Throwback Thursday: Autumn with Topsail returns in 1997 after Hurricane Fran
TOPSAIL BEACH, NC (WWAY) — As crowds prepare to gather for another Autumn with Topsail festival this weekend, this week’s Throwback Thursday looks back at a year when the annual celebration meant something more to the island community.
In 1997, Autumn with Topsail returned after Hurricane Fran forced organizers to cancel the festival the previous year.
The hurricane struck the North Carolina coast in September 1996, leaving widespread damage across Topsail Island, including destroyed homes and businesses.
A year later, the scene was much different.
WWAY cameras captured a sunny weekend filled with food, entertainment, artists and visitors enjoying the festival’s return.
For many, it was a welcome sign of normalcy after a difficult year of recovery.
“It was kinda hard on everybody,” artist Sherry Thurston told WWAY in 1997. “We were all really just devastated.”
Thurston said she was happy to see the festival return after the challenges of cleaning up from the storm.
Organizers said the 1997 event was particularly important because it gave visitors an opportunity to see how much progress Topsail Island had made since the hurricane.
“A lot of damage and publicity went out, and this opportunity for people to come on back and see how far the island has come, and they can enjoy it again,” one organizer said.
The festival also highlighted the resilience of the island’s residents.
“This community has stuck together through this whole ordeal,” another person told WWAY. “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience to watch everyone stick it together and watch our life come back together.”
Although the festival featured large crowds and celebrations, the 1997 report described a quieter sense of triumph as Topsail Island continued rebuilding.
Nearly three decades later, Autumn with Topsail remains a fall tradition, bringing residents and visitors together on the island.
This segment is part of a weekly Throwback Thursday series that features stories from WWAY’s historical news archives. That archive can be accessed here.
