One of the more unique — and long-lasting — aspects of last year’s sesquicentennial celebration here in Apex was the creation of the “What Makes Apex Home” video vault.
The celebration of this town’s glorious 150-year history came to its inevitable end in February 2024, but an interactive celebration of its residents, both old and new, lives on in perpetuity and can be accessed 24/7 by anyone compelled to do so.
To better understand the depth and scope of the video vault’s creation, I spoke with Kerrin Cox, Town of Apex Communications Coordinator and project manager of this grand endeavor. According to Cox, the Apex 150th planning committee began meeting in August 2021. She noted that they wanted to capture the stories of Apex community members in a meaningful and enduring way.
Cox shared that in May of 2022, longtime Apex employee Audrey Jones retired from her position with the town. Jones’ lengthy tenure exposed her to a lot of change.
“We knew we wanted to get her story on video. Our desire to capture community members’ stories tied in seamlessly with the core concept of the celebration year: Reaching the Peak through our Past, Present, and Potential,” Cox said.
Cox reflected that the stories told across the videos are an honest and unbridled representation of Apex. There are stories of joy, hardship, coming together and there are stories of opposition.
“From the very beginning, we as a team knew we wanted to capture every piece of our history — the good and the bad — and the video vault truly accomplished that goal.”
I asked Cox how the committee decided who to interview. She noted that the list of interviewees was both intentional and organic. They created an original list of potential interviews that included community partners like civic groups, special event organizers, and community organizations. But, because this approach limited their reach to familiar names and organizations, the committee remained extremely open to interviewing other community members that were recommended to them.
“In fact, many of the people interviewed came to us as a suggestion from another interviewee,” she recalled.
According to Cox, at the end of the celebration year, they completed 122 interviews. The initial goal was to reach 150 interviews (i.e., for 150 years) but logistics and scheduling didn’t always work out. Each interview took an hour or so to set up, record, and tear down. From there, the recording required about 30 minutes to edit. With two staff members attending each interview, the town ultimately logged over 300 staff hours on the project.
“We often ended up filming interviews in downtown Apex because of its connection to so many community members. One piece of advice I’ll share — always have two microphones and anticipate a train horn inserting itself into at least one answer,” she said.
Cox framed why they asked very specific questions during these interviews.
“Our vision for the year was to tell the story of Apex — what the town has been, what it is today, and what it will become. The story of our town was told through creating a timeline of our history, offering over 150 ways to get to know Apex, and showcasing the future of Apex through upcoming plans and projects. While developing the brand for the 150th celebration year, we easily saw how each community member (whether they have lived here their entire lives, a long time, or just a few months) also had an Apex story to tell. So, we developed our questions around that central idea — Past: Share a favorite memory. Share an important memory; Present: What makes Apex home? and Potential: What are your hopes for Apex’s potential?”
Cox pointed out that the questions related to the past evolved based on early interview experience.
“We quickly realized as we started doing the interviews that community members loved our town so they easily could tell a favorite memory. But community members also had important stories to tell — stories of changes, stories of strife, and stories of resilience. We wanted to create space for them and capture it all,” she explained.
Cox shared that they have heard from many of the participating community members just how meaningful it was for them to be included in the video vault.
According to Cox, many pieces of the Apex 150th celebration year were developed with the highest level of intentionality, but she wasn’t shy about underscoring how the “What Makes Apex Home” video series tops them all.
“Even as we were recording the interviews, we could feel how special the project was. Even though the same questions were asked to every single person interviewed, no one answered the questions the same,” Cox explained.
In some sense, the video vault becomes a living, breathing time capsule, but rather than being buried away for the next generation to discover, it’s right there on the web, accessible to all, today and tomorrow, memorializing this town’s history and its legacy for at least the first 150 years.
With the passing of time and, sadly but inevitably, the passing of the myriad community members featured across these 122 videos, the video vault will take on new meaning, become more compelling and, perhaps, more insightful, and will rise to the level of essential viewing.
“We feel exceptionally lucky to have captured some stories that were told for the very first and only time,” Cox shared.
The video vault lives permanently on the Town of Apex YouTube channel with a dedicated “What Makes Apex Home” playlist. Watch videos anytime at youtube.com/@TownofApexGov or apex150.com/video-vault.
