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Each Thursday, WFAE checks in with a local arts and entertainment reporter about things to do in Charlotte during the upcoming weekend.

Mother's Day Weekend Events Include Free Garden Admission, A Historic Neighborhood Bike Ride And Dance Lessons

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden will offer free admission to mothers this weekend for Mother's Day.
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden will offer free admission to mothers this weekend for Mother's Day.

This Mother's Day weekend has plenty of events in and around Charlotte for people to enjoy in a COVID-friendly way. Joshua Geter is performing this weekend at Charlotte Live, formerly known as the QC Social Lounge. Other events on tap? How about taking a bike riding tour with Mom through Grier Heights? Or visit the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden for a Mother's Day stroll?

Joining WFAE "All Things Considered" host Gwendolyn Glenn for this edition of Weekend Entertainment to talk about these and other events is Katrina Louis, senior writer at QCity Metro.

Gwendolyn Glenn: Hi, Katrina.

Katrina Louis, QCity Metro
Sarafina Wright

Katrina Louis: Hi, Gwen.

Glenn: OK, as we listen to more of Charlotte native Joshua Geter, tell us about him, Katrina, and his performance this weekend.

Louis: So like you said, he's a Charlotte native and he's also a saxophonist. Along with his band — they're called Affectual — he's kicking off the return of Jazz N Soul's First Friday live concert series. So there will also be a pre-reception and a sort of afterparty following the event. And because of it, though, there will be capacity limits. So don't forget about your mask and social distancing.

Glenn: And that's important. What time does everything start?

Louis: The pre-reception starts at 7 o'clock, and then the actual concert begins at 8:30. The post- concert social starts around 10:30 p.m.

Glenn: And Katrina, a local art gallery is kicking off an event on Saturday that's celebrating creative women and they're calling it Give Them Their Flowers. Tell us about it.

Louis: This exhibit is happening at 9189 Studio Gallery, and that's in northeast Charlotte. It's pulled together by artist and curator Joanne Rogers. And it's a collection of art celebrating local women artists. She's calling the exhibit "Give Them Their Flowers" so that visitors can appreciate the artists while they're still living. So that was a point that she made, I thought it was pretty cool. But some of the featured artists include LaPorscha Smith, Brenda Pinkston, Bae Hart — just to name a few.

Glenn: And time on Saturday? And how long will the exhibit be at the gallery?

Louis: So there's an opening reception this Saturday from 6-9 p.m. and the exhibit runs through the end of May. You can register for timed tickets, again for COVID protocols.

Glenn: OK, now there's also a historic bike ride going through Grier Heights, the first Charlotte suburb established by Black landowners.

("My Favorite Things" plays)

Glenn: So what does that song have to do with the bike ride or the neighborhood? It's singer Kenya Templeton, also known as The Velo Griot. She will be leading the bike ride. Katrina, tell us more about her, Grier Heights and the ride, can you?

Louis: Kenya Templeton is someone who is known in Charlotte's creative scene. She started these neighborhood tours a couple of months ago. So, so far she's done the Brooklyn neighborhood as well as Lakeview. And Grier Heights is the latest in the monthly bike tours.

So just a little back story on Grier Heights: It actually originated as a farming community, and it was home to some prominent Black residents like Arthur Grier, who was a funeral home director. The Grier funeral home is still a business in Charlotte and the Billingsville school was renovated into what's now the Greer Heights Community Center.

Glenn: Now, in terms of the bike ride, time and place for the riders to gather?

Louis: Riders are gathering at Billingsville Elementary School starting at 4:30, and they'll start the tour at 5 o'clock.

Glenn: OK, exercise and a tour. The Eastway Recreation Center is starting a weekend lunch series. What's included besides lunch? And tell us about that.

Louis: So this lunchtime series is at the new Eastway Regional Recreation Center that just opened a couple of weeks ago. They're going to have live DJs, they're going to have food trucks and you'll see some local artists who will be performing. This Saturday kicks off a schedule that's happening over the next couple of months. You can head out to Eastway Recreation Center on Saturday from 12-2.

Glenn: Sounds great. There are some Mother's Day events happening this weekend, as well. Can't forget Mom. Moms will be welcome in a special way at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont. How so, Katrina?

Louis: This weekend, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is offering free admission to all the moms this Saturday and Sunday. And it's something for the families to do. You can stroll the gardens. There'll be live music. You can shop in the garden store and there will be food trucks for you to grab a bite to eat and drinks.

Glenn: Will people be spaced out or are reservations required?

Louis: So you'll have tickets and they'll be marked with an arrival time window that lasts one hour. This is to make sure that there is proper social distancing throughout the day.

Glenn: Great. Also for Mother's Day,Charlotte Cirque & Dance will be celebrating Mother's Day with salsa and merengue.

Louis: Another way to, you know, if you had a big lunch or things like that, another way to get your body moving. So they're celebrating moms with the special circus and dance class with Carolina Quiros Otarola. They have the Latin dance, as you mentioned, salsa, merengue, warm-up. There'll be some basic partner acrobatics and techniques for the family. You don't have to have any dance experience prior to coming. So just come out and have a good time. They have highly trained teachers that will be teaching the class.

Glenn: OK, I'd be in that group. What day and time?

Louis: This is happening Saturday at 3 o'clock.

Glenn: Sounds like fun. And on Saturday as well, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra will perform for the Evenings at the Park series at South Park Mall at 7 p.m. Thanks for being with us, Katrina.

Louis: Thanks for having me.

Katrina Louis is a senior writer for QCity Metro.

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Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.