North Carolina

Meet the NC family behind the Viking Experience Festival

Published

2 years ago

March 15, 2023

Meet the NC family behind the Viking Experience Festival

STEM, N.C. — The small city of Stem is house to one among North Carolina’s most attention-grabbing festivals. Yearly, the inhabitants of 1,000 folks nearly a couple of hundred vikings.

Hanna based the pageant along with her mom, Angela. Their firm, Wanderings in Wonderland, began as Angela’s pictures enterprise and advanced.

All of it started with Angela capturing artistic pictures, which included jewellery, fantasy, artwork items and costumes. She used her daughters as fashions and took whimsical images of her household at cosplay occasions and festivals they attended throughout the state and out of doors of N.C.

Sooner or later, the household attended VikingCon in Maryland, and so they have been immediately hooked.

“We got here again and I couldn’t cease speaking about how we want one thing like that down right here,” Hanna stated.

The Viking Expertise Pageant is born

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it paused the festival-loving household’s imaginative and prescient of making their very own occasion. Hanna, a brand new registered nurse who labored in Raleigh, was slammed with sufferers as she helped construct WakeMed’s pandemic unit. Her expertise as a nurse impressed her to hunt one thing extra.

“In 2020, when every thing shutdown, we simply began speaking about how a lot we missed Renaissance festivals and the ‘stepping out of our personal world’ vibe that it gave us,” Hanna stated. “For me, this was a solution to convey again my artistic facet.”

After the pandemic, Hanna and her household started touring in costume, attending festivals as entertainers and establishing their very own cubicles.

Hanna and her household all have characters with huge storylines and expansive lives. When she is in character Hanna is “Queen Hanna the Purple,” and her youthful sisters Sarah and Becca are her daughters.

The household invents and performs completely different storylines for audiences.

“All of us have these tales and we love portraying them,” stated Hanna, who will likely be in character along with her household and crew on the N.C. Viking Pageant. “We completely simply adore portraying them. Numerous our tales come up after hours across the campfire once we’re simply having an exquisite time.”

They hosted the primary Viking Expertise Pageant in 2022, setting a big objective of 300 attendees for the weekend. On the finish of the weekend, nearly 3,000 folks attended.

“It seems like we had this loopy thought and I am unable to consider how many individuals have been fascinated with making it work,” Hanna stated. “I’m so humbled by this.”

This yr’s occasion will likely be a lot bigger, so it’s going to want a bigger venue. The occasion will likely be held at The Barn at Vino, a 22-acre spot at 3200 Bliss Path in Stem, N.C.

Hanna has 4 sisters and a youthful brother, who teaches ax throwing at their occasions. Her dad prefers to not gown up however helps with parking, building and different logistics.

“My mother is legendary for saying, ‘Honey, I’ve a plan,’ and roping him in,” Hanna laughed.

Since creating the pageant, Hanna and her household have poured over 200 years of historical past, familiarizing themselves with the Viking age.

“The Vikings weren’t simply raiders, even when that is we all know them for,” Hanna stated. “Viking was really a job description, and we need to present folks the ‘extra’ of what the Vikings have been.”

The household’s tales are impressed by historical past however not all the time traditionally correct.

“We do not inform folks we’re reenactors, particularly as a result of reenactors are doing an incredible job educating,” Hanna stated. “We’re historically-based entertainers.”

Struggle pit, fairies and jewellery making

The Viking Expertise Pageant options one thing for everybody, even when you’re not conversant in the Vikings.

A preferred attraction is the struggle pit with foam weaponry designed to look interval correct and struggle masters assist folks be taught combating methods. There’s even a struggle pit for teenagers.

There will likely be ax throwing, historic archery, medieval sword combating, and live-action function taking part in, the place friends can grow to be performers and create their very own storyline. There’s an escape room for teenagers, a fairy tea social gathering, a ticketed dinner theater occasion, weaving and jewelry-making demonstrations and over 50 distributors promoting handmade objects.

“I’ve poured over that listing and put my coronary heart and soul into the people who find themselves coming,” Hanna stated. “I am happy with the artisans now we have.”

Meals vans and native eating places will likely be on web site and there will likely be beer from Tobacco Wooden Brewing and mead from Starlight Meadery.

Hanna now works full time as a touring registered nurse. She simply completed her newest contract and took the month of March off to prepare for the pageant.

She credit her mother, an Military veteran and mom of six, with giving her energy and difficult her to be the most effective model of herself.

“She’s not one to give up at something,” Hanna stated. “She’s essentially the most highly effective lady I’ve ever met.”

Hanna stated the Vikings traveled and traded everywhere in the world, emphasizing you do not have to know or perceive Vikings to attend.

“It is all these tribal components of supporting each other and household that I believe folks will actually join with,” she stated.

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North Carolina

Key Ole Miss Transfer Target Thaddeus Dixon Chooses North Carolina Over Rebels

Published

5 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Key Ole Miss Transfer Target Thaddeus Dixon Chooses North Carolina Over Rebels

The Ole Miss Rebels have made strong moves in the transfer portal this offseason, but the program missed out on a key contributor on Saturday when cornerback Thaddeus Dixon pledged to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Ole Miss was in the race late for Dixon, but a deciding factor in his decision to join the Tar Heels may have boiled down to Carolina’s hiring of former Washington assistant Armond Hawkins as defensive backs coach. Dixon is a transfer from the Washington Huskies, so familiarity in his new home likely played a role.

BREAKING: Washinton transfer CB Thaddeus Dixon has committed to North Carolina, @Hayesfawcett3 reports🐏https://t.co/pcXs7hjbOS pic.twitter.com/6g5D02NC7V
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal_) January 18, 2025

READ MORE: Will Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons Continue Playing Baseball in 2025?

So, where do the Rebels go from here? Ole Miss has already gained some key pieces in its secondary out of the transfer portal (including CB Jaylon Braxton of Arkansas), but Lane Kiffin’s team will probably still be seeking some help in the defensive backfield as the transfer portal continues to move.

According to On3’s current transfer portal class rankings, Ole Miss has the third-best haul in the country, behind Texas Tech and Missouri. The Rebels have seen 23 players transfer into the program so far this offseason, and that number could continue to grow between now and kickoff of the 2025 season.

Ole Miss opens its 2025 campaign on Aug. 30 at home against Georgia State.

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North Carolina

Thaddeus Dixon Joins in Husky Exodus to North Carolina

Published

13 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Thaddeus Dixon Joins in Husky Exodus to North Carolina

In a postseason recruitment that was raw and revealing at times, where decorated cornerback Thaddeus Dixon suggested in social media postings that University of Washington football fans wanted him to come back more than the coaches, apparently received all the assurances he needed at North Carolina.

On Saturday, the senior defensive back from Long Beach, California, told On3 he would join the Tar Heels for his final season of college football, adding to a growing list of one-time UW players and coaches headed to Chapel Hill.

So far, the departing group includes linebacker Khmori House, safety Peyton Waters, wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr., defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and defensive analyst Armond Hawkins, all moving from Montlake to the ACC.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Dixon would have given the Huskies three highly accredited corners, joining fellow UW starter Ephesians Prysock and Arizona transfer Tacario Davis, to fill out a secondary that could have had few equals this coming season, and still might.

BREAKING: Washington star transfer CB Thaddeus Dixon has Committed to North Carolina, he tells @on3sports
The 6’1 195 CB totaled 69 Tackles, 16 PD, 1 FF, & 2 INT in 2 seasons with the Huskies
Ranked as a Top 10 Player in the Portal (No. 2 CB) per On3https://t.co/RlUbB6EMhS pic.twitter.com/bePHJU7wP7
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 18, 2025

Dixon reportedly took recruiting visits to Mississippi and North Carolina, and fielded overtures from Michigan, before settling on the Tar Heels.

The disconnect for Dixon appeared to show up when the Huskies landed a portal commitment from the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Davis, a second-team All-Big 12 pick this past season, presumably to take his vacated spot.

The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Prysock and Davis teamed together at Arizona in 2023, with both earning All-Pac-12 honorable-mention accolades.

Dixon originally was supposed to run out of college eligibility when the season ended, hence the Huskies went looking for cornerback help, but the NCAA gave the veteran an extra year when it changed the rules governing players with junior-college backgrounds. He came to the UW from Long Beach Community College.

One of the Huskies’ top individual success stories this past season, Dixon went from a back-up player in 2023 to unseat returning starter Elijah Jackson, who opened all 15 games for the national runner-up team.

Thaddeus Dixon soaks up the moment after an Apple Cup interception. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Moving into the lineup, Dixon started 12 of 13 games and received All-Big Ten honorable-mention honors for Jedd Fisch’s coaching staff. He had a team-best 10 pass break-ups, an Apple Cup interception and several textbook tackles in the open field. He’s easily made himself into an NFL prospect.

With three accomplished cornerbacks, the Huskies could have picked two starters and put the odd man out at nickelback.

Dixon clearly wasn’t going to go that route at the UW, likely figuring his past performance should have provided him with more cornerback guarantees.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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North Carolina

Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL

Published

20 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL

Bill Belichick’s girlfriend on Thursday seemingly shut down any talk of her boyfriend leaving the North Carolina Tar Heels football program for a job in the NFL.

Jordon Hudson responded to rumors that suggested Belichick had one foot out the door when it came to his Tar Heels gig. Belichick had been rumored to be interest in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, but the head coaching job wasn’t open until he had already committed to North Carolina. CBS Sports reported that Belichick didn’t sign his contract with the school.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Oct. 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey: Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and girlfriend Jordon Hudson enter the field before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Navy Midshipmen at MetLife Stadium. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

She posted a photo on her Instagram showing the two posing with a football and Belichick dressed in Carolina blue.

“Pictured: two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball,” she wrote as the caption.

Michael Lombardi, who is the general manager of the North Carolina football program, also threw cold water on the rumors of Belichick jumping back to the pros.

EX-NFL COACH JON GRUDEN RIPS STATE OF COLLEGE SPORTS

Dec. 12, 2024; Chapel Hill, NC: Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of Bill Belichick, in attendance at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

“Bill is recruiting in DC today, and Baltimore tomorrow. His focus is on North Carolina football, hiring staff members and developing the team. The NFL isnt a option so please stop making it one. Thank you,” he wrote on X in response to the CBS Sports report.

“The reception towards UNC and Coach Belichick has been amazing from every school we visit. We are going to fight to keep North Carolina players here and bring the best to Chapel Hill,” he added.

Belichick was hired as the Tar Heels’ coach in December. He called the job a “dream come true.”

Bill Belichick fields questions from media

The North Carolina Tar Heels’ new head coach Bill Belichick speaks to the media at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

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“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said in his introductory press conference. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really a dream come true.”

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