Officials plan for Final Four fetes

For weeks, ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale has been talking about the fans who will party on Franklin Street if the UNC men’s basketball team wins the national championship.

And as the team prepares for this weekend’s trip to St. Louis for the Final Four, local officials are making plans to keep those fans safe in the event that Vitale’s predictions are as accurate as they have been in the past.

Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said the department will post 165 officers downtown for Saturday’s game against Michigan State, and again if the team advances to the championship game Monday.

“Anybody we think we’re going to need, we’ll have available,” she said.

In a letter sent to downtown merchants and property owners Tuesday, the department states that parking meters on the 100 block of Franklin Street, as well as those on Henderson and North Columbia streets, will be marked with “No Parking” signs at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Cars parked in those areas after 5 p.m. could be ticketed or towed, the letter states.

Officials are taking the measures to avoid problems that have occurred during past celebrations.

Fans stormed the downtown area after the men’s basketball team beat Duke on March 6, starting bonfires and rocking parked cars.

And when the Tar Heels beat Duke in 2001, fans on Franklin Street overturned cars and set them on fire.

But John Woodard, who owns Sutton’s Drug Store, at 159 E. Franklin St., said he does not expect any problems from fans after a win.

“The wonderful thing about Carolina fans is that you really have no fear of what you’d call out-of-control celebration,” he said.

Woodard noted that the town is not a stranger to championship celebrations.

When the 1957 Tar Heels beat Kansas in the championship game, exuberant fans caused traffic to back up for two blocks, according to an article published the next day in The Daily Tar Heel.

It took police officers 20 minutes to clear the road for traffic.

After other major NCAA tournament wins, including the 1993 national championship win, officials stayed on Franklin Street until 5 a.m. cleaning up debris.

“The best way to describe it is organized chaos,” Woodard said.

In the middle of that chaos will be more than 100 employees of the town’s public works department.

Bill Letteri, director of public works, said crews will be involved with closing Franklin Street in the event of a win, as well as cleaning up after fans leave.

He said the cleanup process will take three to four hours.

Letteri also said he estimates that his department will spend between $30,000 and $50,000 per game.

Mayor Kevin Foy said the Final Four weekend might cost the town almost $200,000, comparing the preparations to those for Halloween.

“We want it to be a celebration, we want it to be fun, we want people to come to Chapel Hill to celebrate the Tar Heels,” he said.

And although Chapel Hill officials are ready for a UNC victory, Carrboro has taken no official action to prepare for fans.

Alderman Mark Chilton said he would love to see fans storm Main Street in Carrboro after a win, but he admits that Franklin Street will always take center stage.

“If we win, you know where I’ll be?” he said. “The 100 block of Franklin Street.”

The Tar Heels will take the court in St. Louis on Saturday 40 minutes after the end of the Illinois-Louisville matchup, which is scheduled to tip off at 6:07 p.m. EST.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.