Throwback Thursday: High school graduation and Carolina Beach Music Festival history

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This week’s Throwback Thursday looks back at major Cape Fear traditions, including high school graduations and decades of Carolina Beach Music Festival memories.

With graduation season underway, WWAY’s archives revisited the New Hanover High School Class of 1983 as students prepared to walk across the stage and enter a new chapter in their lives. Many reflected on the emotions that came with the milestone.

“I’m gonna miss my friends. I don’t wanna graduate this year,” one student said.

“All the friends I’ve made through high school, tonight’s probably the last time we’ll ever be together, so it’s pretty special,” another student said.

“I’m really proud of myself because I accomplished something out of life. If I don’t accomplish anything else, I know I’ve made it out of high school,” a student said.

“I’m gonna miss y’all so bad. Y’all have been so good to me and so sweet to me,” another student said.

The segment also highlighted the Carolina Beach Music Festival, which has brought beach music fans together for decades. Organizers are preparing for the festival’s 40th year this weekend.

Archive footage shows crowds braving rain in 1988, while in 1990, beach erosion left much of the shoreline reduced but did not stop attendees from showing up.

In 1994, organizers tightened alcohol policies in an effort to curb rowdy behavior.

“It was more or less that the pendulum swung one way all the way, then it swung the other way all the way, and this is kind of a medium,” one organizer said.

By 1997, the festival had rebranded as a more family-friendly event, continuing a tradition that remains popular in the Cape Fear today.

The segment is part of a weekly Throwback Thursday series that features stories from WWAY’s historical news archives. That archive can be accessed here.