Throwback Thursday: ILM expansion, festival enforcement, and stunt training in 1984

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This week’s Throwback Thursday looks back at April 1984, highlighting airport expansion, post-Azalea Festival arrest numbers, and aspiring stunt performers in the Cape Fear region.

At what is now known as Wilmington International Airport construction crews in 1984 were already working on expansion projects to handle growing passenger traffic.

“With the 43 percent increase in our passenger traffic last year, 1983 over ’82, the facility became so overburdened with passengers that we had to expand the baggage claim,” an airport official said at the time.

The airport has continued to expand in recent years and is currently working on additional improvements, including curb front upgrades, new parking areas, and modernization of aging infrastructure.

Also in April 1984, officials said the Azalea Festival saw a significant drop in arrests compared to previous years, crediting increased law enforcement presence in area beach communities.

“The crowd that used to think they could come down here and raise cane found out that we’re going to do something about it,” one official said.

Finally, aspiring stunt performers were training in Wilmington as the local film industry continued to grow. Participants practiced fight choreography and fall techniques as they worked to break into the business.

“Doing a fight scene is nothing worse than doing a ballet. Every step is coordinated, every punch is coordinated. The most important thing is fall technique. That’s what you use most of the time,” one stunt trainee said.

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