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Uptown skyshow to head to Knights Stadium


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Unfortunately, the Independence Day fireworks celebration uptown will be no more. WBT Radio has decided to move the fireworks show to Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC, due to "security concerns". I tell you what, this is absolutely terrible. The fireworks look so great against the skyline, and now they will be out in the middle of the southern burbs. After Uptown's great strides over the past years, this certainly is a blow. I think I am about to become physically ill. :sick::angry::cry:

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/14547721.htm

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Give me a break. 30 years of trouble-free SkyShows and they nix it after one single incident. I hope the crowds at the Knights Stadium for this year's show are the same as they for the actual games... next to none. Call me bitter, I don't care. This is ridiculous.

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Unfortunately, the Independence Day fireworks celebration uptown will be no more. WBT Radio has decided to move the fireworks show to Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC, due to "security concerns". I tell you what, this is absolutely terrible. The fireworks look so great against the skyline, and now they will be out in the middle of the southern burbs. After Uptown's great strides over the past years, this certainly is a blow. I think I am about to become physically ill. :sick::angry::cry:

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/14547721.htm

Unreal !!! This is not a positive for the city at all. If anything it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. I think if we are to create a synergistic place to live, work and play, we can't have corporate events pulling out. This should be protested from every angle if we are to continue the momentum Center City has gained in the last few years.

How utterly pathetic of WBT ! :angry:

I WILL BE CALLING THEM FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. I SUGGEST WE ALL DO THE SAME !

Contact Info:

http://www.wbt.com/programming/contact.cfm...641823952612cTR

WBT Studios map & directions

One Julian Price Place

Charlotte, NC 28208

704.374.3500 SWITCHBOARD

704.374.3890 FAX

[email protected]

Studio Line

704.570.1110

800.WBT.1110 [800.928.1110]

A2

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It's sad that things like this

In 2005, after the fireworks show ended, police had to call in reinforcements uptown after about 2,000 people became unruly near Trade and Tryon streets.

What started as a fight between two teenagers over a girl at the transit center grew into general unrest, authorities said, when a group of people began throwing fireworks into the crowd and blocking traffic.

One person was shot in the hand, 17 were arrested and more than 100 extra officers were called in to restore order.

has to lead to the show being moved to the burbs...

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Wow. My fiancee and I went the other year, our first July 4th here, and we really enjoyed it. It was delayed for more than an hour that year, and we had to drive straight to Durham to fly out the next morning, but we stuck around. Traffic was a bit of a pain afterwards, but that's mostly because we weren't incredibly familiar with the streets around and just outside of Uptown. Regardless, watching the fireworks from Bryant Park (one of my favorite places to see the skyline in general) was awesome, and I'm really glad we stayed. We've tried to go to as many fireworks displays as possible over the past couple of years, having gone to a couple around Lake Norman as well. I think it's pretty safe to say that that's where we'll be heading this year. Fort Mill is more of a drive for us than Lake Norman or Uptown, and with no really interesting setting in Fort Mill, I just can't see any reason to go down there.

I can't say I'm entirely surprised though. Last year was some horrible publicity, whether it was overblown or not. For many families -- especially in south Charlotte, where Fort Mill isn't that far off -- I'm sure the thought of going to the ballpark (a traditionally family-friendly environment) is a lot better than taking their kids into Uptown, after scenes following last year's event. I think part of WBT's hope is that not only will security be a bit more manageable, but that most potential troublemakers will stay in Charlotte and not come down to Fort Mill, since they obviously didn't care that much about the fireworks. And they've probably got a point. It's a shame though that Uptown Charlotte's lost something like this. Hopefully it's only temporary.

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It is a shame. There is no way I am going to Fort Mill for fireworks. I am hoping some other sponsor steps up and puts on a show uptown. I am going to a wedding on the 2nd and many people out of town going to the wedding were staying in hotels downtown through the 4th because they heard Charlotte puts on a good display. It's going to be pretty embarrassing if there is nothing going on.

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Sorry for starting another topic like this, I moved all the posts here

Apparently according to Fox18 the issue isn't security, but rather paying for security. WBTV, according to Fox 18 no longer wants to have the expense for paying for an event downtown. It's cheaper to have it in Fort Mill.

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Well, this is truely pathetic. I got wind of this from someone at CCCP about 4 months ago, they were planning on moving it to either Huntersville or Fort Mill (both of which are suburbs that nobody from Charlotte wants to travel to).

2000 people became unruly??? I was there, it was a bunch of kids, maybe there were 2k people at the square, but not 2k unruly. I really hope some corp. comes through and keeps this going in uptown, because most will not travel to Fort Mill. All of this from the media dramatizing everything bad that happens in Charlotte. Metro is right, we get our news from a bunch of tabloids, and some people actually believe it.

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I would love to see one of the banks blow WBT's sky show away uptown. Hey Bank of America, I see your name on the side of a stadium that sits 70,000 in uptown that will otherwise be empty. Get some bands together, put the fireworks back where they belong and lets have a good time in our city.

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I will give more credit to the Observer for putting forth better news than any of the local TV stations stations since they actually give it to you in writing. Apparenly WBT is upset at the "melee" that occured last year and don't want to be associated with something like that again. They are citing the increased costs of stopping another riot from happening again. Apparently they feel it will cost less to stop something like this in Ft Mill than in Charlotte.

Pat McCroy, in , had this to say:

"Our center city no longer needs promotions to bring in crowds" Seems to me that if he is running an unsafe city and events are leaving downtown because of it, then maybe the center city isn't going to do that well in the long run. From a perception standpoint, it really looks bad for some thugs to drive off what had become a tradition for Charlotte.

Well I guess I will be watching the Lake Norman fireworks this year at Queens Landing.

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