Time Line Of Events Before And After Greekfest
As written by Applegate (2009), these are the significant events before and after the riots.
Early 1980s
Black students start a Labor Day tradition, gathering at Croatan Beach for a picnic.
1986-88
Promoter Teddy Holloway markets Greekfest as a weekend party. “In the early years, Greekfest felt like one big college family. It was, 'I don’t know you, but I feel I know you.’ ”
September 1988
Police are called to the Pavilion because of overcrowding and damage at a Greekfest step show.
November 1988
Virginia Beach tells Holloway that no city facilities will be available for Greekfest next year.
June 1989
Spike Lee’s movie “Do the Right Thing,” about racial tension in New York, is released.
Aug. 23, 1989
Yusef Hawkins, a 16-year-old black youth, is shot to death by a group of whites in an Italian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sept. 2-4, 1989
Greekfest takes place in Virginia Beach.
Sept. 3, 1989
Images of destruction from Greekfest are seen all over the world. Beach native Kim Billups, a 24-year-old flight attendant, watches the news from Switzerland that weekend. “I could have sworn it was South Africa.”
January 1990
The Labor Day Review Commission issues a report on Greekfest, saying “City leaders underestimated the magnitude of Labor Day 1989 and the potential impact of racial tensions nationally until it was too late.”
September 1990
A highly planned and policed “Laborfest” occurs with few problems.
1991
The city creates the Human Rights Commission.
Early 1980s
Black students start a Labor Day tradition, gathering at Croatan Beach for a picnic.
1986-88
Promoter Teddy Holloway markets Greekfest as a weekend party. “In the early years, Greekfest felt like one big college family. It was, 'I don’t know you, but I feel I know you.’ ”
September 1988
Police are called to the Pavilion because of overcrowding and damage at a Greekfest step show.
November 1988
Virginia Beach tells Holloway that no city facilities will be available for Greekfest next year.
June 1989
Spike Lee’s movie “Do the Right Thing,” about racial tension in New York, is released.
Aug. 23, 1989
Yusef Hawkins, a 16-year-old black youth, is shot to death by a group of whites in an Italian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sept. 2-4, 1989
Greekfest takes place in Virginia Beach.
Sept. 3, 1989
Images of destruction from Greekfest are seen all over the world. Beach native Kim Billups, a 24-year-old flight attendant, watches the news from Switzerland that weekend. “I could have sworn it was South Africa.”
January 1990
The Labor Day Review Commission issues a report on Greekfest, saying “City leaders underestimated the magnitude of Labor Day 1989 and the potential impact of racial tensions nationally until it was too late.”
September 1990
A highly planned and policed “Laborfest” occurs with few problems.
1991
The city creates the Human Rights Commission.