JawsFest Celebrates “Midway” Vibe

RECREATION & LEISURE

JawsFest street fair was staged on Sunday, May 24, on North Graham Street and behind Al’s Burgers and tucked between Lapin Bleu bar, Local 506, and the Baxter Arcade as a celebration of summer, summer blockbusters, and West Franklin (Street) kitsch.

Suspended during the COVID pandemic years, the popular event was resurrected over the past few years by area business owners to kick off the neighborhood’s outdoor season and draw big crowds to the “west end” along Graham Street, lovingly known as “Midway.”

With hundreds attending the Jaws-themed festival, it seemed almost obligatory to paraphrase the observation uttered by Roy Scheider’s reluctant-hero Chief Brody character in the classic 1975 movie, “We’re gonna need a bigger block…”

A Shore Thing…

While some vendors and participants set up wares in Local 506 due to the possibility of rain, most set up in the side alley between the legendary music venue and Baxter Arcade. Drawing crowds were arts and crafts, a dunk tank, live music, foodstuffs like oysters and free hot dogs, a screening of Jaws, and a mechanical shark (like a mechanical bull, but “teeth-ier”).

“Usually the event spreads out, but it was all cloudy,” said Baxter bartender Michael Dirt, “so a lot of the vendors just went into 506.”

Local organizers like Devon Fuji, a co-owner of the Local 506 with Robert Walsh, said it was hard to know when the event was first staged, but he guessed it was during the 2010’s. Originally, the Baxter (Arcade) held the title (to the event),” Fuji said, “and they were really the gung-ho guys for JawsFest.”

“That was kind of the whole gist before the pandemic,” Fuji added. “JawsFest at Baxter used to bring people from as far away as Charlotte. We used to damn-near shut down the whole street over here. And that’s the vibe that I was always excited about.”

Manning the “anarchist hotdog” stand in the alley was Victor Lewis, who noted, “It’s crazy how many people don’t believe that the hot dogs are free.

Lewis said the event had personal history for him: “Prior to (COVID), it was a whole block party down here. The person I’m married to now: some of our first dates were at JawsFest events.”

“There was always something cool happening during JawsFest,” he added, “and when it came back, I really wanted to be part of it. I’ve been coming here, volunteering, and doing stuff for this festival’s second (life) in as big a way as I can.”

Victor Lewis serves up free hot dogs at JawsFest in the area off West Franklin Street affectionately known as “Midway.” Photo by Randy B. Young

All’s “fair.”

Fuji explained that the underlying motive for the annual rite was to re-popularize community street fairs in Chapel Hill.

“I’ve been around Chapel Hill my entire life,” Fuji explained. “I was raised in Pittsboro, so all I knew about Chapel Hill was where it was at. This is a musical mecca: you’ve got Local 506, which has been here since 1992; you’ve got The Cave, which has been here since the 1960’s; and you’ve got (Cat’s) Cradle, which has been an area staple—it’s iconic.

“Fast forward a couple of decades, and you’ve got a Town Council that just wants to shut down Halloween, where it’s like you have to get a strip search just to get onto Franklin Street. That’s not really the Chapel Hill I grew up in. I’d rather just come back to when we were all just in a community and having fun.”

“The idea of revitalizing JawsFest is just to kind of revitalize what we used to have here in Chapel Hill,” Fuji said. “We used to have Apple Chill (Festival), and we used to have the Halloween—my birthday’s Halloween—so this is where I kind of fell in love with Chapel Hill events where you’d have 20,000 people descending onto Franklin.”

“When I came back and managed (Local 506), I was like, ‘Hey, the pandemic’s over. We should probably bring JawsFest back.’ We (ultimately) got permission to continue the JawsFest.”

Shark and awe

While attendees loved the attractions—especially the mechanical shark—the vendors and organizers seemed to be having as much fun as the street fair-goers.

“This is the third year that I’ve been a part of this,” said dunk tank target Sawyer Brant. “I was in the dunk tank the first couple of years ago. It’s a wonderful time and a great community thing: everybody gets involved. We try to have as much fun as possible.”

Conversely, Lewis said, while fun, the event is for a noble cause: “I mean, I feel like Jaws Fest is something that I take seriously,” Lewis said. “It’s just chaos, we all have a wonderful time doing it, and all the money that we’re raising is going to charity—last year, it was for the Carolina Coastal Relief Fund to preserve our waterways and shorelines. This year, it’s for TABLE, to help feed the community.”

“Last year and this year specifically, Victor Lewis and I have been more, and it’s a wonderful time,” Brant said. “I was in the tank for about an hour today, and I might hop back in before the end.”

Another dunk tank volunteer was Jay Weil, who was happy to take the plunge.

“I’m friends with all the fools that run this, and I love them dearly. And I heard that they needed people for the dunk tank, and I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ Sawyer Brant is actually my husband, and we both got roped into this: it’s fun.”

Aubrey Sahouria was visiting Chapel Hill with her husband, Max Hogshead, before relocating to the area for Hogshead’s graduate studies in toxicology, when Sahouria decided to try to ride the shark.

“I’m very satisfied,” Sahouria said, laughing. “I’ve done this, but it was a long, long time ago on a little mechanical bull.”

Sahouria noted that the couple was scouting out the West Franklin vibe.

“We’re actually visiting from Baltimore,” she said, “and we’re going to be moving down for his grad school. “We originally came for the oysters—a little taste of the town—, but the mechanical bull was a pleasant surprise.”

Street fair-goers of all ages shopped for arts and crafts and enjoyed food and games like the dunk tank and mechanical shark-riding at JawsFest on May 24. Photo by Randy B. Young

Sea-ing the light

Devon Fuji has bigger dreams for Midway over and above the one-day JawsFest.

“A lot of us call this area Midway, because we’re midway between Chapel Hill and Carrboro,” Fuji said. “We don’t really cater to the students; we cater to the locals, like most of the people that just work every job around here.”

Fuji said most Carrboro businesses close early to attract lasting evening crowds: “At one point, I was helping with the Carrboro radio station (WCOM) and trying to get a show past 9:00 p.m., but it’s just a desert town over there. If you’re going out, everywhere shuts down at like 9:00 p.m.”

“And you no longer have a 24-hour grocery store, which was like a staple for all of us bartenders,” he added. “It actually was a successful 24-hour Harris Teeter in Carrboro. They just shut it down because ‘corporate’ wanted to.”

But Fuji knows competing with East Franklin Street businesses and bars for undergraduate UNC student business is a challenge.

“My idea or concept, if everybody in the area is open to it, is to start bringing that (energy) back to this side of town,” Fuji said, “and let the other side of town cater to the students in every way, shape, and form.”

“If they’re not gonna do (Halloween) down there, I’d rather do it over here,” he added. “Now I’m not gonna (stage) something that people don’t want, but I just remember everybody connecting a lot more during these events.”

The fin-ish line

Organizers were pleased with the turnout—which included many families and children—and the excitement generated by the quirky event, but the message was simple: “community.”

“This is year three for us coming out here and helping out,” Lewis explained. “I just think JawsFest is important. I love community; I love people coming out, getting in the street, and doing something together.”

“I’m just trying to get people to come to Midway,” Fuji said. “There are eight really good businesses on this block, and I want to see them continue to thrive, because this has been a second home to me for many, many years.”

A Dartmouth College graduate, Randy B. Young first worked as an award-winning advertising copywriter in New Hampshire, then in communications at UNC for over 30 years. He maintained an award-winning newspaper feature covering Recreation and Exercise in the Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Orange County. Retired and living in Chapel Hill, Randy continues to write for regional publications both locally and in New England, and his book, And the Stars Flew With Us, is available through Amazon and at independent bookstores. He coaches track at Chapel Hill High and has a photography business, Pierless (sic) Photography. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press