Music festival season is almost upon us, but the Lovin’ Life Music Fest is not happening. It debuted in uptown Charlotte in 2024 with big names such as Stevie Nicks and Post Malone and drew tens of thousands. Last December, festival organizers said they were taking “a short pause” this year and left it at that. For more, Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: Is it any clearer now why Lovin' Life is not happening this year?
Tony Mecia: There's still a lot that's unclear about what's going on with Lovin’ Life. We had a piece this week in which a reporter looked at a lot of the factors and talked to a lot of insiders.
The reality of the music business is that it's a tough business. It's hard. It's complicated. You have competition from big players like Live Nation. Certainly, the local hospitality industry, I think, would prefer to have a music festival. But that said, there are a lot of other events going on uptown. That's really part of the issue is that there's, I think, competition for people's attention with other performances and things like that going on uptown. The logistics of it are also very difficult. So we just really explored that this week.
Terry: Is Lovin’ Life dead after only two years?
Mecia: They haven't said really one way or the other. Some of the people we talked to suggest that it's very difficult to kind of get it restarted once you go dark for a year. It's hard to say, but I don't know if it's looking so good.
Terry: On to some aviation business news. The opening of PSA Airlines in Charlotte last week marks the first time North Carolina has had an airline headquarters in nearly 30 years. What is PSA, and what’s the significance of having it based in Charlotte?
Mecia: PSA is a subsidiary of American Airlines, and people probably know it better by the name American Eagle. It’s one of a number of subsidiaries that American has that fly regional jets out of Concourse E at the airport. PSA has about 150 departures a day. It's a nice feather in the cap for Charlotte. The headquarters has about 450 employees. The total employment of PSA is about 5,000.
Fun note: the name comes from Pacific Southwest Airlines, which was a California-based airline in the 1980s known for painting smiles on the front of its jets. It was bought by American predecessor US Airways in the 1980s.
Terry: We’re about a month-and-a-half out from one of the biggest annual sporting events in Charlotte, the Truist Championship — formerly known as the Wells Fargo Championship. Along with the new name this year, there is also a new app for people planning to go. What does it do?
Mecia: An official with the Truist Championship said at a panel on sports that was sponsored by South Charlotte Partners last week that they've devised an app that she likened to Apple Maps or Google Maps, but for navigating Quail Hollow Club, where the tournament is held.
She said it's a step-by-step guide that will take you to different places along the course, to different hospitality areas. Most notably, it will help you follow individual golfers because it tells you where the golfers are at any given time. Previously, you knew when their tee time was, but you didn't necessarily know where they were on the course. This will solve that and so it will help people find those golfers.
Terry: Let’s end on The Ledger’s 40 Over 40 Awards, which you announced this week. Remind us what the awards are about and tell us who some of the winners are this year.
Mecia: The Charlotte Ledger has been sponsoring the 40 Over 40 Awards for the last seven years now. What it's designed to do is honor people aged 40+ who are making a difference in the community, nonprofit leaders, business leaders, and volunteers. People might be familiar with other age-based award programs.
The Charlotte Business Journal, for example, has the 40 Under 40 Awards. Some of the winners that we're honoring this year, the Chief Physician Officer of Atrium Health, a Queens University professor who helps Hispanic businesses, the CEO of Freedom School Partners, which lifts up CMS students, and a number of other people who are doing some great work. We're going to celebrate them at a party on April 23.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates.
