Guitars, girls and great big flags: Welcome to Flagstock.

A party on Labor Day honored the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill fraternity members who guarded the American flag during a protest against the Israel-Hamas war.

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Organizers said they sent out between 6,000 and 7,000 tickets for Flagstock, inviting all of UNC's Greek organizations, as well as the campus's ROTC program, and members of the VFW and pro-police groups. Monday night, no official attendance numbers were available, but the crowd appeared to be less than 1,000 people.

The tickets were provided to the 10 fraternities who were identified as having members standing around the American flag at a pro-Palestinian protest on campus on April 30. Members of UNC Greek Life, ROTC, police and veterans were expected to attend as special guests.

The party took place at the American Legion on N.C. Highway 54 in Chapel Hill. Organizers – including DC-based defense consultant John Noonan and country singer John Rich – turned this Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) parking lot off Highway 54 into a mini music festival.

The setup included a VIP tent stocked with beer pong tables and corn hole for the fraternity members who held up the American flag during pro-Palestinian protests on UNC's campus earlier this year.

"Our goal ... is that this is a non-partisan event about patriotism," said Dan Cragg, attorney for Pints for Patriots, the group hosting the event.

Organizers said they tried to keep the politics at bay, including keeping the location a secret to deter protesters. But politics – and the war sparking the protests that led to Flagstock's creation – weren’t far from mind.

The opening act, John Ondrasik, who performs under the stage name Five for Fighting, spent 10 minutes delivering a speech about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the recent death of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and university politics.

Another performer, country musician Aaron Lewis, changed the lyrics of one of his songs to yell an expletive at President Joe Biden.

"I didn’t really know what to expect. I was expecting something either really big or really small," said UNC senior Matt Broderick, who attended Flagstock.

Broderick said opinions on campus were split in the days leading up to Flagstock.

"A lot of people are really in favor of it, a lot of people really against it," he said. "I’ve heard that some fraternities and some sororities have told their people ‘hey, please don’t come to this, this might be a bad look for us’ or ‘please do come to this, it’ll be a good look for us.'"

UNC's Zeta Beta Tau President Jason Calderon was in the midst of the clashes this spring on campus. He said he's been overwhelmed by the support for the party.

"We felt that what was happening that day was a patriotic thing, and that should go over any polarization," Calderon said.

"I did see a lot of people, students on social media saying ‘hey, don’t go out to that, it’s a right-wing celebration,'" said another attendee, UNC sophomore Preston Lowe.

Lowe, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, dismissed those concerns.

"I just think this event is a celebration of the holding up of the American flag and being American, and what’s more American, you know, than being active in politics 70 days before an election?" he said.

Where's the money going?

The party was paid for via a GoFundMe that Noonan started shortly after the incident with the flag this spring. That GoFundMe went on to raise more than $515,000.

The lineup Monday featured eight groups who donated their time, from Big and Rich to Lee Greenwood. Aaron Lewis, Five For Fighting and Cowboy Troy also performed at the event.

"None of the artists are receiving any compensation for this whatsoever," Rich said.

Organizers also turned to members of the VFW, and dozens of vendors, who either donated their time or provided it at cost.

Organizers have promised to donate any leftover money to charities – but have not specified what those charities will be or how much money will be donated to them.

Noonan created Pints for Patriots to help organize the event. Pints for Patriots Foundation was created on May 5 and is registered in Virginia.

Event organizers said there are no future plans to hold another Flagstock event.

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