kennedy Tribute is held in Chapel Hill President Lyndon Johnson looks at program to be handed out during the ceremony.

Related articles:
President John F Kennedy Comes To Chapel Hill in 1961
Chapel Hill on the day President Kennedy Died
 

by Charly Mann

Chapel Hill in the early 1960s was an intellectually stimulating and exciting place for me to spend my last two years of adolescence and my first year as a teenager. I felt I was part of the new generation that President Kennedy had talked about in his 1961 inaugural address when he said, "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.... [who are] unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."

President Kennedy at Kenan Stadium October 12, 1961

On November 22nd ,1963 I was 13 and in the eighth grade. I had returned home early for Thanksgiving break from a private school I was attending in Asheville because my views on civil rights led to me being bullied by a large group of upper classmen at the school. On that Friday at about 12:30 I walked up to Kemps Record Store from my house, which was about four miles away. Sometime around 1:30 someone came into the store and said the President was dead. In many ways the world has not been the same since those words were spoken. Not only was one man's life cut short, but the optimism and hope of an entire generation was extinguished. For the next ten minutes the few customers in Kemp's were silent until someone turned on a radio, and it was confirmed that the President had been assassinated. I walked out of the store a little numb and not knowing what to do next.

A crowd gathers in hushed silence to listen to news about the Kennedy assassination in front of Harry's in Chapel Hill about 2 PM on November 22, 1963

I was first in dismay, then shock, and it took me many hours to come to terms with this terrible news. I remember the first thing I thought when I got out onto the downtown sidewalk was that his successor would be the vice-president. I tried to remember his full name, and recalled it was Lyndon Baines Johnson. I immediately thought that from now on everyone would use the letters LBJ when talking about him like they had used the initials JFK for John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Shock and sorrow as news about Kennedy's death reaches Chapel Hill

A few minutes later a bell at South Building began ringing. Soon after that the bells at the Bell Tower began tolling a mournful sound that sent chills down my spine. I walked solemnly through the campus to the Scuttlebutt to buy a large 5 cent root beer. I then walked back to Franklin Street. Everything in town was quiet except for the bell tower tolling in the distance, and there was little activity on campus or the sidewalks of downtown. In front of the Post Office I noticed that the flag had already been lowered to half mast. As I walked down the block I saw small crowds of people standing at the entry to many stores watching black-and-white televisions that had been placed near the front.

A UNC Chapel Hill student contemplates the death of President Kennedy on the afternoon of November 22, 1963

I remember that as I walked by Huggins Hardware they had a radio on, and an announcement was made by the broadcaster that the UNC-Duke football game kickoff would be on Saturday at 1 PM. I could not believe someone was even talking about football. (The next day the Presidents of UNC and Duke agreed to postpone the game until the following week.) I recognized one of my Dad's students in front of Sloan's Drug Store, and he said that most of the people who were downtown had come to see the annual BEAT DUKE Parade, but that it had just been canceled.

As I returned home through campus at about 4:30 PM, I could hear a bugler blowing taps somewhere in the distance. One queer thing I will always remember is that I did not see a single car driving on Raleigh Street, Cameron Avenue, Country Club Road, or Gimghoul on my walk home, and this was late on a Friday afternoon when most people would usually be coming home from work.

Flag lowering in Polk Place soon after death of President Kennedy is announced

In the somber quiet of the afternoon, I thought back to President Kennedy's visit to Chapel Hill almost two years earlier on October 12, 1961 and how I had thought then how easy it would have been for someone to kill the President.

A man leans in sorrow beside a tree on the UNC campus after hearing the news of President Kennedy's death

When I got home and told my father how quiet the campus and town had been he told me that all afternoon and evening classes at the University had been canceled, as well as classes scheduled for Saturday morning.

UNC cadets prepare to lower the flag on UNC campus to half mast shortly after death of President Kennedy is announced

One more thing I remember about that time was that a performance by the New Christy Minstrels, then one of the most popular singing groups in America, scheduled for Saturday night at Memorial Hall was canceled.

President John F Kennedy Comes To Chapel Hill in 1961

by Charly Mann

The annual Chapel Hill Apple Chill Fair was a 35 year community event that featured arts, crafts, music, and food. It was the last of a long line of annual Chapel Hill gatherings in which young and old alike bonded in a festive event. Before Apple Chill there were gatherings like the Watermelon Festival in the 1950s which was held in late spring on the UNC campus in which everyone in town got together to enjoy free slices of watermelon. Chapel Hill’s 4th of July Celebration was also much more like a fair when it was held on the Intermural Field located between Carmichael Auditorium and the Institute of Government in 1950s through the 60s.

Apple Chill took place for one weekend every April on Franklin Street. All of downtown became a glorious pedestrian mall as the streets were barracked from traffic and stalls, carts, musicians, jugglers, dancers, and clowns filled the streets. One could always enjoy a wide variety of decadent and exotic foods, and during the 1970s much of the art and crafts offered were first rate.

The first Apple Chill festival was in 1972. Apple Chill got its name by moving the “C” in “Chapel” over to “Hill” and with a few modifications become “Apple Chill”. The festival was originally called the Apple Chill Art and Music Fair, and was held not on Franklin Street, but on the adjacent McCorkle Place on the UNC campus. There was an array of great artists that year displaying their work, as well as music that included Mike Cross and legendary Chapel Hill band Arrogance. Over the years Apple Chill evolved into a real family event that offered face painting, kite-flying, balloons, and clowns for children. The arts and crafts for sale grew progressively downscale, but more affordable.

This was the most threatening scene you could encounter in the first 25 years of the Apple Chill Festival

By the early 1990s the essence of downtown Chapel Hill was starting to change. There were far fewer stores on Franklin Street that were locally owned or catered to a non-student clientele. In 1993 shortly after Apple Chill ended more than 70 shots were fired from a car on West Franklin Street that wounded two people. The festival began attracting gang members from Durham and bikers from several states. Fights during and after the Fair became common and included brawls of more than fifty people in 2003 that ended when Chapel Hill Police had to draw their guns to stop the melee. Finally after three people were shot downtown shortly after the close of the Apple Chill festival in 2006 Chapel Hill mayor Kevin Foy and the city council voted unanimously to end Apple Chill.

Chapel Hill's Police did not have to worry about bikers and gangs during most of Apple Chill's history

The Halloween Celebration is the only annual event that is still held on Franklin Street, but with the rise crime and gang related violence in the downtown area that event is attracting far fewer than the 80,000 celebrants who attended at its peak.  For downtown Chapel Hill to return to its community roots it must make Franklin Street safe for its residents. There are too many empty stores, homeless panhandlers, and gang members these days. Chapel Hill is still a wonderful place with a beautiful campus and beautiful neighborhoods, but the once charming downtown where people felt safe walking around in the evening is now only a memory.

The Apple Chill Cloggers first appeared at the fair in 1975. They performed Appalachian clogging which combines traditional clogging with square dance and Scottish dancing. They thrilled the crowds with their high kicks, energy, and costumes.