Nellie Manning is president of the Lake Norman Trio women's bowling league. She's bowled in the US Bowling Congress Women's Championships 35 years, including 2007 when the event was held in Charlotte.
Credit Julie Rose
Women on the Lake Norman Trio Bowling League play weekly at Northcross Lanes at the Lake in Huntersville, one of two bowling centers that hosted the 2007 US Bowling Congress Women's Championships.
Charlotte has a lot riding on professional sports: millions of tax dollars built an arena for the Bobcats, are helping construct a new home for Knights baseball Uptown and will likely renovate Panthers stadium, too. So does it surprise you to learn that more than half of the city's hotel room bookings each year are the result of amateur athletes?
State lawmakers have rebuffed Charlotte officials who hoped to double the local restaurant tax in order to renovate Bank of America Stadium. Instead, the city will have to rearrange existing restaurant tax revenues to help the Panthers. Visitors to Charlotte may find that good news, since WFAE's Julie Rose reports the city already ranks among the most taxing for tourists.
Concord Mills mall features a carousel in its food court. It once claimed to be the state's top visitor attraction. It may soon add a 30,000 square foot aquarium to the mall.
Credit Tasnim Shamma
Johnny Seagraves drove from Greensboro, N.C. to buy a rifle from Bass Pro Shops with his wife Ginny. Bass Pro Shops will open a second store in Cary, N.C. by early 2014.
Credit Tasnim Shamma
Aamir Saleem helps his parents look after a kiosk selling Indian-style accessories at the Concord Mills mall.
So when I first arrived in Charlotte, I was handed the latest edition of a book called the Insider's Guide to Charlotte. It had the usual highlights you would expect, but then I saw something really strange. It says Concord Mills Mall is the state's top tourist destination.
The City of Charlotte and several tax-payer funded agencies will pay an outside agency about $25,000 to estimate the DNC's boost to the local economy.
It's pretty standard for the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority to do a "this is how our economy benefited" estimate after major conventions. It's highly unusual for the CRVA to hire an outside firm to do it.
