Briefing for Friday October 2: Ice skaters to UNC Charlotte football

If Park Road Shopping Center was a woman, she would have likely filed for a restraining order against me. I’m obsessed. It’s 450 yards from my house. It’s like Edens (the developer) is reading my mind. Chopt? Yes. New noodle bowl place called “Co” going in? Yes. Demolished Monkey Joe’s? Yes please. “Backside” built out with rumored Amelie’s lease neogiations? Yes. Situl Indian? Yes (although for takeout only). Cantina 1511? Yes. Small movie theater? Yes. Flying Biscuit? Yes. Blackhawk Hardware popcorn? Yes. Suarez Bakery? Yes. Park Road Books? Yes (even though I don’t read good). Fancy gelato place in the middle of the parking lot? Yes.

I do wish Edens would whip the Park Road Shopping Center Harris Teeter into shape. It’s one of the worst Teeters in the city. I also wish Edens would call my wife and talk her out of craft projects from Michael’s. Anyways. 

VITALS

Today’s Weather: 61. 100% chance of rain. Ugh.
Today’s Stat: 1,420. Number of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teachers who left their jobs last year. Teacher turnover rate hit 16.5 percent, a significant jump, according to a new report published Thursday.
Today’s Job: Environmental Health Specialist at Hissho Sushi.
Today’s Charlottean: Suzie and Todd Ford, Owners of NoDa Brewing, for opening up their new location – NoDa North End. Fun fact: Todd used to be a pilot before becoming a brewery owner.

ORIGINALS

Charlotte’s guide to the Hurricane Joaquin weekend of endless rain [Levans]
13 things to do in Charlotte while it’s raining all weekend. Stay dry my friends. 

The 12 largest Charlotte churches, by membership and attendance [Dunn]
Elevation wins with a Weekly attendance of 15,817 across 13 locations (plus six “extension sites”). I had never heard of 9 of these churches.

Can the 49ers become part of the cultural fabric of our city? [Yoho]
A beautiful football essay mixed with Charlotte city culture. I had no idea that last Saturday the 49ers set a school record with 17,444 in attendance.

Dad Review: Disney on Ice at Time Warner Cable Arena [O’Daniel]
Haha. Love this. I feel like the movie Frozen owns all children and parents. Disney on Ice is one of the hottest tickets in town – here’s an honest review of the 105 minute show.

Uptown Sheraton opens its private Float pool bar and cabanas for Monday Night Football [Levans]
Cool idea. Sam Adams is sponsoring the event so they’ve got $4 Oktoberfest drafts and $20 6-bottle buckets.View 5 photos.

Work life of James Stewart, co-founder of ColorStock [Dunn]
James recently shut down his popular Charlotte startup blog Detailed Block to cofound Colorstock which creates and sells stock images featuring people and families of color. Tools James uses: Kyocera Hydro, a custom-made desktop running Windows, Google Apps and Asana.

Here’s one bold idea that could change Charlotte forever [Long]
New York has the Statue of Liberty, Toronto has the CN Tower, London and Las Vegas have huge Ferris wheels and Seattle has the Space Needle. Tim challenges us to make something big in Charlotte.

Top 7 Charlotte art events in October [HappeningsCLT]
Get out and enjoy some art this month.I love the new spiky thing at the Mint Musuem Uptown (aka, Thicket) – view it.

Friday Mailbag: 29 notes [Williams]
A metaphorical bag of electronic mail, from you all.

TALKING POINTS

Get ready to watch jousting and eat a turkey leg the size of your face because Carolina Renaissance Festival kicks off tomorrow and will run on Saturdays and Sundays, October 3 – November 22 [Site]. Ticket prices: adults ($23), children 5-12 ($11), Children under 5 (Free).

Sycamore Brewing owners Justin and Sarah Brigham bought the 1.6 acre lot in South End that their brewery currently sits on [Thomas/CBJ]. Expansion plans in the works. Their taproom and beer garden = so hot right now.

Our Charlotte Independence soccer team is hosting a 50% End of the Season merchandise sale at their EpiCentre fourth floor office (210 E. Trade St) from noon-6 p.m. [Agenda/Twitter]. Hats, scarves, T-shirts – view gear.

Award winning pizza concept called Pie Five Pizza plans on expanding to Charlotte [Wilson/CBJ]. What’s different? Guests create their own indiviualized pizza. The setup kind of reminds me of a Chipotle or Subway. Interesting. More that a million ingredient combinations are possible. Timing and location are TBD. 

Frontier Airlines is adding nonstop flights from Charlotte to Denver in December [Sealover/CBJ]. Extra points for this airline because they typically have animals painted on their planes.

Pure Barre SouthPark is getting ready to open and is offering a pre-opening special – 5 weeks of unlimited classes for $99 [Pure Barre Facebook]. They are located in the Williams-Sonoma/Pacos Tacos shopping center. This is a sneaky hard workout. 
 

If you’re depressed due to the rain, go to Not Just Coffee at the 7th Street Market and get all jacked up on their Nitro. It’s delicious.