Festifall draws thousands to enjoy local art, culture

Acrobats, musicians and more than 100 artists took over West Franklin Street on Sunday for Chapel Hill’s 39th annual Festifall.

The event attracts about 15,000 Chapel Hill residents and tourists each year and is the town’s biggest celebration of art and local culture, said Butch Kisiah, director of the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department.

But that wasn’t always the case.

A springtime festival called Apple Chill was held for 30 years until 2006, when it was canceled by the Chapel Hill Town Council as a result of two separate but non-fatal shootings that injured three people.

Shortly after, the town council voted to keep Festifall and Halloween celebrations, but committed to improving them.

Apple Chill drew 30,000 people in its last year, and Linda Convissor, UNC director of local relations, said Festifall has had more attention and grown in scope since Apple Chill was canceled.

“Festifall is definitely now better. It has been able to improve,” she said.

Pat French, a Chapel Hill resident who has attended Festifall for 17 years, said that during the past few years she has seen more live music, local food, artisan booths and nonprofits at the event.

“It’s nice to be out here with the community,” she said.

More than 400 people stopped by the Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau Sunday to get more information about the festival, some from as far away as Norway or China.

“Festifall has grown in terms of diversity,” said Laurie Paolicelli, executive director of the bureau. “This year all the acts are more compact and they’ve been better marketed.”

Wes Tilghman, Chapel Hill’s festivals and special events supervisor, said the town worked to re-brand the festival.

“We worked with a citizen-led planning committee to make Festifall more interactive, so guests could actually participate in the arts,” he said.

One of the activities that drew in crowds was the World Music and Dance Tent. Nrobia Hayes, the art director of the town’s Street Scene Teen Center, led a demonstration of African dance.

“There’s been a wonderful reception,” she said. “I love bringing African culture to the town.”

The new cultural affairs division of the town’s Parks and Recreation Department introduced a pumpkin sculpture in the middle of the street, which visitors decorated with orange and green tissue paper throughout the day.

The positive reception is what many artists, all of whom were hand-selected for the festival by a jury, said they love about Festifall.

Janie Jones, a lamp work artist who has been selling her wares at Festifall for many years, said she enjoys the crowd because they are friendly and interested in her artistic process.

And Gail O’Neil, a painter, praised the organization of the event.

“A lot of the crowd is just lookers, but that doesn’t bother me one bit,” she said. “At least I’m putting my name out there.”

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