Latest news with #FestivalColombiano
Axios
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Weekender: 28 things to do in Charlotte this weekend, including Queen's Feast
If you're hungry for events, Charlotte has plenty of food-related activities like Queen's Feast and Festival Colombiano this weekend to satisfy your appetite. Friday, July 18 🍽️ Dine at 125-plus participating restaurants across Charlotte for three-course menus with prix-fixe prices for Queen's Feast. | Free | Runs through July 27 | Details 🤣 Laugh the night away at a stand-up comedy showcase at Tip Top Daily Market. | Donations encouraged | 8–10pm | Details 🛍️ Go thrifting at Thrift Pony's night market with a DJ at the Boileryard in Camp North End. | Free | 5–9pm | Details 🎶 Listen to live music over a couple of cocktails at Blue Door in South End. | Free | 9:30pm | Details 🎬 Test your knowledge of movies with trivia at The Suffolk Punch for a chance to win a cash prize. | Free | 7–9pm | Details 🧑🔬 Explore Discovery Place Science in an adults-only space with hands-on labs, animal encounters and drinks. | $18–$22 | 6pm | Details 🌟 Head over to Romare Bearden Park for a post-game glow show with performances after the Charlotte Knights and Durham Bulls game. | Free | 8:30–10:30pm | Details 🎤 Listen to a band play Tom Petty hits like "Free Fallin'" and "American Girl" at the Carolina Theatre. | $28+ | 7:30pm | Details 🤑 Play The Game Show Challenge with friends for a chance to win a $100K prize. | $36 | Times vary | Details ⚾️ Take the kids to see the Charlotte Knights play the Durham Bulls at Truist Field. | $34+ | 7:04pm | Details 🎭 Catch Broadway's "Ain't Too Proud," a jukebox musical tribute to The Temptations, at Belk Theater at the Blumenthal Arts Center. | $46+ | Runs through Sunday | Details Saturday, July 19 😆 Enjoy high-larious jokes at Crowntown Cannabis in NoDa. | Free | 9–11pm | Details 🛍️ Shop at a night market with more than 20 vendors, food trucks, desserts and vintage clothes. | Free | 4–8:30pm | Details 🐶 Find an adoptable dog at Vaulted Oak Brewing and stick around for a beer. | Free | 3pm | Details 🎤 Listen to seasoned comedians or test out some of your own jokes in an open mic comedy session at Birdsong Brewing | Free | 7pm | Details 🛍️ Pull up to Seoul Food Meat Co.'s vendor market and let your pup run in the bark park. | Free | 12–5pm | Details ⚽️ Play in a street soccer tournament at Victoria Yards in Uptown or watch the game while you enjoy music, food and drinks. | Free | 10am–2:30pm | Details ⚽️ See the Charlotte Independence play the Portland Hearts of Pine at American Legion Memorial Stadium. | $13–$66 | 7pm | Details 🤠 Slip on your cowboy boots for an all-you-can-eat brunch, country music and mimosa bar at Sycamore Brewing. | $35 | 10am–1pm | Details 🍹 Attend the Charlotte Margarita Festival at Suffolk Punch Brewing South End for a tasting contest, food vendors, music and giveaways. | $25+ | 12–6pm | Details 🇨🇴 Join thousands of people at First Ward Park in Uptown at Festival Colombiano for music, performances, an artisans market and food. | Free | 12pm | Details 🛥️ Pull up by boat to Black Boat Weekend on Lake Norman for a full party on the water and stick around for the vendors and water activities. | Prices vary | 11am–7pm | Details Sunday, July 20 🍽️ Enjoy a multi-course Sunday supper at L'Ostrica, one of Charlotte's best restaurants, that takes your taste buds on a trip to the Oregon coast and wine country. | $75 | 5:30pm | Details 🕯️ Learn how to make a candle that you can take home at 7th Street Market. | $30 | 3pm | Details 📚 Pull up a chair to read in a silent book club at That's Novel Books in Camp North End. | Free | 9:30–11am | Details 🎤 Party into the weekday with 2 Chainz at Stats Restaurant & Bar. | $23+ | 8pm–12am | Details 👑 Experience a fierce drag show at Platform Sports and stay to adopt kittens and enjoy drink specials and a brunch menu. | $23 | 11am–2pm | Details 🍴 Cosplay for an anime food truck festival with goodie bags, games, tournaments and more in NoDa. | $7+ | 12–8pm | Details
Axios
10-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
ICE crackdowns hit Charlotte's immigrant businesses hard
The threat of ICE enforcement is weighing on Charlotte's immigrant community. Why it matters: A surge in arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents isfueling fear, racial tension and economic hardship in Charlotte, local business owners tell Axios. The big picture: President Trump's team has been demanding that agents arrest 3,000 immigrants a day — an unprecedented pace ICE is still trying to reach, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports. Context: We spoke to three immigrant entrepreneurs in Charlotte, who say they're seeing a trickle-down effect across several industries due to the immigration crackdown. What they're saying: Fear is spreading, regardless of immigration status. "No matter what their status is, they're afraid to go out, to drive, to speak up," said Astrid Muñoz, who co-owns SQS Catering, Mr. Pollo, SQS Junk Removal Service and SQS Janitorial with her husband Carlos Bergman. Muñoz describes customers and staff alike growing anxious about public interaction. Racist language, tense encounters with clients and fear of separation from family are all part of the emotional toll. "There's anguish. But I can't focus on that — I have to lead with peace of mind, or fear takes everything off course." Muñoz's biggest fear: That rising resentment and anxiety will spiral into violence. But she says she has faith that things will get better. Zoom in: Manolo Betancur, humanitarian and owner of Manolo's Bakery, Higher Grounds Café and Artisen Vegelato, says ICE's presence weighs on his businesses. Whenever there are rumors of ICE's presence, "nobody goes to the bakery," he told Axios subscribers at a recent Small Business Spotlight event. By the numbers: Orders for large cakes — usually in high demand in May for Mother's Day and quinceañeras — dropped to zero, Betancur says. Revenue is down 20%. In an interview with WFAE, Betancur said he had to lay off three employees and reduce the hours of others. "We are not criminals. We're survivors. Now the hardest thing for an immigrant is to survive in America," Betancur said. Natalia Silva, local entrepreneur and organizer of Festival Colombiano, said she refuses to let fear win. "We are business owners, professionals, entrepreneurs…and we deserve respect." Silva says events like Festival Colombiano Cultural are acts of resilience — a way to assert dignity and presence in a time of heightened scrutiny. Zoom out: North Carolina is an immigration enforcement hot spot, according to an Axios analysis. Local law enforcement agencies in nearby Gaston, Union and Cabarrus counties have been some of the most cooperative in rounding up immigrants through deals known as 287 (g) agreements, according to the analysis. Between the lines: Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden ended the county's 287(g) program agreement with ICE in 2018. Last year, lawmakers enacted House Bill 10, mandating that all state sheriffs honor ICE detainers by holding suspects for up to 48 additional hours to facilitate federal pickup, WFAE reported. But keeping those detainees is expensive, according to McFadden, who has expressed communication concerns with ICE in the past. The other side: Differences in opinion are emerging on how aggressively ICE should deport workers, longtime residents, and some people who've sought refuge from brutal regimes, Axios reports. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle detailed concerns to Axios, ranging from prioritizing the removal of criminals over peaceful residents to economic disruptions and humanitarian risks. But the differences are far from a GOP rebuke of Trump, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.
Axios
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Festival Colombiano returns to Charlotte this summer
Festival Colombiano Multicultural will take place in Uptown on July 19, 2025. Why it matters: This is the third consecutive year for the family-friendly event that celebrates Colombian heritage and other Hispanic cultures. Context: Last year, approximately 8,000-10,000 people attended the festival, which has been held in Concord in recent years. With the help of Charlotte City Council Member Marjorie Molina, festival organizers brought the event to center city, they tell Axios. Flashback: In 2023, then-Colombian Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo attended the festival. There, organizers handed him a petition with several thousand signatures to bring a Colombian consulate to the city, a measure that was approved last year. What to expect: Live music, performances, an artisans market and plenty of food, of course. Between the lines: The Festival Colombiano has historically been a celebration of Colombian culture, but it has evolved to be more inclusive of different cultures. Charlotte nonprofit La Casa de la Cultura, for example, will bring a multicultural market to the festival. If you go: Doors open at 12pm at 301 East 7th St., in Charlotte's First Ward Park.
Axios
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
10+ impressive women shaping Charlotte in 2025
Charlotte is full of women who shine in virtually every industry. So, for Women's History Month, we've compiled a list of women helping to shape our city today. Between the lines: This is not a comprehensive list of all the women shaping Charlotte. You can also check out our 2022, 2023 and 2024 lists. Carolina Ascent Charlotte's first top-tier professional women's soccer team is setting the standard for what professional women's sports can look like in Charlotte going forward. Caitlyn Sheff Caitlyn Sheff is making fitness more financially accessible for Charlotteans. Her Wesley Heights yoga studio, The Coterie, is well-known for its sliding scale membership and drop-in class pricing, so much so that the space recently added a second studio room due to its ever-growing waitlist. People love what Sheff's built — just take a look at the flood of support in the comments section on our recent post about the studio's expansion. Dena Diorio Retiring county manager Dena Diorio has led Mecklenburg County through nearly 11 years of explosive growth, navigating through a pandemic and working alongside county commissioners to improve Charlotte's economic mobility. Erinn Thames Founder of the popular pop-up party series 704 Party, Thames is on a mission to change Charlotte's nightlife scene through inclusivity and dancing. Profits from many of her events fund grants for other local creatives so they can jump-start their own projects and add to the city's culture. Festival Colombiano co-presidents Festival Colombiano is more than just a celebration of Colombia's culture — it's a grassroots movement that helped bring national attention to Charlotte. Its co-presidents, Natalia Silva and Karol Cortes, are among the dozens of local Colombian community leaders and business owners who petitioned to bring a Colombian Consulate to Charlotte, but it's their festival that brought then-Colombian ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo to Charlotte so they could hand him the petition in-person. Last May, Chancellor Murillo announced that their petition was successful. Jordan Dollard Dollard's company, Esther & Elsa, puts on some of Charlotte's most popular vendor markets, the best-known being Front Porch Sundays. This open-air market draws shoulder-to-shoulder crowds along Atherton on the first Sunday of April through December. And in 2024, the small businesses of FPS generated over $1 million in sales — before the holiday shopping season even started. Katie Mitchell The Trope Bookshop owner has created a cult-like following for her popular romance bookstore. So popular that people lined up in droves on opening weekend; at times, that line wrapped around the building. Through Trope, Mitchell has also built a community that has connected people in Charlotte through literature. Kristi Coleman Coleman, the CEO of Tepper Sports & Entertainment and the president of the Carolina Panthers, is one of a few female executives in the NFL. She oversees business operations for the Panthers, Charlotte FC and Bank of America Stadium. Molly Grantham Following a successful 20-year run at WBTV, Grantham recently pivoted her career to empower women. At her inaugural Bet on Yourself Summit last year, she proudly announced to a crowd of 340 women: "I'm reinventing myself at 47 years old." Ziva Postpartum Retreat founders Selena Williams and Lauren Hall launched Charlotte's first postpartum retreat for new mothers. The retreat, which opened earlier this year, was designed to educate and support women with resources as they adjust to motherhood. A few notable reader submissions: "Monifa Drayton is a powerhouse, business owner and the former head of the Arts & Science Council — in addition, [she] currently holds the position as the first Black female board chair of the ABC Board. Through her leadership, she has expanded opportunities for others while also paving the way for herself." — Brittney B. "Kim Lanphear led Apparo to offer services at no cost to nonprofits in need by asking corporate partners to help fund the work. Leading the organization through the transition from a fee-based entity to a fundraising-based nonprofit." — Alyssa M.
