Jubilee
Jubilee was an annual music festival held at the end of the spring semester from 1963 to 1971. It was popular from the beginning. The headliners of the first Jubilee, the Four Preps, drew around 5,000 people to their performance on the lawn in front of Graham Memorial Hall. The concerts grew in popularity as they continued to bring in national acts, including Flatt and Scruggs, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash and June Carter, and B.B. King. The 1970 festival, held in Kenan Stadium, was a three-day affair that included not just concerts but carnival rides, poetry readings, fireworks, and a 3:00 A.M. showing of Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. By 1971 the event got a little too big. An estimated 23,000 people attended the concert on Navy Field featuring Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and the Allman Brothers. The crowd included many people without tickets who rushed past the security barriers. Citing increasing costs and concerns over safety, the university discontinued Jubilee.
Date Established: 1963
Date Range: 1963 – 1971
Brochure from the first Jubilee festival, held in 1963. Carolina Union Records, University Archives, Wilson Library.