Chapel Hill, North Carolina – It's good to be patriotic.
That's the feeling John Rich of Big & Rich wanted University of North Carolina students to get at Flagstock 2024, a concert-turned-music festival paying tribute to the fraternity brothers who stopped the American flag from being dropped to the ground during an anti-Israel protest in May, according to Rich's manager, Mark Oswald.
“My question for you is this: Do you still love America?” Rich asked the students in the audience during a performance at the local VFW in Chapel Hill on Monday.
The crowd responded by chanting “USA! USA! USA!”
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Chapel Hill students attend John Rich (Audrey Conklin for Fox News Digital)
“Flagstock” was named because Rich wanted to host a “protest that supports patriotism” and “make students and the general public feel that it's OK to be patriotic,” Oswald told reporters on Monday about the concert's name.
Hundreds of Chapel Hill students attended the music event, which featured performances by Big & Rich, Lee Greenwood, Aaron Lewis, and John Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting), but it was fewer than the 2,000 students that organizers had expected earlier in the week, and also included a surprise appearance by Sublime's Roman Rene Ramirez.
Still, those gathered at the venue proudly shouted “USA” to show their support for the country, and some wore American and Israeli flags.
Anti-Israel protesters rally at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's president's office, painting the building red
Some students at Chapel Hill's “Flagstock” wore American and Israeli flags. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
“The atmosphere on campus is very polarized,” Matthew Broderick, a fourth-year journalism major, told Fox News Digital as he headed to Flagstock.
“There's a lot of people who are very supportive of it. They love it. And there's a lot of people who think it's a really bad idea,” Broderick said. “So I think some fraternities and sororities are telling people … 'Hey, don't come to this. I think this looks bad.' And I think other clubs are saying, 'Hey, please come to this. This looks really good. This is good for fraternities and sororities.' … But I don't think there's a consensus on this.”
“It's very divisive.”
In May, campus activists American Flag A demonstration was held in a Chapel Hill courtyard carrying a Palestinian flag, but when the flagpole began to be lowered for the second time, a group of students intervened to stop the flag from touching the ground.
A student photographer captured the moment, which went viral on social media and became a national story as similar protests erupted on college campuses across the country.
Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill raise the American flag during a protest on campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Anti-Israel agitators replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during the demonstration. (Parker Ali/Daily Tar Heel)
Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill raise the American flag during a protest on campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Anti-Israel agitators replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag during the demonstration. (Parker Ali/Daily Tar Heel)
After the photo garnered national attention, a man named John Noonan started a GoFundMe page, initially to buy the students “a few kegs” of beer and a laugh with their friends, but ultimately raised more than $500,000 to buy the students “a lot of fun.” Noonan eventually founded a 501 C-4 organization, with a board of directors, called “Pints for Patriots” to help raise funds and organize the event that would eventually grow.
Rich then offered to help by hosting a concert in the students' honor. Oswald said Rich had originally planned to do a small show in front of the dorms, but changed his plans after raising $500,000.
UNC Chapel Hill students and VFW members will come together for “Flagstock 2024” in North Carolina.
UNC Chapel Hill students and VFW members will come together for “Flagstock 2024” in North Carolina.
While giving reporters a tour of the venue on Monday, Noonan detailed how some of the funds that helped make the show possible: The Technical Arts Group (TAG) Live stage itself cost $100,000, but TAG also donated many of the supplies for the event.
“We haven't seen kids do this in a long time,” TAG Live's director of operations, Jarrod Chawley, told Fox News Digital, adding that the students' actions on campus “called out” to TAG Live to attend the concert.
“We haven't seen kids do what these kids did in a long time.”
UNC Chapel Hill students and VFW members will come together for “Flagstock 2024” in North Carolina.
The security budget for the event was about $80,000, including plainclothes security guards, 20 Orange County Sheriff's Department officers, firefighters and paramedics. Noonan said Pints for Patriots chartered more than a dozen 50-passenger buses to transport students to and from campus.
Dan Craigg, an attorney with Pints for Patriots, provided approximately $15,000 to $20,000 worth of pro bono legal services for the event.
“We want to create an incentive system where people who risk their lives to protect the flag like this will receive a bonus.”
“What those kids did was an honorable and patriotic thing,” Craig told Fox News Digital. “We want to support that and, of course, create incentives for them to give bonuses and rewards if they put their lives on the line to protect our flag like this.”
UNC Chapel Hill students and VFW members will come together for “Flagstock 2024” in North Carolina.
Many VFW employees also volunteered to help organize the event, sacrificing Labor Day to help set up tents and portable toilets.
The show started small and quiet, but as the night went on, a large crowd of Chapel Hill students gathered on stage to join in the patriotic messages the singers delivered as they performed.
“What those kids did was an honorable and patriotic act, and we want to support that.”
John Rich will be performing at Flagstock 2024 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
Noonan told reporters that it was unclear exactly how much of the remaining funds would go to charity, but that he was committed to being transparent about how the money was spent.
“We're being extremely careful and cautious to make sure the funds are used appropriately,” Noonan told reporters on Monday.
