Popular arts festival Charlotte Shout returns April 1, and that’s no joke

What’s happening: After taking 2020 off, the festival was set to return this past September. COVID-19 had other plans, and organizers decided to push the multi-week festival back again to April 1-17.

• You may remember, though, we still got those giant inflatable bunnies for a couple weeks this fall.

What to expect: Uptown will fill with public art installations, live music and street food.

• Blumenthal president Tom Gabbard calls it “the most inspiring festival in the southeast” with over 200 events, from concerts featuring local musicians to speaker series with internationally known thought leaders to cooking demonstrations.
• Most of the events will be free and open to the public.

Driving the news: The new dates for Charlotte Shout were first announced during this week’s Mecklenburg Board of County Commisioners meeting when they agreed to provide $500,000 for the event, WSOC’s Joe Bruno reports.

• The city of Charlotte is also providing $500,000 in funding, according to Charlotte Center City Partners.

Here’s a preview of what we might expect.