Orange Visitors Bureau shares plans and hopes for eventful summer

COMMUNITY NEWS

By Randy B. Young
Correspondent

As it turns out, the only difference between British and American “football” is a couple of months and a healthy dose of artistry on the calendar.

Orange County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Laurie Paolicelli presented summer plans and engagement opportunities to area business owners at a meeting on Tuesday, inviting attendees to help spur Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County tourism.

Paolicelli discussed the return of “football” (a.k.a. “soccer”) to UNC’s Kenan Stadium on Tuesday, June 10, reprising games over the past two summers, including media darling Wrexham in 2023 and Chelsea last year, the free Uproar countywide arts festival in August, and the advent of UNC Football’s much-anticipated first campaign in the Coach Bill Belichick era.

Setting goals for soccer in Kenan on June 10

“This is the third year in a row that our friends at Kenan (Memorial Stadium) have given an outside group use of the stadium,” Paolicelli said, “and this year we’ll have the Mexican men’s national team versus Turkey.”

Paolicelli said there were plans for a pre-game event at 4:00 p.m. near UNC’s Bell Tower area.

“They call a ‘family football (soccer) festival,’” Paolicelli explained, “but we’d call it tailgating. I think they’ll include mariachi music and simulated soccer games.”

Paolicelli hoped business tie-ins might create excitement for a game featuring top-level talent.

“We’ve started blitzing everywhere, because we want our stadium full,” Paolicelli said.

Paolicelli then rolled out window-sized placards of the Mexico nationals’ mascot “Kin,” a colorful character representing a Mayan magician wearing the representative colors of Mexico along with a mask and plumage.

“‘Kin’ is the mascot for the Mexico nationals,” Paolicelli noted. “If anyone wants one of the cut-outs to display in your business, our office is more than happy to provide them.”

“We felt as if we’d caught lightening in a bottle with Wrexham and Chelsea,” said UNC Assistant Athletic Director Rick Steinbacher, who attended the meeting held at 411 West Restaurant on Franklin Street. “It was the easiest thing in the world: we sold out.”

Lifelong Chapel Hill resident and owner of Lapin Bleu on Chapel Hill’s Graham Street, Mike Benson, said he hopes for more opportunities for town-gown collaborations like this.

“We’d love to do more stuff with the University,” Benson said. “The town-gown relationship seemed to be a lot tighter back in the 70s and even in the 80s, and it’s kind of slowly grown apart.

“I just lament the days when downtown Chapel Hill was packed with students for lunch,” Benson said. “I’m wondering what we can do with this game to get downtown businesses to promote walking traffic again, not only to the 100 block (of Franklin Street) but all the way into Carrboro.”

“We’ll hopefully have 20,000 or 30,000 people here,” Steinbacher said. “It’s going to be a great night.”

Project to have art lovers in an “Uproar”

Next on the calendar will be the county-wide Project Uproar, celebrating select area artists’ projects. The free arts festival, which runs August 1-23, prioritizes accessibility and pays its participating artists, making it the only event of its kind in North Carolina.

“We’ll have 60 outdoor public works of art,” said Orange County Arts Council (OCAC) director Katie Murray. “People can go around and look at all 60 pieces—20 in downtown Chapel Hill, 20 in downtown Carrboro, and 20 in Hillsborough. For downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro, we’ll have trolleys that we’ll be running, and there’s even an app.

“If you go to a piece of art, there’s an audio description for people with low vision,” Murray said, “but everybody has enjoyed it and used it to get background stories on the art (and artists).”

OCAC, begun in 2023, hopes Uproar continues to lure people to area businesses near displayed sculptures and art projects.

“I kept hearing from so many different people how downtown businesses has struggled during summer with most of the students gone,” Murray explained. “I think the arts are the solution to all of the world’s problems, so I was like, ‘What can we do that’s arts-related to help?’”

Accessibility was a priority for Murray and Uproar.

“I wanted to do something to put us on the map creatively,” she said, “but I wanted to create an event that was truly for all people. The arts can oftentimes be exclusive, and that’s not OK. Being creative is part of being human. I wanted to create an event that really is a model that other communities will replicate.”

Like Paolicelli, Murray said success would depend on collaborative marketing through area businesses.

“When we did it for the first time in 2023, it was a great success,” Murray said, “and we’ve been meeting since then to figure out what to improve…like business engagement.”

Murray said Uproar will award art projects two $10,000 prizes, one for winners of a “people’s choice” prize and one judged by a jury of prominent North Carolina artists.

“We’re going to have an artist parade,” Murray said, “and then the awards party for our sponsors, artists, and volunteers will be (at Carolina Square) behind the Target on August 23rd from 6-9 p.m.”

“It’s a win-win,” Murray said. “We’re doing this in August to help our downtown businesses. By having you all more informed and serving as ambassadors and spokespeople for the event, it’s going to help the event as well.”

Beginning the Belichick era

“We’re excited for the UNC Football season,” Steinbacher said. “We’ve sold out of season tickets completely the first time in a long time. The interest in everything since we hired Coach Belichick has been off the charts, whether it’s donations, ticket sales, or fundraising.”

Steinbacher said the 2025 season would feature six home games: TCU (Monday, September 1), Richmond (September 13), Clemson (October 4), UVA (October 25), Stanford (November 8), and Duke (November 22).

“We try to have seven home games yearly,” Steinbacher said. “We’ll have six again next year, but then we’ll have seven home games for some years.”

Steinbacher said the first home game with Bill Belichick on the sideline would be played on Labor Day Monday.

“That game just got moved to 8:00 p.m.,” Steinbacher said. “Every other Monday night in the fall has NFL games, but the NFL doesn’t open its season until the week after Labor Day, so this is the one Monday night when college football is on the big stage.”

“We’ll play Richmond two weeks later in Kenan,” Steinbacher said, “and then three weeks after that, Clemson comes to town. If we’re playing well and Clemson is playing well, ESPN’s Gameday will be here. That has the makings of being the biggest athletic event we’ve ever had in Chapel Hill.”

Steinbacher said this fall would be something special for UNC and for Chapel Hill.

“We’re just super excited for football,” Steinbacher said. “Of course, my dad accused me of saying that every year. Every year for the 40 years that I’ve been involved with Carolina Football, my dad asks how we’re going to be, and I say ‘We’re going to be 15-0. He says that I say that every year, but I tell him, ‘…and one year, I’m going to be right!’”

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@TheLocal Reporter.press