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April 30, 2006
Apple Chill Post-Mortem
Chapel Hill's annual Apple Chill Street Fair took place on Franklin Street a week ago today. And as most everyone in the area surely knows by now, this 35th Apple Chill will probably go down in infamy as the town's last. Monday morning's water-cooler talk was not about specific festival activities, or tricked-out cars and motorcycles, or even potential jamz of the summer. Instead, people were talking about the fact that two people had been shot in front of Caribou Coffee at around 8:40pm that evening during the unofficial post-festival event known as "After Chill". Luckily the shootings were not fatal, but less than 24 hours later, the Chapel Hill Town Council understandably bowed to community outrage and pulled the plug on future Apple Chills.
Now as the record shows, I have been an enthusiastic After Chill fan/apologist for the last several years. Much like Carrboro mayor Mark Chilton (read his take) and the gentleman who wrote these insightful comments, I vastly prefer the exciting and chaotic spectacle of After Chill to the much more mundane and conventional Apple Chill. That said, I gotta admit that After Chill was getting a bit out of hand and I'm more or less in agreeance with the town's decision to cancel the whole festival as a result of Sunday's shootings. Just in the interest of public safety (not to mention fiscal responsibility), it was the right move to make. But that doesn't mean that the After Chill phenomenon should be forever dismissed as something that never had any cultural or recreational value, or that the hundreds (thousands?) of well-intentioned After Chill participants should be categorically lumped in with the very few gangbangers that caused Sunday night's violence. I certainly don't want to see gang activity or gun violence in Chapel Hill, but I'm still going to miss After Chill next year....not Apple Chill proper, mind you, but After Chill.
Luckily I had the chance to experience this unique event one final time. I headed out on foot late Sunday afternoon to check out the cars and snap some pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:
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Much later in the evening I hopped on my bike (26-inch rims!!) for some extensive cruising around the Rosemary/Franklin/Cameron circuit. The Caribou shooting had already happened by the time I started riding but I had no idea at the time and I can't say that I ever felt threatened or endangered by anybody that I saw. Lots of playful "hey man, gimme that bike!" comments from people stuck in traffic, but no unpleasant interactions of any sort. And nothing that compared to the extremely violent fistfight that I saw a couple of costumed college kids get into on Cameron Avenue on Halloween night in 2004.
Now as for the jamz, I definitely heard my share of T.I. but not nearly as much as I thought I would given his current chart dominance and the undeniable power of that "What You Know" beat. Also heard various Dipset songs, some Jeezy....but the other two really big After Chill winners were "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc (it was definitely a big night for the ATL) and "Gettin' Some" by Shawnna. It was a little strange hearing a car full of girls singing along to the Too Short hook in that Shawnna song...but um, hey, here's to female empowerment in all of its forms!
Posted by Tim at April 30, 2006 12:07 PM
Comments
I was shocked when we heard the news. What a pity. Seattle has several neighborhood festivals like Apple Chill (like this one in our neighborhood) without any serious problems. I wonder what it would take to make Apple Chill (and After Chill) more easy on the community?
Posted by: csg at April 30, 2006 08:49 PM
damn i hate i missed after chill this year. good job on the pics tim. cia's got an old school 1970 cutlass supreme convertible but http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v352/intelsis/My%201970%20Cutlass%20Supreme%20Convertible/?action=view¤t=cutlasstopless.jpg shawty red doesnt have the lick yet. that shit is expensive! i'd rather ride around with the rust spots anyway. its more real that way, LOL
Posted by: cia at May 12, 2006 08:05 PM