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Uptown skyshow to head to Knights Stadium


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Well I give credit to Center City Partners and city staff for jumping on this right away. Can't say whether WBT's decision was a surprise or not, but anticipating the public fallout, they've hustled to do whatever they can to save the day and keep an Independence Day celebration viewable from uptown and the immediately surrounding area. It will be great if they can pull it off. I hear the last major hurdle to be addressed is nailing down sponsorship committments - and pretty quickly. Does Urban Planet have like an extra 50K laying around?? :whistling:

We could do a bake sale!

I agree, though, Center City Partners does do a great job of managing all of these type of things that fall between private and public responsibility. I hope it can get pulled together in just less than 2 months, but i suspect it will.

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well, what a GREAT opportunity for the company(s) that decides to sponsor this. not only is it basic advertisement... but in this case it has kind-of-a "save the day" quality. that kind of publicity only comes around once in blue moon.

* wouldn't this really suck for WBT's charlotte, SC firework show. if it happens uptown afterall - they just lost the majority of their crowd. bad move... and i predict if this happens this will be the last year WBT is in the fireworks game.... you know, the "biz", the "hustle", the "racket".

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I hate to sound like I believe too much in "conspiracy theories" but all of this seems very convenient. WBT gets excuses to get out of town (the "melee", money) someone else steps in and "saves the day", the city can justify paying for extra security since WBT left for money and problems with the crowd....

All to a good end that I am happy with, but it just seems a bit scripted.

Hopefully there will be an announcement of certainty soon!

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I hate to sound like I believe too much in "conspiracy theories" but all of this seems very convenient. WBT gets excuses to get out of town (the "melee", money) someone else steps in and "saves the day", the city can justify paying for extra security since WBT left for money and problems with the crowd....

All to a good end that I am happy with, but it just seems a bit scripted.

Hopefully there will be an announcement of certainty soon!

I don't think the city will end up paying for anything - at least, nothing that wasn't already in the budget to begin with. I take it as an unfortunate surprise, but one that inspired a rally to action. Last I heard, the ad-hoc group that coalesced to fix it was able to find a contract for the fireworks themselves, and get a location, and its all good as long as someone will step up to pay for it.

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Here's another article from the Business Journal on the same subject. Interesting how Mayor McCheese has totally pulled a 180 and now is a champion of having a show downtown when just 3 weeks ago he said we didn't need things like fireworks downtown. Like the city was sooo beyond that and now it's not.

http://www.charlottecentercity.org/nav.cfm...6&action=detail

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I would love to see this new downtown show completely blow the WBT show out of the water!!

I think we need to reserve our expectations for this year - after all, they're pulling it off in about 5-6 weeks instead of having a whole year to prep. I wouldn't expect they'll have concerts and appearances and all the extra glitz - but the fireworks part should be good. Hopefully they'll build on it and make it more of an entertainment event in future years.

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The latest versions of the articles indicate that the location will not likely be the square. The official viewing area will be Memorial Stadium, Independence Park, and/or Marshall Park.

I think that is brilliant, as it will actually give many families the ability to go, but be separated from the drinking crowd that is typically near the square on these types of evenings. What that'll do is separate the crowd a bit, so that family-types can go to the park or stadium, while young partying types can remain near the restaurants and bars. Both will be able to see the fireworks, though.

That will make crowd control easier and less expensive. It'll also sooth the fears from families that had a bad experience last year (Neo, will you come back?). It also protects families from some of the sights that naturally result in bar areas.

I'm glad Toyota City is also sponsoring this, especially after causing some discussion over buying naming rights to civic structures earlier in the year.

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I do bet that once it became a very public issue, with business executives getting a call from the mayor, it opened some minds. I bet the businesses were a little more skeptical during the phase where a competitor was getting out of the business.

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WBT claimed that they did ask for help, but no one ponied up. Maybe they just didn't want to partner with WBT?

Interesting to me -- the article in the paper today didn't mention the "melee" or security as any of the reasons WBT left, they just mentioned budgeting...is the truth coming out or are they whitewashing the former statements by La Mayor and WBT?

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While the decision to leave for Fort Mill was corporate, there seems to have been a lack of enthusiasm for other parties to join WBT early on. I have to wonder if that was based from much "right wing anti-uptown bashing" which airs on the station.

As metro points out, WBT isn't the station it was in the 1970s.

An interesting comment from someonme claiming to be one of WBTs advertisers is on the Observer blog... Wondering why this event could be done so much cheaper...

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