Taste of Charlotte

[Neo]

Has anyone went to the Taste of Charlotte downtown yet? I'm thinking of heading that way tomorrow and was wondering if it was worth the trip! 8-)

[monsoon]

[Nostyle]

I went last year. Planning on going again this year (weather-permitting). I like it. It's a decent 'taste of'. I had my first alligator bites last year.

[Neo]

Honestly, I would not have bothered if I had known what it was going to be like. But different things thrill different people.

So what was it like?

[monsoon]

[Neo]

Mmmm...free spam...I get enough "free spam" during the day to feed a small country.

[monsoon]

[uptownliving]

I went there with metro for lunch and it was a nice diversion from what we usually do. The food was ok, make sure to get some Great Harvest Bakery stuff, they were really good. The real reason for this is that it is a big fundraiser for a multitude of local charities.

We did not get down to the art part, but there are about 100 artists displaying their wares...hopefully I will get to that tomorrow.

Metro, are you going to post some of the pics you took?

[Nostyle]

I'd like to see the art portion of the festival break off into its own thing, at a separate time over the summer. Call it the Uptown Art Festival, or whatever, but it would be cool to see it grow to the point where it is a festival within itself, rather than just a side attraction at the Taste of Charlotte.

[monsoon]

[uptownliving]

Wow, the photos turned out nice...especially the last one, shows how crowded it really was.

[Neo]

Great photos! I'm still debating on whether to go or not...we'll see what the rain does. 8-)

[Nostyle]

Charlotte Mass Transit

I kid you not, I used the exact same joke in a similar thread I made last year. gotta love the blue train.

[monsoon]

[Nostyle]

Okay, I went to the Taste of Charlotte today (Sunday), so here's some photos to add to the thread:

Parked at Seventh Street Station, so first thing I hit was the kiddie section, Adventure Village:

Then you get to the actual Taste of Charlotte:

"Best Wings South of Buffalo"...I'll be the judge of that!

Band on stage:

Many street performers, playing music, doing magic, balloon tricks, and juggling stunts:

Another crowd shot looking back from the south end of the Taste of Charlotte:

I was a little disappointed with the 'Avenue of the Arts' portion of the event. It seemed that a good deal of the vendors had already closed up shop, either because of the threat of bad weather (it was an ominous sky all day) or just because today is the last day.

Overall, it was a very lively event. Good stuff.

[monsoon]

[bobliocatt]

looks like a nice event in a great setting.

[uptownliving]

Yes, I can understand if some of the artists left early this year with the very ominous skys...if you remember at last years event a Thunderstorm blew through on the first day. It came through with high winds that destroyed a lot of the artist's work.

[Nostyle]

Yep, two years in a row weather hurt the event. And those ominous skies did eventually turn to heavy downpours, so they were smart to pack up early.

[monsoon]

[BrandonTO416]

I'd go just for the Dippin Dots.

[monsoon]

[Nostyle]

Those are horrible excuses. At some point, some underage kid gave a vendor some tokens in exchange for alcohol. It is that vendor's responsibility to card the kid. The police and event organizers can't be at every tent watching out for this, and I don't see how the use of tokens is even an issue in such a matter.

[Delta]

Charlotte looks so nice and clean. So do the people. The gents even tuck their shirts in.

BTW What's a "Dippin Dot"?

[Nostyle]

Dippin Dots are ice cream in the form of little 'dots' or balls of ice cream the size of a bb.