October SouthPark 2024

THE ART OF FUSION

BIG BANG UNICO

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LIFE

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FROM THE EDITOR

IN THIS ISSUE:

1–A hand-stenciled foyer at 86 Cannon in Charleston, South Carolina (page 24)

2–Holly D’Amico of Renew Home Charlotte (page 28)

3–ArtPop’s Inspiration Projects division helps local artists like Von Jeter find paying gigs (page 73)

Following the success of 2023’s Year of the Trail celebration, North Carolina’s Great State Trails Coalition decided to build on that momentum. Through the passing of a recent bill, N.C. legislators made it official: Every third Saturday in October will be North Carolina’s Great Trails State Day. (You can read more about that on page 136.)

And boy, does this state have some great trails, from our local greenways to peaceful “blueways” for paddling to steep mountain trails, with their serpentine switchbacks, rhododendron groves and panoramic vistas.

One of my favorite recent trail experiences was a kayak tour with Wilmington Outdoor Adventures through Barnard’s Creek, a tributary of the Cape Fear River near Carolina Beach.

The thing about guided hikes and paddles is each guide brings a little something different to the experience. Owner Kay Lynn Hernandez started her eco-tour business in 2021 after working as a guide in the Florida Keys and leading environmental research projects through The Nature Conservancy

and other organizations. Our tour started in Barnard’s Creek, where we quietly drifted among the solemn “ghost” trees created by the encroachment of salt water in the inland waterways. Kay Lynn moved slowly at first, her eyes peeled for egrets, white ibis and yellow-crowned herons that inhabit the area. Within the first hour, we saw an osprey dutifully checking on her nest, a belted kingfisher that followed our pod as we drifted through the cordgrass, and, as we moved closer to the river, a large alligator sunning on the bank. While I was expecting a vigorous workout, instead I got an ecology lesson that left me feeling energized and enlightened — and wanting to learn more. Whether you take to the trails to clear your head, get your blood pumping or experience something new, October is a great time to get outside and get moving. And if you look closely, you’ll discover there’s a whole world out there beyond our busy city streets and suburban cul-de-sacs. SP

CATHY MARTIN EDITOR editor@southparkmagazine.com

 On page 92, we feature a lovely home designed by Traci Zeller Interiors. As we were working on this issue, we learned of Traci’s sudden passing. In lieu of flowers, Traci’s family requested donations to Alzheimer’s Association and to Furnish For Good, a local organization with which we have worked closely for the last several years — and that is hosting Furnished, its annual design competition this month (page 52). Traci was one of the original designers for Furnished. Much of her mission statement for the 2020 event still resonates today:

“Every family deserves a safe, comfortable home, and that requires much more than four walls and a roof. Home is the place where families are nourished, physically and emotionally. It’s sharing a meal at the same table. It’s a cozy bed to call your own. It’s the sigh of relief when you sink into the sofa after a busy day. Other worthy organizations provide housing. That’s not something I can do personally, and I am beyond grateful for how those organizations serve our community. Furnish for Good creates homes, and that’s something I can do. We all can help. Home is how families thrive, not just survive …”

Here are a few other Carolina trails recommended by our staff:

Alyssa Kennedy, art director: Farlow Gap Trail near Brevard in Pisgah National Forest! It’s where my husband and I went hiking and camping when we first started dating. It’s also a popular mountain biking trail, so watch out for cyclists.

Scott Leonard, audience development specialist: Morrow Mountain Trail at Morrow Mountain State Park in the Uwharries. It’s close to Charlotte, and it’s never crowded. Also Snows Cut Trail at Carolina Beach State Park. It’s short, but totally on the water to enjoy the sea life and boats passing by.

Jane Rodewald, advertising sales manager: Waterrock Knob Trail near Waynesville. The view at the top is worth the hike.

Sarah Fligel, marketing specialist and project editor for Weddings by SouthPark: Riverwalk Greenway trail near Rock Hill, South Carolina — there are some fun restaurant spots right on the trail, and the Catawba River runs alongside it. Also, Anne Springs Close Greenway — we like to stop at Baxter Village for a quick bite before heading over there.

photo by Michael Blevins

October

BLVD.

24 | getaways

A historic Charleston property is now a boutique hotel with a chic design.

28 | home decor

Holly D’Amico brings back the beauty in old furniture.

32 | sports

Carolina Ascent FC, Charlotte’s new women’s pro soccer team, gets fans in the game.

36 | food + drink

Pizza Baby is a gourmet take on the neighborhood pizza joint.

42 | food + drink

Hannah Neville shares a cookie recipe based on a popular breakfast treat.

48 | around town

What’s new and coming soon in the Queen City

50 | happenings

October calendar of events

DEPARTMENTS

57 | art of the state

Christina Lorena Weisner’s art explores new frontiers.

61 | books

Notable new releases

63 | simple life

The house on the hill that haunts my slumber

67 | southpark stories

Charlotte families join a growing national movement to keep young kids off smartphones.

131 | swirl

Parties, fundraisers and events around Charlotte

136 | gallery

North Carolina’s Great Trails State Day 36

ABOUT THE COVER:

A dining room with jewel-toned accents by Pheasant Hill Designs. Photograph by Dustin and Susie Peck.

FEATURES

73 | Creative boost by Page Leggett

ArtPop’s Wendy Hickey matches local artists with paying gigs.

78 | Free spirit by Kayleigh Ruller

A century ago, a woman named Blanche held society luncheons and seances and pushed Charlotte’s cultural scene in new directions. Some say she’s still around.

82 | Chef’s choice by Catherine Ruth Kelly photographs by Dustin and Susie Peck

A Charlotte couple renovates a home tailored to their culinary interests and to meet the needs of their growing family.

92 | Neutral zone by Andrea Nordstrom Caughey photographs by Dustin and Susie Peck

Traci Zeller Interiors blends unexpected elements and sophisticated design details in a home at Carmel Country Club.

101 | Weddings by SouthPark by Sarah Fligel

Four Charlotte couples share in inside look at their gorgeous ceremonies.

TRAVEL

122 | Soulful sojourn by Michael J. Solender

From a rich music scene to eclectic dining, Memphis makes for a memorable trip.

BETH

DAWN

HEATHER

JENNIFER

KATHRYN

BRIAN HOSEY

LINDSEY

KERRY

Downsizing

1230 West Morehead St., Suite 308 Charlotte, NC 28208 704-523-6987

southparkmagazine.com

Ben Kinney Publisher publisher@southparkmagazine.com

Cathy Martin Editor cathy@southparkmagazine.com

Sharon Smith Assistant Editor sharon@southparkmagazine.com

Andie Rose Creative Director

Alyssa Kennedy Art Director alyssamagazines@gmail.com

Whitley Adkins Style Editor

Contributing Editors

David Mildenberg, Michael J. Solender

Contributing Writers

Michelle Boudin, Andrea Nordstrom Caughey, Jim Dodson, Asha Ellison, Ken Garfield, Catherine Ruth Kelly, Page Leggett, Liza Roberts, Kayleigh Ruller, Ashley Stroehlein

Contributing Photographers

Daniel Coston, Justin Driscoll, Amy Kolodziej, Dustin and Susie Peck

Contributing Illustrator Gerry O’Neill

ADVERTISING

Jane Rodewald Sales Manager 704-621-9198 jane@southparkmagazine.com

Cindy Poovey Account Executive 704-497-2220 cindy@southparkmagazine.com

Scott Leonard Audience Development Specialist 704-996-6426

Sarah Fligel Marketing Specialist sarah@southparkmagazine.com

Brad Beard Graphic Designer

Letters to the editorial staff: editor@southparkmagazine.com

Instagram: southparkmagazine

Facebook: southparkmagazine X: SouthParkMag

Owners

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels III, David Woronoff in memoriam Frank Daniels Jr. David Woronoff President david@thepilot.com

Published by Old North State Magazines LLC. ©Copyright 2024. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Volume 28, Issue 10

DISCOVER WHAT’S NEW AT CHARLOTTE’S FINEST OPEN-AIR SHOPPING AND DINING DESTINATION

blvd.

people, places, things

LIKE A ROLLING STONE

… might be an appropriate way to describe Girl from the North Country as the traveling production pulls into town this month. The songs of legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan provide the soundtrack to playwright Conor McPherson’s book in this Tony-nominated musical, which takes the stage at Belk Theater Oct. 1-6. Set in Duluth, Minnesota, where Dylan was born, the story features an ensemble cast portraying boarding-house tenants, including the struggling owner and his sickly wife. Here, 20 mostly lesser-known Dylan works underscore a narrative focused on Depression-era America in this ponderous, dramatic and moving musical. For tickets, visit blumenthalarts.org. To learn more about the play, scan the QR code. SP

Aidan Wharton and the cast of Girl from the North Country

TIMELESS ELEGANCE

86 Cannon, a 10-room boutique hotel, boasts impeccable design in the heart of Charleston’s burgeoning foodie enclave.

by Cathy Martin

“It’s not very often you can design something over a series of eight years, and you still love it,” says Betsy Berry, the interior designer behind 86 Cannon in Charleston, South Carolina’s trendy Cannonborough Elliotborough neighborhood.

It just goes to show she nailed the assignment at this charming 10-room inn, which was completed earlier this year with the addition of a picturesque pink bungalow housing a tropic-inspired suite overlooking a razor-edge, saltwater pool.

“The vision was to create this elevated-but-classic, timeless space for guests to come and experience as part of the neighborhood and part of Charleston,” says Berry, who finished the project in phases as owners Marion and Lori Hawkins assembled a trio of parcels to complete the buildout of the adults-only hotel.

The boutique inn has come a long way since the Hawkins

purchased the first house, which dates to the 1860s, and its adjacent “kitchen” cottage.

“When I first saw the space, the piazza on the second floor was collapsing,” Berry says. “The house was very old and essentially in disrepair.” The Charleston designer worked closely with the couple (Marion has an architecture degree from Clemson) and a preservation architect to restore and reimagine the property. Throughout the renovation, the design team approached the project with a light touch, maintaining the character of the original home while elevating the design.

Now, the space gleams, with vaulted ceilings, exposed beams, hand-stenciled accents, period fixtures and bespoke furnishings. That once-crumbling piazza is now a sun-filled spot for guests to enjoy morning coffee, just steps from the “café,” where a self-serve

continental breakfast (homemade yogurt, pastries, quiche from a local bakery) and afternoon wine and cheese are available to guests. An attic-like nook on the third floor is now a cozy-but-elegant library, with an honor bar and comfortable seating for settling in with a book or gathering for drinks before dinner.

The hotel’s six rooms and four suites vary in size and style. In the Grand King, meticulously hand-stenciled walls mimic a botanical wallpaper pattern the designer envisioned for the space. The kitchen cottage was transformed into a 900-square-foot, two-story suite with heart-pine floors, a large first-floor living room, a king bedroom upstairs, and an en-suite bathroom with a built-in armoire. Each of two spacious Garden Suites also offer room to relax, with a sitting room with a wet bar, elegant marble shower, large dressing area and convenient access to the courtyard, where a serene fountain muffles the sounds of the city as you nod off to sleep.

Bungalow Suite

Marion and Lori Hawkins

Little touches like a Champagne welcome, nightly truffles, Frette linens and Drybar blow dryers make a stay here feel special, while the layout of the property, a gated compound spread across multiple buildings, allows for privacy.

When it’s time to explore, hop on one of the complimentary Linus bikes or set out on foot. This once-modest neighborhood (by Charleston standards) is now home to some of the city’s buzziest restaurants and is bordered on the east by King Street, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare.

A few blocks away is Vern’s, a bustling neighborhood spot with expertly crafted cocktails and handmade seasonal fare. Start with the charred sourdough with allium butter or the tuna, served tartar-style with Calabrian chili and lemon; follow with a pasta like the rabbit campanelli, a dish so popular it’s been on the menu since the restaurant debuted in 2022.

Chubby Fish is a must — if you can snag a table. The intimate corner restaurant serving some of the best fresh-caught seafood around doesn’t take reservations; diners line up outside before the eatery opens to get their names on the list. The wait is worth it at this unstuffy establishment with mismatched plates, a funky playlist and a chalkboard-style menu (that ranked No. 7 on Food & Wine’s 2024 Best Restaurants list). Sit at the back counter and watch chefs prepare seasonal dishes like snapper ceviche with jalapeno and avocado; cobia tataki with melon, black sesame and mint; or snowy grouper with tomato butter, field peas and peppers.

For a low-key lunch or dinner with an Asian twist, head just around the corner to Xiao Bao Biscuit. This unpretentious spot in an old gas station has a right-sized menu ranging from dumplings to som tum (papaya salad) with black-bean fried chicken to okonomiyaki, a Japanese cabbage pancake.

For an afternoon pick-me-up, try a shaken iced coffee from Babas on Cannon or a sweet treat from Sugar Bakeshop. The pocket-sized bakery just steps from 86 Cannon sells cookies, doughnuts and pies, but the real draw is the cupcakes — baked fresh daily with classic and seasonal flavors like peach cobbler, lavender-blueberry, hummingbird and chocolate gingerbread. SP

Piazza

VINTAGE CHARMER

Holly D’Amico brings back the beauty in old furniture. by Michelle

Boudin | photographs by Amy Kolo

Holly D’Amico has had a penchant for old furniture since she was a young girl. While she grew up in Virginia, she often spent summers with her grandparents in Hickory, where they sold vintage furniture and had a booth at an indoor flea market.

“I would visit all the factories with them, and then we would go thrifting,” D’Amico recalls. “That’s how we spent weekends — at yard sales and antique markets — so it’s a nostalgic and warm feeling for me to work with old pieces … It’s something I’ve done my whole life.”

D’Amico has spent the last nine years rehabbing old furniture — turning dated dressers and tables into like-new, showstopping pieces — through her business, Renew Home Charlotte. She still loves the hunt, often finding things to refinish and sell to customers, but she

also takes in client-owned pieces, giving them new life with lacquer, fresh paint and updated hardware.

D’Amico learned how to identify quality furniture from her grandparents. “They taught me to realize the value in things that other people are donating or throwing away,” she says.

Despite her background, D’Amico didn’t immediately lean toward rehabbing furniture as a career. She worked in the restaurant business in her 20s but took a design job in 2011 that nudged her toward a more creative path. After a quick stint in England and a brief marriage, she moved back to the U.S. looking to reinvent herself.

“When I came back in 2015, I wanted to do something on my own and different. I started thinking about flipping furniture, and I started hand-painting things.” She rented a space and started with

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small pieces — end tables, chairs and nightstands — then began posting about her business on Facebook.

After just a few months, the business took off and she needed more storage. She bought a 1980s-era house in Matthews with lots of extra rooms and a detached garage. She quickly filled every space with furniture to work on. The budding business quickly outgrew her home, and she moved into a leased space in NoDa.

These days, she works with a handful of trusty “pickers” — people who do the thrifting for her.

“I have people who clear out estates and just drive around and find stuff. They text me pictures, and I say yay or nay.”

Dressers, nightstands and credenzas make up the bulk of her work, with the occasional china cabinet thrown in. Her process varies depending on the age and condition of the piece. Even the weather plays a part — humidity can really slow the drying process.

“I start by disassembling it, taking off the hardware, taking out the drawers. Then I give it a once over and identify what damage needs to be addressed and decide what needs to be done aesthetically.” Next, she cleans, sands and fills in scratches before priming and adding lacquer. Depending on the color, some pieces require six or seven coats.

In the process, D’Amico often uncovers the thoughtful details involved in crafting vintage furniture.

“Underneath some of the old coats of paint are beautiful wood grains, and it’s really neat to see what materials they were using and how they assembled it… and to bring that beauty out again,” she says.

Sarah Porter, a mother of two who lives in SouthPark, is a repeat customer of Renew Home Charlotte. Porter says the most meaningful piece is a dresser in her daughter’s nursery. “I was able to customize a beautiful chinoiserie-style dresser in a perfect pale pink. Knowing I could have a classic, sturdy and beautiful piece to put my daughter’s first clothes in was very special,” Porter says.

“[D’Amico] does an absolutely beautiful job restoring furniture that will have a long life. She embraces color and finds energy in each piece that has helped me build meaningful spaces where my family lives.”

D’Amico estimates she’s refinished more than 1,000 pieces of furniture over the last decade. She typically has six or seven different pieces going at a time.

As she works, she’s mindful of the fact that many of the client-owned pieces she works with are cherished family heirlooms. “I’ve taught myself the skills over the years to take it in and not worry that I’m going to ruin an heirloom. Now I feel confident taking something in that means so much to someone, and I’m really proud of that.” SP

Celebrating the first goal

NEW GAME IN TOWN

It’s been nearly two decades since Charlotte had a women’s pro sports team. In its inaugural season, Carolina Ascent FC is wasting no time getting fans into the game.

by Ashley Stroehlein

Win or lose, it’s already a strong start for Carolina Ascent FC — starting with a sellout crowd at its inaugural home opener at American Legion Memorial Stadium near uptown.

Carolina Ascent is a new team in a new division. It’s one of eight teams in the USL Super League, a first division league in professional women’s soccer, which is the highest level in the United States league system, alongside the National Women’s Soccer League.

For a young club, this team has big goals.

“We want to win everything that’s possible to win, right down to the simple things. If they put out a contest, like which team in the league has the best crest, we even want to win that,” defender Cannon Clough says.

Clough, a Charlotte Latin alumna who started her collegiate career at UNC Charlotte before transferring her junior year to play for the UNC Tar Heels, says winning starts with the basics. “Get better in training, get closer with each other as a group, get to know each other even better — everyone’s new to each other, for the most part.”

Their eyes are on the prize. “Then we want to win the championship. We want to be the team to beat going into next year with a target on our back, so I think those are the big goals,” Clough says.

Their aspirations are high off the pitch, too. Players say they feel a calling to be role models, especially to young female fans.

“When we were younger, we just never really had a female professional team or female player to look up to,” say midfielder Ashley Serepca. “To be able to be that influence and aspiration for the younger generations I think is so special, especially when you’ve given your all to the sport. It’s truly like a dream come true.”

To boost that community connection, the front office put a priority on building a roster with players who have roots in the Carolinas.

Warm Up for Cool Days

Serepca grew up in Cornelius; even Head Coach and General Manager Philip Poole has deep ties to the Charlotte region. The former assistant coach for the U.S. women’s national team moved here two decades ago from Newcastle, England, to play soccer at Wingate University in Union County.

“It’s absolutely amazing. Every time me and my mom talk about it, we both get emotional because it’s crazy just how soccer has brought us back here,” Serepca says.

“My immediate reaction was just a massive smile,” Clough says about being asked to play in her hometown, calling it a full-circle moment.

Local fans haven’t had a top-level professional women’s sports team to root for since the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting folded in 2007. The club’s debut marks another historic sports moment for Charlotte, too. The Ascent is also heavily supported by a group of local female executive investors, Empower HER Fund. The 11-member group includes former Bank of America executive Andrea Smith, Valerie Mitchener and Molly Shaw.

The hometown crowd seems ready to join the climb. In true storybook fashion, Cornelius native and the team’s first signee Vicky Bruce scored the club’s first goal, giving the Ascent a 1-0 victory over DC Power FC in its debut — all before a record-setting crowd of 10,553 new fans.

With team mottos of “Always Climbing” and “Together We Rise,” Carolina Ascent seems poised to soar. SP

Carolina Ascent FC has several home games through November. Single game tickets start at $22. carolinaascent.com

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DOUGH BIZ

Pizza Baby is a gourmet take on the neighborhood pizza joint. by Cathy Martin | photographs by Justin Driscoll

Since Trey Wilson opened Flour Shop in 2018, the restaurant has been a neighborhood mainstay, known for pastas and other handcrafted plates in a tucked-away spot behind Park Road Shopping Center. But while you will find ravioli, rigatoni and risotto here, there’s one Italian-inspired food missing from the menu — pizza.

That was true until 2020, when the dining room temporarily closed in the pandemic, and the restaurant sold sourdough pizzas to-go.

Fortunately, Wilson was prepared. Just before Covid, he traveled to Europe and took a course on bread fermentation with a French baker.

“Honestly, I didn’t like baking,” says Wilson, who also owned and operated Customshop in Elizabeth from 2007 until 2022. “Then all of a sudden, I liked baking,” he says. “And then I just really fell in love with it.”

His customers liked it, too. “It caught on,” Wilson says, and the idea for a new concept, Pizza Baby, was born.

While Wilson was busy making and selling to-go pizzas, Steven DeFalco was preparing to relocate to Charlotte at the urging of a

Roman-style pizza slices and cocktails, below, at Pizza Baby East

family member who lived here. “My wife and I were looking for a change,” says DeFalco, who ran a bakery in Miami. “I thought I would come to Charlotte and get a job at a bakery,” he says, but once he got here, he realized there weren’t a lot of artisan bread shops in town.

A chance encounter with Trey, who happened to be wearing a Flour Shop T-shirt, led to a conversation about bread, and the two bonded over their passion for baking.

They formed Art & Commerce Food Group, refined their pizza-making process and launched Pizza Baby, which currently has two locations, one in Elizabeth and one in Wesley Heights.

To be clear, Pizza Baby is a brand, but it’s not intended to be a chain. Each location has a slightly different menu, and that’s intentional.

“It would probably be wiser, more profitable and easier [to keep the menus the same] but we want to speak to the individual neighborhoods,” DeFalco says.

At Pizza Baby East, the concept is a Roman café — an all-inone bakery-café-pizzeria with espresso drinks; wine and cocktails; salads; sandwiches on homemade brioche, sourdough and focaccia; and of course, pizza. The emphasis here is Roman-style pizza —

individual slices on thick focaccia — and 12-inch “Americana” pies with offerings ranging from a simple House Pie (tomato, mozzarella, Parmesan) to the Tartufo (truffle cream, roasted mushrooms, pine nuts, shaved truffles). The intimate space — which happens to be right next door to Customshop — seats just 25 with a few sidewalk tables for al fresco dining.

In Wesley Heights, Pizza Baby West is bigger and airer, housed in an adaptive-reuse warehouse with an open dining room, small bar and a patio. The menu here has both 12- and 18-inch Americana pies, like the slightly sweet and savory Rosemary (pistachio pesto, red onion, hot honey, pecorino), sandwiches and lots of shareables such as roasted Brussels, beets with goat cheese and orange zest, and stuffed mushrooms. Pro tip: Get the dipping trio — pesto, roasted pepper sauce, and French ranch — along with your Americana-style pizza. Otherwise you’ll be left with a pile of “bones,” and you won’t want to waste a single bite of the delicious chewy crust, made with just a few simple but premium ingredients — unbleached flour, carbon-filtered water and sea salt.

Wilson’s restaurants have always eschewed gimmicks and labels, instead favoring simple, scratch-made fare composed with high-quality elements. For example, Flour Shop sells plenty of

Trey Wilson

An Americana-style pizza at Pizza Baby East

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pasta, but it’s not an “Italian” restaurant.

Meanwhile Pizza Baby, still in its infancy, is still evolving. While the “same brand-different menu” concept might seem confusing to some, what’s consistent is the commitment to quality, chef-crafted fare centered around bread and baking. Pizza critics are taking note. In June, Pizza Baby was named to 50 Top Pizza’s list of top-ranked U.S. pizzerias. The international online guide ranks pizzerias based on anonymous visits.

“I think the whole thing that we’re doing is a pizza built on the ethos and sensibilities of bread-baking,” DeFalco says. “That’s where we really came together — our shared love of bread and bread-making.”

And the duo hopes to bring that passion for bread (and pizza) into more Charlotte neighborhoods. At press time, the group was actively looking to add a third Pizza Baby, according to DeFalco. “We want to be accessible to different neighborhoods in Charlotte.”

And Charlotte neighborhoods would benefit from a few more Pizza Babys. SP

TALE OF THE PLATE:

BROWN SUGAR POP-TART COOKIE

Honeybear Bake Shop’s Hannah Neville shares a cookie recipe inspired by the popular breakfast treat. by Asha Ellison | photographs by Justin Driscoll

There are some things a person never forgets: their first kiss, their favorite book — and their preferred breakfast pastry while growing up. Hannah Neville, 34, was definitely a Toaster Strudel kind of girl. And there was nothing in the world that could change that.

As a formally trained pastry chef, Neville, who is also owner and head “cookie monster” of Charlotte’s beloved Honeybear Bake Shop, has always been passionate about baking. Making magic, and messes, in the kitchen comprise some of her fondest memories.

“I tried a bunch of recipes,” Neville laughs. “I destroyed my mom’s kitchen!”

As she got older, the Virginia native plugged herself into baking shows, falling in love with Gale Gand’s “Sweet Dreams” on The Food Network. In high school, while her classmates buzzed about where they planned to attend college or contemplated future careers, Neville applied to pastry school, with a dream of someday having a bakery of her own.

After graduating from the renowned Culinary Institute of America, Neville rose through the ranks in the fine-dining industry. Just before the pandemic,

while working at uptown’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, Neville realized her true calling: creating unique and delicious cookies.

“They’re just fun,” Neville says. “And I know how to make really good ones.”

In 2020, inspired by a cookie-maker she discovered in Nashville, Tennessee, Neville decided Charlotte needed a cookie shop of its own. That summer, she launched Honeybear Bake Shop out of her apartment, endearingly named for her husband Ethan (a Pop-Tart kind of guy). It was a booming success, and within a few months Neville moved operations to a shared-use commercial kitchen to keep up with demand.

“When my husband asked me if I could turn a Pop-Tart into a cookie, I was like, ’Ew, why would anyone do that’? Toaster Strudel is better.’” After taste-testing the store-bought breakfast pastries, she eventually landed on the right recipe. “It’s led to more Pop-Tart cookie flavors, and more creative cookies in general,” Neville says.

Today, customers can shop Honeybear’s online store to purchase individual cookies (there’s a $12 minimum per online order) or Neville’s weekly themed boxes — recent offerings include a box based on the book “It Ends With Us” and a collab with Two Scoops Creamery. Honeybear Bake Shop can also be found at the Matthews Farmers Market on Saturdays, at local retailers such as Green Brothers Juice and Rhino Market (uptown and Morehead locations), and at local pop-ups. Some of the cookies (boxes, too) can be shipped nationally.

“I hope I never run out of ideas,” Neville says. “When you try a Honeybear cookie, you’re experiencing something you’ve never had before. And I think it’s so sweet that my husband is included in this in so many ways.”

As it turns out, a Toaster Strudel girl can learn to love something new after all — and she’ll even share the recipe with you, too.

blvd. | food + drink

BROWN SUGAR POP-TART COOKIES

Yields 6 cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks or 12 ounces)

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

4 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons milk powder

1 box of Brown Sugar Pop-Tarts (8 each)

Brown-sugar filling (recipe below)

Cinnamon glaze (recipe below)

SUPPLIES:

Nonstick baking spray

Ice cream scoop

Baking sheet

1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium-low speed for 5-7 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so there are no lumps. If the mixture is still lumpy, continue mixing another 3-5 minutes until smooth.

2. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract to mix until combined, scraping the sides.

3. Add flour, salt, baking soda, milk powder and cornstarch. Mix until the dough comes together. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure all butter and flour have been combined completely.

4. Crumble Brown Sugar Pop-Tarts until you have small, bite-sized pieces. Pulse Pop-Tarts into the dough until small chunks remain.

5. Scoop dough into round balls using a 4-ounce ice-cream scoop.

6. Smash the dough balls into a pancake shape and fill with a teaspoon of brown sugar filling (recipe below). Then, roll into a ball. During this process, nonstick spray will be your friend!

7. Refrigerate dough for 30-60 minutes.

8. Set the oven to 350 degrees. Place six cookies on a baking pan and bake for 16 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

9. Allow cookies to cool 15-30 minutes before glazing.

10. Top each cookie with about 1 tablespoon of glaze and spread to cover the cookie. Enjoy!

BROWN SUGAR FILLING

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons melted butter

1. In a medium bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and flour.

2. Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 30-60 seconds. Add melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir until combined. Use right away, or store until needed.

CINNAMON GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/5 tablespoons half-and-half 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, add all the ingredients and whisk until combined with no lumps. Use right away or set aside in a bowl covered with plastic wrap until needed. SP

now open

The Bowl at Ballantyne added a trio of new restaurants: Harriet’s Hamburgers, Bossy Beulah’s and Fly Kid Fly, a coffee shop that’s a collaboration between the owners of HEX and Suffolk Punch.  Salted Melon, from the team behind Reid’s Fine Foods, opened its second location in Eastover.  Dilworth Tasting Room debuted its third location in Plaza Midwood.  MaBí Cocina Tropical, from the owners of Sabor Latin Street Grill, opened in NoDa serving Latin-inspired fare such as Dominican spiced chicken, empanadas, pastelitos and chicharrones.  milkbread, the all-day cafe from Joe and Katy Kindred, opened its third location in uptown inside Duke Energy Plaza.

coming soon

Six new food and beverage outlets are set to debut at The Alley, the newly rebranded dining hub at uptown’s historic Latta Arcade: Jean’s Cold Drinks, a cocktail bar from mixologist Larry Suggs; an all-day location from Protagonist Beer; Two Scoops Creamery; Knowledge Perk Coffee Company; BFF (Burgers, Fries & Franks); and Biryani Bliss

FEATURED COCKTAIL: KEY LIME PIE MARGARITA

For those who prefer to drink their dessert, Paco’s Tacos & Tequila recently introduced a slate of new dessert cocktails, including the Key Lime Pie Margarita. Made with Blue Chair Key Lime Rum Cream, Altos Blanco tequila, triple sec, pineapple and lime and served with a graham-cracker crust rim, the sweet-and-citrusy drink is an ode to the classic dessert.

milkbread

MaBí Cocina Tropical

DTR Plaza Midwood

Harriet’s Hamburgers

45th Annual Grand Opening & Sale begins Saturday, October 12th!

October HAPPENINGS

For more arts happenings this month, view our 2024 Fall Arts Preview online at southparkmagazine.com.

GALLERIES + MUSEUMS

Philip Mullen: Air & Light at Jerald Melberg Gallery through Oct. 26

This exhibition of new paintings from the Columbia, South Carolina-based artist explores the unique quality and effects of light and air. jeraldmelberg.com

Clare Rojas: Stem at SOCO Gallery through Nov. 6

This gallery show featuring oil paintings with a floral motif coincides with the artist’s solo exhibition at Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. socogallery.com

From the Heart: The John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of AfricanAmerican Art at The Gantt through Jan. 20, 2025

This collection of 58 works by 20 artists includes works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett and Henry Ossawa Tanner. In 1998, Bank of America acquired the collection and pledged it to the Afro-American Cultural Center — now the Harvey B. Gantt Center. The collection was previously exhibited at the Gantt in 2009. ganttcenter.org

Kenny Nguyen: Adaptations at Mint Museum Uptown through March 2, 2025

Nguyen, who grew up in Vietnam and moved to the United States when he was 19,

merges cultural traditions in his works. The Charlotte artist innovatively combines abstract painting and fiber art into breathtaking pieces. mintmuseum.org

Lynn Johnson, Cathryn Miles and Craig Mooney at Shain Gallery

Oct. 11-25

This trio of artists are known for their contemporary abstract florals (Johnson), expressive landscapes (Miles) and dramatic cityscapes and landscape scenes (Mooney). shaingallery.com

EVENTS + ACTIVITIES

BayHaven Food & Wine Festival

Oct. 3-6

The annual festival from founders and restaurateurs Greg and Subrina Collier celebrates Black foodways. The festival kicks off Thursday evening with a Fish Fry with Durham chef Ricky Moore and continues with tastings and dinners through the weekend at Savona Mill. Tickets range from $75-150. bayhavenfoodandwine.com

Bowl Bash

Oct. 5

Celebrate the grand opening of The Bowl in Ballantyne with Mecktoberfest at OMB; a block party with a DJ, giveaways and kids activities; and an evening concert at The Amp by Trampled by Turtles (concert tickets start at $54). thebowlnc.com

Fall Artisan Market

Oct. 5 | 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Shop from regional vendors, enjoy the fresh air, and grab a bite or drink at this

Fall concerts

Sept. 20-21

Follow the crowd to see big acts like Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves, or hit a smaller venue to catch Molly Tuttle, Bob Mould or Lake Street Drive. Our concert calendar will keep you grooving through fall.

signature event at Anne Springs Close Greenway. Parking is $5 for members, $15 for nonmembers. ascgreenway.org/events

Pink Cupcake Walk + Mecklenburg

Oktoberfest

Oct. 5

Eat mini cupcakes from local bakers and walk laps around uptown’s Truist Field to support Go Jen Go, the local nonprofit providing financial assistance to families impacted by breast cancer. Stick around for the family-friendly festival with live music plus local beer and food for purchase. Gates open at 8:30 a.m. for the walk, and the festival starts at 11. tasteofcharlotte.com/ pinkcupcakewalk

Clue

Oct. 8 - 13

Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the 1985 movie and inspired by the classic board game, this whodunit will leave you laughing and keep you guessing. Knight Theater. Tickets start at $25. blumenthalarts.org

Gold Over America Tour 2024

Oct. 9

Starring Simone Biles and members of Team USA fresh off their incredible run at the Paris Olympic Games, this night of jaw-dropping athleticism and choreography will light up Spectrum Center. Tickets start at $35. spectrumcentercharlotte.com

Fall Plant Sale at Wing Haven

Oct. 10-12

Shop for local and unusual plants, including Wing Haven legacy plants, trees and shrubs. Proceeds benefit the garden and its programs. Member’s Day takes place Wednesday, October 9. Admission during the sale is free. winghavengardens.org

An evening with David Sedaris

Oct. 12

The bestselling author, humorist and contributor to “This American Life” on NPR

Oct. 5

Slow down, connect with nature and awaken the senses at Juneberry Ridge, a 750-acre regenerative farm about an hour east of Charlotte in Norwood. The practice of forest bathing, called shinrin-yoku in Japan, aims to give participants a mental reset away from the distractions of daily life. The three-hour session is led by a wellness coach and forest guide. Another session takes place Nov. 2. $60 per person. juneberryridge.com/events

returns to Charlotte with a selection of new readings, some Q&A and a book signing. Ovens Auditorium; tickets start at around $40. boplex.com

Apex SouthPark Mimosa Market

Oct. 12 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Celebrate fall with a shopping event benefiting Carolina Breast Friends, with artisans, live music, food samples and bubbles. The first 100 guests will receive flowers from Bentley’s Buds flower truck. Tickets are $20.

The Screwtape Letters

Oct. 14

This international hit offers a faithful stage adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ satirical masterpiece. The play follows Screwtape, a senior tempter in Hell, as he schemes to capture the soul of an unsuspecting human and reveals spiritual warfare in humorous and powerful ways. Tickets start at $65. Belk Theater. blumenthalarts.org

Charlotte Craft Beer Week Oct. 18-27

Celebrate Charlotte’s beer culture with tap takeovers, food pairings and more. This year, local breweries are teaming up on a special brew in honor of Wooden Robot Brewery’s Dan Wade, who was killed in an accident at work earlier this year. charlottesgotalot.com

Walk to End Alzheimer’s Oct. 19 | 10 a.m.

This annual walk lifts up those affected by Alzheimer’s and their families, friends and caregivers. Proceeds go toward care, research and support efforts. Registration starts at 9 a.m. Truist Field. act.alz.org

Rock House Birthday Party

Oct. 19 | 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Rock House, the oldest home in Mecklenburg County. This historic milestone will be marked with cake, games and more. Tickets are $15, free for members. charlottemuseum.org

Biketoberfest

Oct. 27

This urban adventure benefits Sustain Charlotte and is designed to promote a healthier, more vibrant environment. Participants can bike or walk through the city and fill their “passport” with stamps from destinations along the way. Win prizes and attend the after party at Triple C Brewing. Register online at biketoberfest.rallybound.org SP

Scan the QR code on your mobile device to view our online events calendar — updated weekly — at southparkmagazine.com.

FURNISHED 2024

Oct. 10-13

Furnished, the annual friendly interior-design competition supporting Furnish For Good, returns this year with new designers plus a few familiar faces. In October, four designers plus one design team will create vignettes that can be viewed at Slate Interiors in Wesley Heights.

After the designs are revealed on Oct. 10, the public is invited to vote online at furnishforgood. org/furnished/ for their favorite design (each $20 donation equals one vote) or purchase items from the vignettes in a silent auction.

FFG was launched in 2019 to provide new and gently used furniture and home essentials for people transitioning out of homelessness. FFG has provided more than 80,000 furnishings and household items to more than 2,000 people.

Along with a design team led by Furnished veterans and FFG volunteers Donna Werner and Carrie Yorker, this year’s designers include:

DeLapp, Ashley DeLapp Interior Design

“My Furnished design will be full of bold patterns, unexpected color combinations and a few curated vintage gems.”

Meredith Beregovski , Georgia Street Design

“My Furnished design will have you dreaming of al fresco dining.”

Natalie Papier, Home Ec.

“My Furnished design will be funky, fun and retro.”

Lisa Sherry, Lisa Sherry Interieurs

“My Furnished design will be modern, comfortable and classic. My space is filled with my favorite things from an amazing list of who’s who in design.”

SouthPark Magazine is a media sponsor for Furnished.

Forest bathing at Juneberry Ridge

Ashley

EARTH IS AT THE CENTER

Christina Lorena Weisner’s art explores new frontiers. by Liza Roberts

Christina Lorena Weisner’s art emerges from her deep connection to the Earth, to its systems and rhythms, its elements and mysteries. She studies the planet like a scientist and discovers it like an explorer, venturing to its far ends to record its extremes in person, to live within its phenomena. She turns her insights into art she hopes will inspire awe for our planet’s grandeur and empathy for its vulnerability.

Her latest fascination is the North Pole, where she spent two weeks last spring immersing herself with an expeditionary art and science residency called The Arctic Circle. “I can only describe it as the most impactful experience of my life,” Weisner says. “I’ve been interested in water for a long time, and I wanted to immerse myself into this landscape of glaciers in order to better understand it.”

The expedition’s ship, which carried 30 fellow resident artists and scientists, took Weisner and others to the Svalbard archipelago by outboard Zodiacs twice a day, always surrounded by “a triangulation of guards with guns” to protect them against polar bears. While ashore, Weisner planted an orange safety flag in the icescape, making it a recurring motif in her photos. She also used a drone to shoot video from above and collected plastic.

“You’re in a land that you know is changing, you’re looking at a glacier that might not be there in 100 years. You’re looking at history,” she says. That history was evident in other ways, too, like a massive pile of whalebones left behind by 19th-century whalers, and the detritus left behind by scientific explorers of that time. “There were many instances where I was thinking of human history as it relates to geological time,” Weisner says.

The trip “was the catalyst for a whole new body of work,” says Weisner, who is headed back next May. That work includes still photography of that mythic frontier, sweeping video and installations that incorporate pieces of plastic she collected in and around Svalbard.

Recently, her work was in Surface and Undercurrents, a group show at Dare Arts in Manteo, and this month she is part of a group exhibit at Emerge Gallery & Art Center in Greenville. Next April, she will be featured in a group show at Central Connecticut State University on climate change in the Arctic, and in June her work will be exhibited in a solo show at

Sea Marks: Beach Chairs, 2022

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the Museum of Contemporary Art in Arlington, Virginia.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Weisner says she can trace the beginnings of her work as an artist to a job she had with Nag’s Head Ocean Rescue in her early 20s. When she wasn’t saving swimmers, she stared out at the ocean for 10 hours a day. “I would watch the sun move across the sky and the moon come up,” she says. “I was very aware of these bigger processes — these large-scale movements, like waves coming over from the coast of Africa — that we’re not often aware of.”

Other little-seen influences in her work come from her wide-ranging education, which includes an MFA from University of Texas at Austin and separate undergraduate degrees in both world studies and fine arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. The interplay between humans, time and the planet has long been a theme in her work. As a former competitive swimmer and regular runner and biker, she experiences the world in a visceral way, creating art that is informed by the way we live within the world and the way the world lives with us.

From her home in Kitty Hawk (she’s soon to move to Duck, two Outer Banks towns away), Weisner rides a bike or runs along the beach every day to note its transformations. “It’s the same beach, but it’s completely different, the water color, the form of the waves, the temperature of the wind,” she says. Sometimes she finds objects to incorporate into sculpture as she goes.

Waves and wavelengths — audio, seismic and light — all inspire her. A meteorite impact crater in Southern Germany was the subject of sculpture and installation art she created with the Fulbright grant she was awarded in 2013; she used seismometers to record earthquakes as part of a Mint Museum installation in 2018.

One early morning in March 2022, I had the chance to witness her in action. On the shores of Kitty Hawk Sound, I watched as she zipped up her wetsuit, assembled a series of floating sculptures and waded with them into the frigid waters. The sun wasn’t fully

up, the air was barely 40 degrees and the art she was wrangling was bigger than she was. Weisner took it all in stride. In a matter of minutes, she’d glided 50 yards from shore and her art was floating all around her.

The largest of the three pieces of art with her that morning was one she’d attached to her outrigger kayak and towed 275 miles down parts of the Eno and Neuse rivers and through the Ocracoke Inlet in 2019, recording audiovisual information and environmental data (including a panther sighting) along the way. Two smaller works included discarded beach chairs from one of her regular oceanside jogs.

Her approach with every subject, Weisner says, is to embrace what she doesn’t know, and to let her new knowledge as well as her material guide her.

“I’m still a process-oriented artist,” she says, one focused on “openness to material and play, not taking my work too seriously … and not being too pigeonholed.” She thrives when she can employ all of her senses in the making of her art, especially work that involves nature. And she loves making connections across time and place.

When the polar vortex winds of 2022 washed an old canoe up on the side of the road near her house, for instance, she picked it up and brought it home. “It had beautiful layering on it,” she says. “The water had rotted holes into it. I think it had been submerged in the sound for a couple of years.”

The fact that winds from the Arctic dislodged it and brought it to her North Carolina shore fascinated her, she says, and that canoe has become part of her latest Arctic-inspired installations. “No place is an isolated place,” says Weisner. “Everything we do — everything that happens in one geographic location — impacts other geographic locations.” SP

This is an excerpt from Art of the State: Celebrating the Art of North Carolina, published by UNC Press.

Sea Marks, Exhibition Shot, 2023

2020 Vision, 2023

BECKY MCGRATH TEAM LEIGH C. CORSO

LUCY BUTLER GROUP

CAY CRAIG

CHRISTIE HANSEN

LAURIE HALT TEAM

JOE HUNEYCUTT

CHIP JETTON

HEATHER MONTGOMERY

KALIE KOIVISTO

MARY HOLLAND THE HUNEYCUTT TEAM

LINDA HENLEY

SARA ROCHE TEAM

LINDSAY REDFERN

CINDI HASTINGS TEAM

TREY SULLIVAN

LISA WARREN

ANJA ZIMMERMAN

TUCK TEAM

LISA RUPP

HEATHER WOLKING

OCTOBER BOOKS

Notable new releases compiled by Sally Brewster

What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci

Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to homemade pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. In What I Ate in One Year, the actor and author records 12 months of eating — in restaurants and kitchens; on film sets and press junkets; at home and abroad; with friends, family, strangers, and occasionally just by himself. The meals memorialized in this diary are a prism for Tucci to reflect on the ways his life, and his family, are constantly evolving. Through food he marks — and mourns — the passing of time and the loss of loved ones, and steels himself for what is to come.

Anatomy of a Purple State by Christopher A. Cooper

North Carolina represents a perfect distillation of the promise and peril of modern American democracy: hyperpartisanship, gerrymandering, dissatisfaction with the two-party system, the urban-rural divide. For that reason, North Carolina politics and government are increasingly of interest to political observers. Political scientist Christopher A. Cooper of Western Carolina University offers a primer for all people, no matter their political leanings. Readers will learn about everything that has made North Carolina the most purple of purple states — from the state constitution and the influence of think tanks to the state’s growing racial diversity and limitations on the governor’s power. By explaining how we came to be in the political situation we are in, Cooper shows us where we might go next. And, as many have said, “As North Carolina goes, so goes the nation.”

Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Why is Miami … Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in 25 years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling

form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis.

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding. Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed goth. Hugo, a gentle, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet, and he’s determined to steal her. Kismet’s mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary’s family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future. Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and a sudden economic meltdown. The Mighty Red is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them.

Life Form by Jenny Slate

Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person who would love her, and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face. Then, she did fall in love — but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love, because of past injury. Then, she had a baby during a global plague and was expected to carry on like everything was normal — but was this normal, and had she or anything ever been normal? Herein lies an account of this journey, told through luminous, funny essays that take the form of letters to a doctor, dreams of a stork, fantasy therapy sessions, gossip between racoons, excerpts from an imaginary play, obituaries, graduation speeches and more. SP

Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd., parkroadbooks.com.

OCTOBER DREAMS

The house on the hill that haunts my slumber by Jim Dodson

During the decades we lived on a forested hill in midcoast Maine, October’s arrival was greeted with relief and joy.

To begin with, it signaled the final exodus of summer tourists who left behind their spending money in the pockets of local businesses. The cost of a seafood supper roughly halved, and it was possible to venture into town to lunch with friends without being caught in a traffic jam. By mid-month, even the annual invasion of “leaf peepers” was drawing to a close.

On our hilltop, we watched the 500-acre forest around us erupt into a dazzling pageant-fire of golds and reds, and wildlife grew more active as the days grew shorter. I remember walking down our long gravel driveway to fetch the afternoon mail with my toddler daughter, Maggie, and pausing to watch a flock of ring-necked pheasants calmly cross our path, spectacular creatures completely unconcerned by our presence.

The family of white-tailed deer that inhabited our forest could be seen most October evenings finishing off the last of the hostas, which I had strategically planted at the rear of our property to keep them away from the house in high garden season. We were often visited by beavers and skunks and, on one memorable occasion, a gangly, young male moose harmlessly crossing our upland meadow to the late summer bog where bullfrogs croaked at night. The fireflies were gone by then, replaced by the lonely cry of coyotes deep in the woods.

October is a time of serious preparation in Maine. For the last time of the year, somewhere around mid-month, I mowed the half-acre of grass that surrounded our hilltop home and put away my beloved John Deere lawn tractor until next spring. I also cut down and raked out several large perennial beds, and split and stacked hardwood for an hour each day, preparing our wood pile for the cold days and nights just ahead. October was the month of our first evening fire, something we all looked forward to.

The last warm days of the month were a bonus. We packed up a picnic and took the kids to one of our favorite spots, Popham Beach State Park, a spectacular 3-mile sandy spit near the mouth of the Kennebec River, where a short-lived colony was established in 1607. Popham was — and probably still is — the most popular beach in Maine. But by October, the beach belonged again to the locals. Our children, now in their 20s and 30s, have fond memories of walking out to the famous rock island at low tide and swimming in the ocean, warmed ever so slightly by the summer’s passing. On the way home, if the timing was right, we stopped off at our favorite seafood shack at Five Islands for fried clams and blueberry ice cream, even as its owner was preparing to shut down for the season.

The decision to sell our beloved house in 2008 was possibly the toughest one we’ve ever had to make. A year before, however, we had moved to North Carolina, foolishly believing that we would simply

keep our precious Maine house and return to it each summer. But, after letting it sit empty with only a caretaker looking after it for one full winter, it became clear that this was a recipe for trouble. Maine winters are tough on people and houses alike. We reluctantly decided to sell the place to a charming young couple from Connecticut who dreamed of making my dream house theirs.

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

Thanks to a national collapsing housing market and the start of the Great Recession, the sweet couple from Connecticut failed to sell their house in time, and we wound up selling to a couple from Massachusetts, who got a sensational deal. The wife adored the gardens and the quiet of the forest. The husband, however, complained that the house’s exposed hemlock beams made the interior “look unfinished.” He also didn’t like the closets or the notches on the rear of the utility door that memorialized the growth of our four kids.

I nearly backed out of the deal, but finally signed because the woman loved the place.

I stayed out of Maine for more than a decade, joking to friends that it was too soon to return and risk never coming back. That hilltop, after all, is where I designed, built and owned my first house, got married and had my children, created my first garden, and stayed longer than anywhere else.

Looking back, however, coming home to North Carolina was one of the wisest moves we ever made. Over 17 years, I’ve had the opportunity to create four arts magazines, publish nine books and make scores of new friends while deepening my oldest friendships. Moreover, during the last decade, we’ve fully restored a lovely midcentury house in my boyhood neighborhood, just two doors down from the house where I grew up. Talk about a spiritual homecoming.

Fortunately, Octobers here are also spectacular. The murderous heat of summer is finally gone, the garden is winding down for another year, the night skies are clearer, and Piedmont North Carolina kindles its own breathtaking pageant-fire of leaves.

But every now and then, I have dreams about our old house in Maine. Invariably, it’s October in this dream and I’m walking through the empty rooms of our old place, wondering what will come of it now that I’m long gone. You see, I never went back there to see it.

Not long ago, however, my savvy wife, Wendy, proposed a cure for my October dreams. Next year, either in September or October, we plan to rent a house somewhere on the coast of Maine.

Who knows? Maybe when I’m there I’ll dream about our wonderful house and garden back in Carolina. Both places own a piece of my heart. SP

Jim Dodson is a writer in Greensboro.

STOP THE SCROLL

Charlotte families join a growing national movement to keep younger kids off smartphones.

by Ken Garfield

If you’re the parent of a preteen, you surely know about the problem — even though statistics show you haven’t done much about it. Who can blame you? Trying to rescue your child from the rising tide of the internet and social media will leave you drowning in frustration.

But take heart, parents and other caregivers. Wait Until 8th is on the job, including at St. Gabriel Catholic School in Charlotte and 20-plus other Carolinas schools.

Brooke Shannon, a mother of three in Austin, Texas, founded the nationwide nonprofit in 2017. Wait Until 8th invites families to sign a pledge agreeing to put off getting their children an internet-connected smartphone at least until they finish eighth grade, peer pressure be darned. That’s generally 14 years old. Talk about an uphill battle: A Pew Research Center survey found that 60% of U.S. kids were exposed to smartphones by age five, 31% by age two.

We’re not talking about a Gizmo Watch or similar devices that allow parents and kids to communicate back and forth. (“Hey Mom, I’m at Lindsey’s house.”) We’re talking about a smartphone — basically a computer in your child’s pocket — that opens the door to everything that’s out there.

“When you give your kid an internet-based device, you’re not giving your kid access to the world,” Meri Short says. “You’re giving the world access to your kid.”

Meri and Matt Short of Charlotte are among 60,000 families

across all 50 states who have signed the Wait Until 8th pledge. But that wasn’t enough for Meri. She spent 15 years working in tech in San Francisco before her family moved to Charlotte. She saw up close the insidious ways the industry targets kids. “In a world where we are more connected than ever,” she says, “clinical data shows our kids feel more isolated and depressed than ever.”

Outraged, she launched Wait Until 8th at St. Gabriel’s (grades K-5), where the Shorts have two kids. More than 100 St. Gabe families and counting have signed the pledge, available online at waituntil8th.org

According to Wait Until 8th, families at 20-plus schools in the Carolinas have signed the pledge. Among those listed on its website are Carmel Christian, Charlotte Country Day, Providence Day and Selwyn Elementary schools.

The research confirms our worst fears. Studies show that dependence on a smartphone can produce some of the same addictive responses as alcohol, drugs and gambling. The National Institutes of Health reported that MRIs found differences in the brains of children who use smartphones, tablets and video games more than seven hours a day. (Surveys show that tweens ages 8 to 12 average 5 1/2 hours a day on their phones, much of it on social media.) These devices, when abused, can contribute to depression, anxiety, isolation and disruptive behavior. It affects sleep. Studies show that kids are studying less and hanging out with friends less. Smartphones can lead to the unthinkable: suicide, suicidal

thoughts, cyberbullying (social media is fertile ground for this), pornography and sexploitation (illegal activity that involves one person manipulating another into doing something sexual).

Am I missing anything other than a lack of exercise and silence at the dinner table? “How was your day?” can’t compete with scrolling online between bites.

You might have seen social psycholo gist Jonathan Haidt on one TV news show or another. The title of his book says it all: “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” He believes that our nation’s mental-health crisis was sparked in part when flip phones gave way to smartphones. Among his recommendations? Go ride your bike.

COME OUT AND ENJOY AN EVENING WITH

Two Piano Journey

A benefit concert for Children's Home Society of NC

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 7:30PM

Join us for an evening celebrating family with concert pianists and mother and son duo, Michelle Chen Kuo & Christopher Kuo, while raising funds to support the children and families served by the Children’s Home Society.

kids to have smartphones.

So Henry, what about it — are you OK waiting awhile for a smartphone?

“Yes,” he says. “I think it would be more distracting to have one. When I see kids with phones they’re usually looking down and walking.” SP

Ken Garfield is a freelance writer and editor who helps charitable causes tell their stories. He also edits books and writes obituaries. Reach him at garfieldken3129@gmail.com

This December, SouthPark Magazine will publish a guide to local nonprofits at a time when many are thinking about end-of-year donations. This Guide to Giving is a special advertising section — in print and online — where profiles of nonprofits will be paired with advertising from the businesses that support them.

Contact Jane Rodewald at 704-621-9198 or Cindy Poovey at 704-497-2220 to learn more. Or visit us online at southparkmagazine.com/advertise.

Deadline for space reservations: October 23

THE RUTH BY BEAU MONDE - 2122 THRIFT RD SUITE C, CHARLOTTE

Creative boost

If you know about ArtPop, you probably associate the organization Wendy Hickey founded 11 years ago with the art-filled billboards created through its Cities Program.

You’re right — the organization even bills itself as a “street gallery.” But ArtPop has become much more than billboards.

Four years ago, Hickey expanded the nonprofit to include a project-management division called Inspiration Projects. Since its founding in 2020, that division has helped local artists earn more than $700,000.

Hickey and her team act as “matchmakers” in connecting organizations and artists. Companies and nonprofits can engage ArtPop when they have a creative vision they want brought to life.

Lowe’s, Bank of America, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Goodwill and others have hired ArtPop to manage projects from concept through installation and to recommend qualified artists for the jobs at hand. Murals

ArtPop’s Wendy Hickey matches local artists with paying gigs. by Page Leggett

“Self Love” by Abel Jackson

are a common request, but artists have also created art installations, custom awards, branded accessories such as tote bags and corporate promotional products.

FROM INSPIRATION TO COMPLETION

When a client engages ArtPop for an Inspiration Project, they share their vision with Dylan Bannister, a Cities Program artist whose work was featured on a billboard in 2021. Thanks to a three-year grant from LendingTree Foundation, Hickey hired him in late 2022 as director of Inspiration Projects. Bannister helps determine the right artist for the job.

“We start with the project dream, timelines, vision and budget and plan accordingly,” says Hickey, who previously worked in billboard advertising sales. “We only take on the number of projects we’re able to manage. Sometimes, we have a waiting list.”

ArtPop then presents the client with five vetted artists who match their criteria. The client can contract with one of those artists directly or hire ArtPop to manage the project.

Inspiration Projects have included interior and exterior murals, curating corporate art collections, and staging pop-up markets, where artists get 100% of their sales.

ArtPop’s mission is to help artists in the greater Charlotte region build sustainable careers, and Hickey and her team believe artists should keep every dollar they make through ArtPop. That generosity is unusual, given that ArtPop is almost entirely donor- and grant-funded. In its 11-year history, ArtPop has gotten two grants from the city totaling $18,691. Otherwise, the group relies on donors. “Our donors are everything to us,” Hickey says. “We literally could not survive without them.”

A HAPPY ACCIDENT

Inspiration Projects began with an unexpected phone call in 2020. An executive from Salesforce, the cloud-based software giant, called Hickey after finding ArtPop through a Google search. He want-

Abel Jackson

ed her to manage a massive mural project that was to be a gift from Salesforce to a major client, Lowe’s.

Hickey had never done that, but she said “yes” right away. She had board support; board chair Will Teichman even came up with the name Inspiration Projects.

Salesforce trusted Hickey to select the right artist for the job. Their only request was that the opportunity go to a Black artist. She knew right away who she wanted.

“I had never worked with Abel Jackson, and I really wanted to,” Hickey says. “He and I had talked for years about how we needed to find the right opportunity.”

Artists don’t need to have been a “billboard artist” to be considered for an Inspiration Project. In fact, that’s one reason Hickey was so eager to expand ArtPop’s offerings.

“The Cities Program can accept only 20 artists a year — 19 adults and one area high-school senior,” she says. “I’d been trying to figure out how we could support more artists than just the 20. This was the perfect avenue.”

When Hickey offered Jackson the job, he told her he already had a mural design he loved. He’d even secured a big, blank wall in NoDa. All he lacked was funding.

That is, until Hickey told him she had $25,000 to spend.

He brought his vision to life in fall 2020 at 416 E. 36th St., home to a Novant Health clinic, Jeni’s Splendid Ice

Upcycled promotional goods designed by ArtPop artist Alex Lieberman

Laurie Smithwick’s sidewalk mural

PHOTOGRAPH

BY GLORIA ZAVALETA

Creams, a Wooden Robot taproom and Summit Coffee. The 24-by-80-foot exterior mural titled “Self Love” was more than Salesforce’s gift to Lowe’s. It’s a gift to everyone who passes by the playful portraits of three young kids representing seeing love, imagining love and being love.

SHOW THEM THE MONEY

Saying “yes” to Salesforce was a savvy move. Almost immediately, Hickey realized that project management was a natural extension of what she’d been doing at ArtPop.

The division took off. Just four years in, the 69th Inspiration Project was recently completed.

The organization’s 50th completed project took shape in SouthPark last summer. The SouthPark Association of Neighborhoods commissioned ArtPop alum Laurie Smithwick to create a mural for the new half-acre Anne O. Moffat Park near The Sharon (formerly Sharon Towers). Taking inspiration from the park’s seasonal plantings — and from insights shared by residents of the retirement community — Smithwick designed the sidewalk mural to be uplifting, colorful and whimsical. A trail of chalk-like “bubbles” runs the length of the sidewalk, simultaneously creating a pedestrian path and a sense of hopscotch nostalgia for grown-ups. For the first two-plus years of the program’s existence, Hickey devoted about 65% of her time to the burgeoning offshoot. Hiring Bannister has allowed her to focus on her work as executive director. (Hickey also hired ArtPop’s third fulltime employee, Brooke Gibbons, to lead the Cities Program and serve as director of impact and sustainability.)

ArtPop artist Liz Haywood was chosen as an artist-in-residence at The Village on Commonwealth through Inspiration Projects.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HADLEY HENRY PHOTOGRAPHY

Inspiration Projects may be a newer division, but Hickey’s goal for it is the same as her goal for the Cities Program: to put money in local artists’ pockets. ArtPop artists have described Hickey as a “fairy godmother” — she just keeps developing ways to support emerging artists.

At least one ArtPop “billboard” artist was able to quit his day job to become a full-time artist. But every artist who’s been part of the program gains confidence, a community, a larger social-media following, connections to paid opportunities and an opportunity to sell more work — and for more money.

Thanks to ArtPop, Charlotte is a more colorful, vibrant city. Signs of ArtPop’s magic are seemingly everywhere. Look up to see them on billboards on Interstate 85 and I-77 and throughout the 14-county region. Look down to see art-covered sidewalks. Look all around to see smaller “digital billboards” at locations around town, including at Apex SouthPark, Promenade on Providence and Waverly.

Even Hickey marvels at ArtPop’s reach — and over how a surprise phone call led to the creation of an entirely new income stream for artists. “I did not see this coming,” she admits, “But I wish we’d been doing these projects since day one.” SP

Von Jeter created window murals for Lowe’s Tool Rental through ArtPop.

IFree spirit

A century ago, a woman named Blanche held society luncheons and seances, hosted artists from around the world, and pushed Charlotte’s cultural scene in new directions. Some say she’s still around.

by Kayleigh Ruller

have fallen in love with a woman I do not know. Her name is Blanche Morgan Reynolds-Gourmajenko.

Blanche — the woman donning avant-garde dresses with tulle and sparkling lights, the one making grand entrances and driving a dark blue Cadillac along Providence Road.

However, there’s only a small, supernatural chance I could ever actually see that sight for myself.

Because it was exactly 100 years ago when this woman — all 4 feet, 11 inches of her — walked the streets of Charlotte. It was 100 years ago when she built and designed the first Tuscan-style villa in the city at 715 Providence Rd. — a home where artists floated in and out, seances were held, laps were swum nude in what’s believed to be the city’s first in-ground pool, and French and Italian art energized the space.

The Italian restaurant Stagioni now occupies her former home, and many Charlotteans have heard of “Miss Blanche” and her fun, frilly, freaky story — a famed Gatsby-like ghost of Stagioni.

This ornate building — both then and now — is so striking and staunchly different from its surroundings that it could have

only been occupied by someone with that same independent flair. Someone with a perverse freedom and lack of convention that contrasted with the traditional values of Charlotte’s wealthy class — people like the Alexanders, Dukes and VanLandinghams — in the early to mid-1900s.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL WOMAN

“To me, she was a woman way ahead of her time,” says Alexander Stick, Blanche’s great-grandson. Stick, who lives in northern California and never got to meet Blanche, recalls stories passed down from his mother, Rosalie Reynolds, Blanche’s granddaughter. “She was independent, she had her own money, she made her own decisions,” he says. “[Blanche] held her own,” Stick says, and her alternative lifestyle often seemed incongruous with conservative Southern norms at the time.

In a city shaped by church, status and industry, Blanche lived and breathed hospitality and pushed art to the surface. She was a magnetic woman with a strong intellect, Stick says, capable of nudging others to expand their horizons.

Opposite:

William L. Bottomley of New York City was the architect for the villa, which was constructed in the 1920s.

Stagioni today, left, and violinist Israel Dorman, right.

BOTH, AND

After poring over newspaper articles and conversing with Blanche’s family, my sense is that Blanche was on the fringe, straddling the line between taboos and convention.

The dichotomy of her life choices reveals a complex, multi-layered human being who simultaneously prioritized indulgent desires but still fit society’s molds, especially in the context of her inherited wealth and privilege. A Durham native, Blanche grew up in Durham and in Richmond, Virginia, where her father, Samuel Morgan, led a large and lucrative fertilizer company.

She was believed to have psychic abilities, but she went to church every Sunday. She fell in love with a younger man of modest means, but she first married a businessman at Southern Cotton Oil Co. She was one of 82 women who organized North Carolina’s branch of the National Woman’s Party for women’s suffrage, but she was still quite “feminine and flirtatious,” says Stick. She held seances in the top floor of her house but served on the board of sponsors for the Charlotte Debutante Club. She fled Charlotte half the year, but, when in town, she leaned in, hosting grand, risque parties with barbecued pig for dinner and Champagne bottles floating in the pool.

FOREVER BLANCHE’S HOME

To be clear, this villa is still Blanche’s home.

Bruce Moffett, who owns Stagioni, learned that right away when he built this concept in 2014. Blanche’s granddaughter, Rosalie Reynolds, told him this: “She still lives there you know … you’ll feel her presence in the building from time to time.”

Among the mystical happenings through the years: a few thrown forks, a vision of Blanche in the periphery at the servers’ after-hours wine club, flickering hood lights and even a whisper into the assistant manager’s ear, Can you hear me now?

In the upstairs “seance” room, Stick recalls that Blanche “had

the walls covered in brown leather because it’s conducive to spirits … and there was a secret door.”

The secret door, Moffett says, was in fact a bookshelf that, when pushed, revealed where Blanche stashed her liquor during Prohibition. A little gin, a few spirits, a seance or two, and a couple of stately, society women — what could possibly go wrong? Or rather, what could possibly go right?

In an effort to pay homage to Blanche — or avoid a peeved ghost — Moffett designed the restaurant according to Blanche’s likes and dislikes: “She liked angels, she loved to cook, she loved to read and she loved the color red,” says Moffett, who collected these details from Rosalie.

“Blanche must approve of Stagioni,” says Ted Stick, another great-grandson, because the restaurant is still going after 10 years. It’s almost as if her spirit, motivated by hospitality and lavish parties in her earthly life, serves as some sort of fortuitous omen.

A HOSPITALITY HUB

“She really loved hosting and entertaining in her home,” Alexander Stick says. “She invited who she liked, and they didn’t have to conform to the old Myers Park standards.”

During World War I, she opened her villa to a renowned violinist-turned-soldier, Israel Dorman, who returned again and again to play the violin at her parties. She offered lodging to visiting artists showing their work at the Mint Museum.

“She liked to get a rise out of people,” Moffett says, and once invited a naked man to recite poetry from a tree limb for her girlfriends, according to Stick.

In later years, Blanche would host Rosalie’s friends. Tom Kenan, one lucky visitor, reminisced on how he and his friends “were the envy” of others when they got to sleep over at the villa. A classic American breakfast took place at 9 a.m. sharp, and the boys were expected to dress with a coat and tie — a detail that

illustrates the standard of elegance Blanche embodied.

“It was sort of exotic to stay there … I remember being impressed that the sheets were all silk … they were very, very elaborate,” says Kenan, a longtime friend of Reynolds who currently lives in Chapel Hill. It was believed that her chauffeur would wait outside the pool as Blanche swam laps in the nude, ready to cloak her in a fur coat after her swim, Kenan recalls.

While this is all indulgent and cinematic, it can’t be separated from the reality that she employed servants of color during an era fraught with racial division and inequality. In her will, Blanche left reasonable sums of money to her servants — John Henry Harrison, Buelah Harrison and Vista Billings — who undoubtedly contributed to the hospitable nature of the home over the years.

PLEASURE, WRITTEN IN THE STARS

As I learned more about this woman’s staunch commitment to pleasurable delights, entertainment and the occult, the story became less about uncovering a pretty prankster of a spirit, and more of a query into the unapologetic pursuit of pleasure.

“She was a true romantic,” Ted Stick says. Married to Billy Reynolds, the cottonseed oil executive from South Carolina, in 1904, she was widowed in 1928. A few years later, she traveled on a European cruise and met a man, or rather, sought out a man named Alexis Gourmajenko — a Russian immigrant 11 years younger who escaped the Russian Revolution. He was a server where she dined, and, as the story goes, she invited him to come over and buy her a drink. They married quietly in New York, and she brought him to her home in Charlotte. Lucky him.

Sanpriti Ireland, a local astrologer and intuitive, notes a clear affinity for pleasure in Blanche’s dominant astrological placements.

Blanche’s sun was in Libra, where “it’s [about] relationships …

it gets a sense of self through reflection,” Ireland says. Her moon is in Aquarius, which is “art, it is genius … it is very rebellious … taking one’s cues outside of the status quo, in favor of one’s soul.”

A lot of these elements are ruled by Venus, which emphasizes “expression and evolution through sensuality, through not just the experience of pleasure, but the pursuit of pleasure,” Ireland says.

AN ADVOCATE FOR THE ARTS

Whether due to personal whims or her birth chart, Blanche propelled beauty and the arts forward in the Queen City.

“Blanche had an inherent flair for the dramatic and wanted to become an actress, but social norms of the day held that acting was not a suitable vocation for a lady,” Ted Stick says.

Instead, she took to the city. She dreamed of creating an “artistic colony” in western North Carolina, according to her contributions in the Sunday Observer column, The Literary Lantern. She enthusiastically took charge as director of the nascent “Little Theater League,” now Theatre Charlotte.

She was also active in the birth of the Mint Museum in 1936, and once loaned her living-room desk and a painting of Lady Stapleton to the museum for an exhibit.

Blanche’s art advocacy was a way of asserting agency over what culture often deemed frivolous, petty or feminine — a reality true for many women at that time. “The women who worked [at the museum] … they were working, they just weren’t paid,” says Ellen Show, archivist at the Mint.

“Other than having a passion for the arts, [the women] seemed to be very conventional, so I wondered if this was a welcoming place for a woman so unconventional,” Show says.

“I would like to think that Charlotte was just as queer, just as other, just as colorful, just as taboo as it is now, but not on the

Blanche

This page: Blanche entertaining friends; a painting of Blanche by Paul Swann, below.

surface,” adds Ireland. “Was [Blanche] the only one making those types of splashes in Charlotte? Absolutely not. But perhaps was she the loudest one? Maybe.”

What would Blanche think of 2024 Charlotte, with music venues, restaurants, pop-up galleries and even movies and TV shows filmed around town. “She would be kind of jazzed and stimulated by the growth because there’s so many more things to do and see,” muses Alexander Stick.

Blanche died in 1962, but when I walk into Stagioni, she still demands to be seen. Upon entry, a painting of a pale woman with green eyes and framed by red hair peers into the dining room. There’s also a letter showing her elegant and artistic handwriting.

“The way she wrote was like poetry,” Alexander Stick says.

BLANCHE BY THE WATER

Aside from the portrait, there is one more painting of Blanche of note. The painting by artist Paul Swann shows Blanche standing on a beach, with the waves rolling in.

“She’s dressed in a white, gauzy outfit ... so that the sheer material covering [her arms] billows in the breeze. Dramatic!”

Ted Stick says.

It reminds me of another image found in the Charlotte

Mecklenburg Library’s Robinson-Spangler archives of Blanche beside her beloved pool.

What’s striking about the photo is her long red hair, and the mere fact that it’s down. In the 1930s, pin-ups and formality were en vogue, and put-togetherness was demanded.

While it’s clear that Blanche was known for her decorum, it seems she also had an undoneness about her, an ache for expansion and freedom that conflicted with the conventional standards of well-behaved women of her era.

At Stagioni, as I sip the aptly named Blanche negroni — a combination of Lillet Blanc, Suze and gin — in the very room where Blanche hosted luncheons and dinner parties, I think of this commanding woman. I marvel at how, beneath the decorum, was a woman with a resolute undoneness, a whimsy and a joy that transcends decades. I look at the back corner of the restaurant, where a pizza oven burns for guests’ viewing and tasting pleasure — a spectacle, as Blanche would’ve liked.

I lift my glass to Blanche, I say a cheers to her silently, let the bitter burn of the negroni make its mark, and still, as I sit alone at the bar, I am far from alone. I am her guest, and this is her home. SP

Opposite:

by the pool, left; with her husband Alexis Gourmajenko, center; and dancing, right.

Chef’s choice

A Charlotte couple renovates a home tailored to their culinary interests and to meet the needs of their growing family.

by Catherine Ruth Kelly | photographs by Dustin and Susie Peck

The

casual entertaining.

Wrought-iron stools by Arteriors flank the kitchen island, which is illuminated by Visual Comfort pendant lights.

wet bar, opposite, features an ice maker and under-cabinet refrigerator for

Clockwise from left: The commercial-grade BlueStar range and hood were customized with a rich sage green finish.

Jewel-toned wallpaper by York Wallcoverings creates a moody ambience in the powder room.

Visual Comfort pendants illuminate the island, anchored by a two-faucet Galley sink from Bird Decorative Hardware.

With a 3-month-old baby and a desire for more space, a young Charlotte couple felt the itch to move a few months into the pandemic. After perusing the internet and touring homes, they found a lovely Georgianstyle house on a golf course in south Charlotte. By September 2020, they had moved in, and one year later— with another baby on the way— they were ready to renovate.

“We wanted to move in and see how we lived in the house and what our needs were,” explains the homeowner. “We were planning to update just the kitchen and master bedroom, but then it snowballed a bit.”

The house provided enough space for their family, but the homeowners needed to reconfigure the layout in a few rooms and update the interiors to accommodate their lifestyle. While they had a general idea of what they wanted, they needed some professional guidance to help with the selections. Their real-estate agent introduced them to local interior designer Kendra White of Pheasant Hill Designs to shepherd them through the process.

White, who moved to Charlotte in 2000 and started her interior-design business soon thereafter, has a business degree and corporate experience, but her natural eye

The custom wooden slab dining table is surrounded by Made Good chairs, upholstered in an aubergine velvet. The crystal quartz chandelier is by Currey & Company. An enclosed refrigerated wine storage system lines the wall.

for design led her to helping friends with soft interior updates. Eventually, because of her innate interest in architectural design, she expanded her skill set to focus on the structural process, too.

“I like to call it baptism by fire,” White laughs. “I taught myself how to draft and how to read construction drawings because I love renovation work; I love walking into an existing space and reimagining it.”

White worked with the homeowners and White House Builders to draw up plans for their house, which was originally constructed in 2000. While almost every room was updated, the kitchen was a top priority: The wife is a trained chef and sommelier and envisioned a highly functional, chef-style kitchen.

“The original kitchen was small and didn’t have an ideal layout or much storage,” says the homeowner. “My main goal was function, and Kendra was able to prioritize that while putting a design spin on it and making it look beautiful.”

With form and function in mind, White suggested a BlueStar commercial-grade

Left: An emerald green faux-horn sideboard and gold starburst mirror by Made Goods accent a wall in the living room.

Opposite: A boldly colored painting purchased from a friend was the inspiration for the living-room design scheme. The custom 110-inch sofa provides plenty of seating for entertaining. The coffee table is by Modern History.

Above: A crystal chandelier by Visual Comfort illuminates the entry hall.

Above: A coffee station in the primary suite features a built-in water dispenser for coffee and baby formula, as well as a refrigerator.

Left: In the primary bedroom, a variety of textures adds interest to the soft color palette. A four-poster bed by Modern History is layered with velvet, silk and cotton bedding. Theodore Alexander faux-bone chests of drawers flank the bed.

range that is available in custom colors. The couple selected a rich sage green for the range and custom hood, which is complemented by a warm, walnut finish on the kitchen island. With the homeowner’s food-prep preferences in mind, the island was designed taller than standard height, and the extra-large, 48-inch sink has double faucets, allowing two people to work next to each other.

“I love to cook, obviously, and it is my stress release, so I spend a lot of my day in the kitchen doing food prep,” the homeowner notes. “Our family hangs out in there all the time, which we couldn’t have done in the old kitchen.”

A Currey & Company chandelier hangs in the bathroom, where cabinets are painted a soft sage green to create a soothing, spa-like atmosphere.

Opposite: In the primary bathroom, the centerpiece is a polished-nickel bathtub, which is complemented by a polished-nickel pattern in the Walker Zanger shower tile.

In addition to her culinary talents, the homeowner is a Level 1 sommelier and casual wine collector. She and her husband wanted to properly store their wines, so they added a temperature-controlled wine-storage area along one wall of the generously-sized dining room.

“We designed the wine-storage cabinetry, glass enclosure and stone wall to create a sleek, sophisticated aesthetic that complements the moody, jewel tones of the dining room and gives them easy access to their wines,” White says.

In the primary suite, White completely redesigned the bathroom and closet, tailoring the space to her clients’ preferences. The bedroom’s soft color palette creates a comfortable, serene space that offers a respite for the parents of two young girls.

“Kendra really listened to our ideas and turned them into something beautiful and tangible,” the homeowner adds. “We didn’t want to sacrifice sophistication and pretty things because of kids, so she designed it in a way that we could have it all.” SP

The brick ceiling treatment in the kitchen and dining room is one of several unexpected design details in the home.

NEUTRAL ZONE

Traci Zeller Interiors built a following in Charlotte and beyond — as lead designer, Traci had a talent for blending unexpected elements with sophisticated design details. This recent project at Carmel Country Club is no exception. by Andrea Nordstrom Caughey | photographs by Dustin and Susie Peck

“There can only be one best actor in a room, you can’t have five,” said Traci Zeller of Traci Zeller Interiors, regarding the careful blend of impact plus balance in her design of a newly constructed gem along Carmel Country Club golf course.

“It’s easy to gravitate to shiny objects, but you can’t have them all. Regardless of whether you are operating on a tight budget or have limitless funds, smart decisions rule,” Zeller said. “Often one significant element or splurge, like a special surface or lighting fixture, can set the tone, as in this home’s beautiful inlaid tile in the foyer. And remember, paint colors all cost the same.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:

We were well into production of this issue when we learned of Traci Zeller’s sudden and untimely passing. Over the years, Zeller’s designs have graced these pages countless times. Not only was Zeller an extraordinarily talented interior designer, she was also graceful, kind and joyful. After careful consideration and consulting with her family, we decided to proceed with publishing this feature as a tribute to Zeller and as a celebration of her enduring legacy in Charlotte’s design community.

Traci Zeller, 1974-2024

Restraint dictated other design decisions throughout this seamless home, too, particularly with the lighting. “We have showstoppers, like the kitchen pendants or the antique mirror chandelier in the reading room, but we also have quieter pieces, like the sconces in the powder room that are beautiful on their own but let the other elements shine through.”

The design team at Traci Zeller Interiors always requests inspiration photos from clients, whether magazine clippings, Pinterest picks, Instagram posts or iPhone snaps, even from travel destinations or hotels. “You quickly get a feel for what draws them in, what themes run throughout,” she said. “In this case, the wife is chic and stylish. They were willing to invest in gorgeous, classic fixed elements,

A striking marble-andwood inlay in the foyer

like the marble mosaic tile in the laundry room and [primary] bath and inlaid marble in the foyer, along with luxe fabrics and wallcoverings.”

The designers also benefited from early involvement in the architectural envelope of the home. The homeowners had retired early and downsized into a townhome, only to realize they missed the extra space. They initially brought on Zeller to help with window treatments and a few interior elements in their new home, but her role soon expanded.

“This project was a dream, because we worked closely with the homeowners, architects Smith Slovik and Acadia Custom

Homes right from the start to help fine tune all the spaces for maximum livability,” Zeller said.

One example was switching a home office from the original floor plan with the laundry room. “The laundry room has prime real estate in the rear corner of the home,” said Ali Bremer, senior designer at Traci Zeller Interiors. “Originally, that corner was meant to be a small home office for ‘her.’ But after we learned how often she does laundry, we flip-flopped the laundry room with the home office. Now she has a large, bright naturally-lit laundry room and a more appropriate-sized office space for her needs. All she really needed was

Originally planned as a home office, the spacious laundry room in the rear corner of the home is filled with natural light.

While sophisticated and luxe, the home is comfortable enough for everyday living and entertaining.

a computer, chair, and a couple of drawers, so it made sense to make this the interior, windowless room.” The designers made up for the lack of windows in the room by adding a sophisticated cloud-themed wallpaper by Schumacher.

“In another favorite modification, the floor plans specified more closet space than we felt was necessary,” said Bremer. “We removed one of two coat closets in the mud room/ drop zone and extended the bench and cabinetry to run the entire wall.” Eliminating another coat closet allowed for an expansion of the powder bath and freed up a focal wall at the end of the foyer hallway, which is accented by a large artwork. Palette-wise, the soft neutral scheme throughout was a given. “There is a definite swing toward an earthier look, and today’s large, open spaces need warmth to make them more inviting,” said Zeller. “But in that mix, texture is a

must. When you are working with a primarily neutral palette, texture is key. Without it, neutrals can feel flat and, dare I say, boring.”

Layers are also essential, according to Zeller. “Warming grays can marry with beiges, browns and linen tones. You want your elements to play well together, ratios that can easily shift over the years.”

Even the best plans often end up with a surprise, Zeller said. “The original architectural plans called for a groin vault ceiling on one end of the foyer, but that turned out not to be feasible. Instead we created a ceiling detail that runs the length of the entry. It’s better than the original, actually. These changes are what we call happy accidents. People underestimate the amount of problem-solving that goes into interior design.” SP

gorgeous celebrations, with special moments and delightful details from their big day.

by Sarah Fligel

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BOLD & BEAUTIFUL

JULIE & DHRUV

5.25.24

photographs by Demi Mabry

She’s from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, loves cheese and the Green Bay Packers. He grew up in New Delhi and went to an all-boys boarding school in the foothills of the Himalayas. But in spring 2014, Julie and Dhruv found themselves living in Paris.

“We met at brunch with mutual friends, ironically, at a Parisian café called Café Charlot — a premonition of our future home city of Charlotte,” Julie says. It would be a decade before the couple landed in the Queen City, living first in Paris; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Stockholm; New York City and Chicago.

Dhruv proposed at Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley in fall 2021. He and Julie married in an Indian ceremony in New Delhi two years later, honeymooning in the Maldives. For their Charlotte wedding this spring, the couple envisioned a “fun and quirky,” intimate celebration that allowed them to spend quality time with family and friends.

“We are recent Charlotte transplants from Chicago and thought this would be ideal to introduce our friends and family from around the world to our new home,” Julie says. “We had guests from five different continents. The Duke Mansion was the perfect Charlotte backdrop!”

While the venue was classic, the couple added other elements that showcased their creative

personalities. Julie is an artist; Dhruv is an entrepreneur in the hospitality sector. A showstopping, nontraditional floral design featured bold, bright colors and unique textures. A striking seating display highlighted beautiful blooms in wavy cutouts. Black accents used for lighting, chairs and flatware popped among the colorful palette, adding a modern flair.

At the reception, the couple’s diverse musical tastes were on display, thanks to a DJ mixed with a 10-piece band that played everything from ’90s pop to punk rock to electronic dance. Eclectic cocktail glasses displayed images of favorite pop culture and academia figures such as James Joyce, Joan Rivers, Nikita Krushchev and Eddie Murphy. The couple’s signature drinks played off the names of their two Italian greyhounds, Bindi and Dobby: “Bindi-licious,” an espresso martini; and “Monsieur Dubois,” a French 75.

Photographer | Demi Mabry

Venue | The Duke Mansion

Planner | Sarah Cook, SoHo Event Design

Floral Design | Meraki Blommor

Dress | Suzanne Neville, Ladies of Lineage

Beauty | Blushing Hair and Makeup

Groom Attire | SALVE

Rings | Ruth Tomlinson (bride); Octavia Elizabeth (groom)

Caterer | The Duke Mansion

Cake | Miri Nadler Cake Design, Charleston, South Carolina

Music/Entertainment | Carolina Strings (ceremony); Re-Drum (reception)

Rentals | Curated Events; Party Tables (tent draping); BBJ La Tavola (linens & napkins)

Stationery | Arzberger Stationers (invitations); Viri Lovely Designs (day of and seating display)

Seating Display | Knotty Artisans

Charlotte-based Lauren Bryant and her team offer exquisite, full-service floral design throughout the Southeastern United States and beyond.

704-572-8028 www.therootednest.com @the_rootednest | Lauren@therootednest.com

Photo: Ally and Bobby Photography julie

Corneliani ~ Eton ~ Jack Victor

Heritage Gold ~ Samuelsohn ~ Paul Betenly

Rentals by Jim’s Formal Wear

Verdavainne ~ Shoshanna ~ Teri Jon Daymor ~ Nicole Bakti

Connie Roberson ~ Sachin & Babi

SAVANNAH SOIRÉE

TEXIE ARNOLD & FRED BERGEN JR.

11.4.23 Ceremony, 3.23.24 Reception photographs by Julia Wade

It might not have been love at first sight, but Texie and Fred felt something the first time they bumped into each other on the beach during a Georgia-Florida football weekend. The University of Georgia students knew of one another but had never officially met. “I was on the beach dressed as Willie Nelson in knee-length acid-wash overalls and a bandana,” Texie recalls. “Fred said the nicest thing … ’I must really like you if I’m publicly flirting with you in that outfit.’”

The two remained friends for several years before going on their first date in Savannah, Georgia, Fred’s hometown. Texie, who works at Savannah College of Art & Design, describes Fred as “funny, thoughtful and annoyingly smart.” Fred, a lawyer, appreciates Texie’s humor and creativity.

That ingenuity and wit was evident throughout their reception at the Jepson Center in downtown Savannah. After marrying several months earlier in a family ceremony in Blowing Rock — a special place for Texie’s Charlotte family — the couple knew the museum’s clean, sleek interior would provide a perfect canvas to showcase Texie’s vision. Custom bars featured batik-inspired trompe l’oeil

wallpaper. Blending her love for Eastern batik patterns and her mother’s fondness for designer Ralph Lauren, Texie and planner Katrina Hutchins brought in accents of light blush and red. “My mom (who passed away before the wedding) was very much front of mind as I was planning this party,” Texie says. “She had impeccable taste, and I wanted her aesthetic to be represented.”

The menu included Savannah staples such as oysters, shrimp, collard greens and pimento cheese and country ham biscuits. Late night, guests munched on patty melts from a food truck.

Fred and Texie’s first dance? Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.” Their getaway car? A ghost-tour hearse with the message ’Til Death Do Us Part.’ The couple took their own tour before rejoining friends at a bar. “We set out to have our party be true to our personalities, and I think we were successful,” Texie says.

Photographer | Julia Wade

Reception Venue | Jepson Center, Savannah, Georgia

Planner | Katrina Hutchins Events

Floral Design | Harvey Designs, Savannah, Georgia

Dress | Sassi Holford, Ladies of Lineage; Zimmermann (second look)

Beauty | Bride’s Side Beauty, Ridgeland, South Carolina

Caterer | FARM Hospitality Group/ Wildflower Café on Telfair Square

Cake | Vanilla + The Bean, Savannah, Georgia

Entertainment | Perfect 10 Band

Rentals | Nuage Designs; Beachview Event Rentals & Design, Savannah, Georgia

Stationery | Olive Paper; invitation and save-the-date artwork by cousin Molly Rohde

Transportation | Hearse Ghost Tours, Savannah, Georgia

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PARADISE PERFECTION

CHRISTINA & DEVIN WASHINGTON

2.3.24

photographs by Wyeth Augustine

It took a few tries for Christina to agree to a date with Devin, but once she accepted, the relationship moved quickly.

“Our first date was magical,” she says. “From the moment I walked in and saw Devin waiting for me, I knew he was special. He hugged me, and I felt like I was home.” From then on, the two were inseparable, moving in together three months later with their three dogs.

For the engagement, Devin rented the garden at the Grand Bohemian Charlotte, hired a photographer and consulted the Farmers’ Almanac to time the proposal at just the right minute: sunset at 5:55 p.m. That detail was special to Christina, who appreciates angel numbers and their symbolism.

The couple chose the picturesque, car-free town of Las Catalinas in Costa Rica for their wedding, a favorite travel spot of Devin’s. “Our goal was to provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience that our guests would remember forever,” Christina says.

They planned three days of events for the idyllic celebration, starting with a welcome party in their

rented villa. The ceremony took place on a private beach, followed by a reception at a venue renowned for its intimate vibe. “Seeing the sunset over the Catalina Islands after marrying the love of your life was very romantic,” Christina says. Delicious food, plentiful drinks and energetic music were priorities for the couple. “We hired a club DJ over a traditional wedding DJ, and that kept the dance floor alive all night.”

Christina’s sister, a former NFL cheerleader, choreographed the father-daughter dance, a highlight for the bride. “She knew how nervous I was, and she stood off to the side doing the dance herself so I could follow her steps if I got lost. It was such a sweet moment, and it helped me lose my fear.”

Photographer | Wyeth Augustine

Venues | Plaza Agave, Las Catalinas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica (ceremony); Sentido Norte, Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas (reception)

Planner | Heidy Quesada Co.

Floral Design | Stylos y Flores

Dress | Eisen Stein Bridal, Ladies of Lineage

Wedding Accessories | Vintage earrings & fan (bride’s grandmother); veil, Ladies of Lineage; shoes, Gianvito Rossi

Beauty | Jill Robinson, Jillian Marie Beauty & Photo; Lauren Bernstein, Refinery Salon Charlotte

Bridal Stylist | Haute Kills by Sincerely Ambrosia

Groom Attire | BP Skinner Clothiers, Columbia, South Carolina

Rings | Diamonds Direct

Cake | Victoria Zoch

DJ | DJ Teemoor, Xclusive DJs

TIFFANY & CO.

REEDS JEWELERS

BLUE NILE

FINK’S JEWELERS

TIFFANY & CO. REEDS JEWELERS

BLUE NILE

DAVID YURMAN

FINK’S JEWELERS

DAVID YURMAN

ARTFULLY ELEGANT

FRANCES & ANDREW FENNELL

2.3.24

photographs

by

Mary Hannah Harte

When envisioning their wedding celebration, Frances and Andrew dreamed of a “European, all-day” affair for their mostly out-of-town guests.

“Our priority was showcasing the city we love to our nearest and dearest,” says Frances, a civil engineer/urban designer. “We put so much effort into making the wedding uniquely ours.”

Frances, who grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Andrew, from Marietta, Georgia, kicked things off with a welcome party at RíRa Irish Pub and an Italian rehearsal dinner at Open Kitchen, a frequent date-night spot for the couple. Their wedding day included an 11 a.m. wedding mass, followed by brunch at La Belle Helene. The celebration continued at The VanLandingham Estate, where guests sipped on hot toddies (Frances is a University of Mississippi alum) and sampled crawfish beignets and grit cakes, a nod to the bride’s Louisiana roots. At the end of the reception, guests gathered for a traditional Louisiana Second Line exit, a wedding procession led by the couple. An after-party at Workman’s Friend closed out the evening.

The wedding featured thoughtful, personal touches, starting with the wedding design created

by Frances, who is also an artist. Inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s renowned Unicorn Tapestries, she painted her own version, using it in the invitations, place settings and on pillows. The flowers and bridesmaids dresses also played off the design.

A custom bar back showcased Western portraits of the bride and groom painted by Frances. Cocktail hour included performances from Andrew, who works in sales and is lead singer of the band Three on the Tree, and Frances’ brother, guitarist in the Secret Formula Band.

Also at the celebration: Andrew’s beloved 1978 Bronco, Natasha, which took the couple for a spin after their church ceremony and served as a vintage backdrop for photos. “We took her for a joyride around Uptown,” Frances says. “This felt so classic and true to us.”

Photographer | Mary Hannah Harte

Venues | St. Peter Catholic Church (ceremony); La Belle Helene (wedding brunch); The VanLandingham Estate (reception)

Planner | Jackie Fogartie Events

Floral Design | The Bloom Room

Dress | Ladies of Lineage (wedding); rag & bone (after party)

Groom & Groomsmen Attire | The Black Tux

Caterer | Best Impressions Caterers

Cake | Miri Nadler Cake Design, Charleston, South Carolina

Entertainment | J’Michael Peeples (wedding brunch); Secret Formula Band, Three on the Tree (cocktail hour, reception); Sol Fusion (reception)

Rentals | PR Design Styled Collection (furniture); Stradley Davidson, Charleston, South Carolina (linens)

Custom Stage Front, Bar Back & Seating Display | Knotty Artisans

Stationery | Viri Lovely Designs

SOULFUL SOJOURN

Memphis draws visitors with a moving history, a rich music scene built on the likes of Elvis, Aretha and B.B. King, eclectic cuisine, and stylish, classic accommodations.

by Michael J. Solender

Like many cities of the American South, Memphis, Tennessee, has a history replete with social contradictions, economic transitions and a legacy of community collaboration. Unique to Memphis, however, is the way city leaders have interpreted and translated its past into a New South urban landscape that is more than the sum of its parts. Known as Bluff City for its perch upon the mighty Mississippi River, Memphis calls to visitors through its soulful heritage. Here’s what not to miss.

STAY

No Memphis hotel is more highly regarded than the legendary Peabody. For more than 150 years, the historic Peabody has wooed guests with its prime location, cozy rooms, ornate architectural

features, stunning rooftop views, fine dining, opulent afternoon tea service and, above all, the fabled Peabody Ducks.

According to Kenon Walker, the Peabody’s full-time Duck Master (his official title) the tradition of the Duck March spawned from an inebriated hunting escapade by members of the management team in the 1930s. What’s evolved is a twice-daily ritual where five well-behaved mallards waddle from their rooftop home, down the elevator, along a red carpet and into the lobby’s grand fountain to the delight of children of all ages who witness the procession with amazement.

But there’s more than the ducks to enjoy here, including a piano that belonged to Francis Scott Key; Lansky Bros, a retro menswear shop and haberdashery that clothed Elvis; and seasonal concerts

Rum Boogie Café

on the rooftop made famous by Tom Cruise in the Hollywood thriller, The Firm. Enjoy afternoon tea at Chez Philippe, the Peabody’s classic fine-dining venue, or simply lounge in the lobby. The Peabody serves as a crossroads in Memphis’ “who’s who” ecosystem.

EXPLORE

Elmwood Cemetery, a vast park-like burial site established in 1852, is listed three times on the National Register of Historic Places: once for the Victorian Carpenter Gothic architecture of the caretaker cottage, once for the span bridge — the longest in Shelby County — traversing the grounds, and finally for the cemetery itself.

“Elmwood is a nonsectarian cemetery that has never been closed to anybody,” says Kim Bearden, Elmwood’s executive director. “It represents the patchwork quilt that is Memphis history. We’re a Level II arboretum, with more than 60 identified tree species.”

Hundreds of unique “cradle graves” are found throughout Elmwood, so named for the oval raised concrete ring surrounding the graves that volunteers adopt and decorate with garden plantings.

Visitors enjoy the serenity of the grounds and learn about fascinating backstories hidden in plain sight behind some of the 80,000 graves here via self-guided walking or driving tours. A 60-minute digital audio tour helps share the history behind these marvelously manicured grounds.

Graceland, the storied mansion of Memphis native son Elvis Presley, is the second-most visited home in America, behind only the White House. Guests may find touring the mansion itself — decorated as it was when Elvis passed in 1977 — secondary to exploring the vast Elvis exhibitions, archives and ephemera showcased across the street at Elvis Presley’s

Graceland

Elvis Presley’s Memphis

Southern/Modern is generously presented in Charlotte by Wells Fargo and the Dowd Foundation. Individual sponsorship

Julie Boldt and Dhruv Yadav, Lucy and Hooper Hardison, Posey and Mark Mealy, and Rocky and Curtis Trenkelbach. Major

Memphis. The 200,000-square-foot entertainment complex is the most comprehensive Elvis museum in the world. Many of the King’s legendary cars and motorcycles, his private jet, film library, videotaped concert performances, jumpsuits, and jewelry are displayed in a surprisingly sophisticated manner that underscores just what a phenomenon Elvis was and remains to this day.

Beyond Elvis, there’s no soundtrack more emblematic of Memphis than the tunes created by the artists and producers at Soul City’s legendary Stax Records. A fair warning, however: A visit to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the repurposed headquarters and recording studio founded in 1957, is all but guaranteed to trigger endless earworms of hit after hit, spinning in your head. Chart toppers from the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” and Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft,” to Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding were recorded here. Guests learn the backstory behind the raw and gritty sounds developed here, and how producers coaxed the best from local Memphis talent like Jean Knight and Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

Live music 365 evenings a year make downtown’s Beale Street the place for catching the latest soulful sounds. Favorites in this globally recognized entertainment district include Rum Boogie Café, B.B. King’s Blues Club and Tin Roof — no reservations required.

On April 4, 1968, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel was a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights Movement and a devastating day that forever shaped Memphis’ trajectory. With a mission to share lessons from the movement and explore how the era continues to shape equality and freedom, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel underscores how this history is more important than ever.

Visitors should expect a solemn, yet poignant, experience as the motel, including the room and balcony King occupied in 1968, remains intact. Beyond the King memorial, exhibitions provide context and first-hand narratives to the many stories that inform America’s complex and ongoing relationship with race. The museum is a true public square that fosters discussion, both in Memphis and beyond.

National Civil Rights Museum

DINE

Memphis-style BBQ features meaty pork ribs, dry-rubbed and pit-cooked. There’s sauce on the side for those who are so inclined, yet traditionalists let their ribs speak for themselves. Two standouts are Charlie Vergos Rendezvous and Central BBQ. Each has fans proclaiming “Memphis’ Best Q,” and while we won’t pick a favorite, we strongly encourage a visit to both.

There’s no sleeping in when breakfast is on tap at Sunrise Memphis. Scratch-made light and fluffy biscuits, 3 Amigos breakfast tacos with housemade chorizo and the Not So Short Stack pancakes provide fuel for a day of touring the town.

At Catherine & Mary’s, James Beard-nominated chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman create delightful Tuscan-inspired pastas like Lumache, a sharp cacio e pepe, and Conchiglie with gulf

shrimp, pomodoro sauce and spring onion sofrito. Entrees range from seafood, like fresh halibut, to a lamb shank or veal cutlet. The light, airy room and attentive service make dining here a special night out.

Midtown’s fresh and vibrant Cooper-Young neighborhood has a new culinary star with The Public Bistro. Start with mussels braised in white wine with chorizo and garlic paired with the fried goat-cheese appetizer served with a tangy tomato jam. Mains might include mushroom gnocchi bathed in a Parmesan cream sauce or a melt-in-your mouth short rib served with a demi-glace, grits and roasted root vegetables.

GETTING THERE: American Airlines offers daily nonstop flights from Charlotte to Memphis, with a flight time of under two hours. SP

Beale Street

Central BBQ Ribs Rendezvous

The Peabody’s Duck March

swirl

A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas

Great Gatsby Gala

benefiting National MS Society

Hilton Charlotte Uptown

August 17

Patrons had a roaring good time at this annual gala, which raised a record-setting amount to fund research and help families affected by MS. Jason Cox inspired hundreds of attendees by sharing his 30-year MS journey and his hope in finding a cure. photographs by Daniel Coston

Josh and Andrea Fox Steve and Melissa Lindgren

Alice and Peter deVries

Warren Marshall and Jay Malick Sandy and John Wurzburger

Jason Cox, Jennifer Wise and Mike Daisley

CHOOSE WILDERS LOCALLY RAISED 100% WAGYU BEEF AND BERKSHIRE PORK THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

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swirl

A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas

Dine & Shine

benefiting CrossRoads Corporation

Mint Museum Randolph

August 16

Friends and neighbors came together for this evening of dinner and dancing on the lawn. Proceeds support affordable housing and community projects in the Grier Heights neighborhood.

photographs by Daniel Coston

Carolina Panthers Kickoff Luncheon

presented by Charlotte Touchdown Club

Sheraton Charlotte Hotel

August 29

Panthers greats Jonathan Stewart, Mike Rucker and Al Wallace headlined this year’s gathering, making for a lively discussion about the team and what to look forward to this year.

photographs by Daniel Coston

Brandon Lofton, Ervin Gourdine and Malcolm Graham

Carole and Richard Joyner

James and Megan White

Frances Williams, Sir Purr, Dan DeVos

Julie Anna Kaufman, Josh Schlechty and Tucker Windle Tom Barrett and Pedro Amaral

Nubia Mora and Alex Porras Osby and Kai Watts, Leon Stepherson

Jonathan Stewart and Mike Rucker

Sharon Harrington and Jennifer Clifford

Rob Fuller, Jacqueline and David Sanders

Terry Ramseur, Rick Grochoske, Howard Layson

PRESENTED BY

Now in its eleventh year, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s signature annual fundraiser Verse & Vino presented by PNC brings the joy of storytelling and the impact of libraries to our community of readers. Featuring great authors, food and wine, it’s no wonder it’s become one of our region’s most anticipated events.

ESSIE CHAMBERS EMIKO JEAN

EDWARD LEE

JESSICA SHATTUCK

A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas

Whitney M. Young Jr. Awards Gala

Urban League of Central Carolinas Westin Hotel

August 2

There was plenty of glamour and sparkle at this year’s cornerstone gala, which aims to further Young’s vision of equality and advancement for all. Honorees included Gov. Roy Cooper, Raki McGregor and Mecklenburg Council of Elders.

photographs by Daniel Coston

Benefit Bash

benefiting Lee Institute

Duke Mansion

August 10

The B Sharp Band brought the tunes and good times to this fundraiser, which supports Lee Institute’s work of strengthening other nonprofits and community groups for greater impact.

photographs by Daniel Coston

Angie and Howard Bush

Spencer Merriweather and Maria Macon

Alex and Matt Leary

Dr. Clarence Ellis and Bridget-Anne Hampden

Hugh Allen and Natalie Frazier Allen

Russell and Holly Hughes

Raki McGregor

B Sharp Band

With fall colors and cooler temps greeting each walker, runner, cyclist and nature-seeker, there’s no better time to start exploring.

Great Trails State Day is your official invitation to celebrate the state’s trail network with events taking place statewide. There’s a Pottery Pinecone Hunt with creations from Seagrove potter Crystal King dotted along the trails in Moore County. There’s a volunteer camping crew working on the Appalachian Trail. Sign up remotely to join the 2000 Mile Challenge by hiking, biking or paddling.

Or, explore closer to your own backyard. Mecklenburg County has 400 miles of trail across greenways, parks and nature preserves.

Knowing where to go can be the tricky part. The county’s

FOLLOW THE TRAILS

Here’s your nudge to get outside. The second annual Great Trails State Day takes place October 19, and it’s easy to find the right trail for you. by Sharon

Smith

Park and Recreation website is your friend with a detailed listing of 17 greenways and things to do at each one.

If you seek a nature-inspired road trip, The Great Trails State website shows where to find scenic trails from the mountains to the coast.

And if this year doesn’t work out, don’t sweat it. Great Trails State Day falls on the third Saturday of October each year. Consider it an open invitation. SP

For more information: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation parkandrec.mecknc.gov/Places-to-Visit/greenways

The Great Trails State greattrailsnc.com/find-a-trail