On Saturday afternoon, community members gathered outside the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for the Northside Festival to enjoy lively conversations and potluck-style food served by volunteers. Music filled the air along Rosemary Street, which was closed to traffic for the event.
The Northside Festival is an annual celebration that brings together the community to honor the history, resilience and future of Northside, Pine Knolls and Tin Top — historically Black Chapel Hill neighborhoods that have endured and overcome generations of challenges. The Jackson Center, a hub for Black neighborhood history and preservation in Chapel Hill, hosted the event.
The festival’s roots trace back to May Day, a spring celebration held at the end of the school year for Black children, Yvonne Cleveland, director of operations at the Jackson Center, said. During May Day, children would wrap up the maypole in a fun time of remembrance, she said.
This year, the festival’s theme was “Homecoming,” and volunteers passed around multicolored buttons, leis and sunglasses. The ribbons on the buttons indicate each person’s neighborhood of residence, Ty Chapman, coordinator of the Linking Generations in Northside Program and Northside Residential Fellowship at the Jackson Center, said.
He said buttons were available for people from Northside, Tin Top and Pine Knolls, and orange ribbons were available for those who did not reside in the three communities.
“I think it’s this idea of inviting people into our community, making them welcome and also honoring the communities that they come from,” Chapman said.
Kathryn Wall, co-director of public history at the Jackson Center, said it is important for community members to attend the festival as a reminder that they have a voice in shaping their future. She said the community faces constant pressures from gentrification to displacement, making it harder for residents to stay in their homes.
The festival celebrated local performers’ talents through gospel music, spoken word poetry, choral voices and dancing. The Orange County Jammers, a local senior cheerleading group, performed at the festival.
Clementine Self, a member of the Orange County Jammers and longtime Northside resident, said that each year, the festival gets better as more people join. Even without an official headcount, she said the crowd has been growing, which helps everyone to better connect and get to know their neighbors.
