Florence washes away big slate of Wilmington events

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N.C. Black Film Festival, American Craft Walk Wilmington among the weekend’s casualties.

September is when the number of arts events and festivals in Wilmington start ramping up. Hurricane Florence has put a major damper on September this year, however, washing away at least two weekends worth of events.

Just for starters, the N.C. Black Film Festival set for Sept. 20-23 has been postponed, festival director Charlon Turner said in a news release. She said they plan to reschedule the festival for before the end of the year.

The inaugural Home.Grown Arts Festival was postponed until further notice, but the third annual American Craft Walk Wilmington scheduled for Sept. 22 hopes to use its rain date of Sept. 29. According to a news release, a decision on that will be made later this week.

Thalian Association Community Theatre’s ArtFall Juried Art Show and Sale, which was to run Sept. 20-22 at the Hannah Block Historic USO/ Community Arts Center, will also be rescheduled.

Other casualties of the storm included Big Dawg Productions’ final weekend of “Agnes of God,” the Wilmington Symphony’s Sept. 22 performance at Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center and all arts events at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

It’s almost easier to say which events might happen as opposed to which ones have been canceled.

At Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, concerts by Trampled by Turtles and Kaleo were canceled. But organizers held out hope for the two-night stand Sept. 21-22 by popular North Carolina band Rainbow Kitten Surprise.

“It is still a big unknown if we will have the resources to have the show,” said a note on the amphitheater’s website. “Many of our staff and crew are still out of town, and several roads in to town are impassable, so we aren’t sure if the band can even get here. Next update on this show will be Wednesday afternoon.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, several rock shows at Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern and Bourgie Nights were still on.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.