North Carolina
Atlanta music festival put on hiatus should come to N.C., Gov. Cooper says
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Music Midtown, a popular music festival in Atlanta, is going on hiatus this year, prompting North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to encourage organizers to move it to the Tar Heel State.
Music Midtown organizers announced Wednesday the festival has been canceled for 2024. Organizers haven’t released details on the reason for the cancelation, according to WBTV’s sister station Atlanta News First.
The festival had traditionally been in September at Piedmont Park in Atlanta.
“North Carolina has proven itself as a top tier entertainment center by hosting everything from the inaugural Lovin’ Life Music Festival in Charlotte to the NHL Stadium Series hockey game in Raleigh last year,” a spokesperson for Gov. Cooper told WBTV Thursday. “These events have significant economic impacts on our state’s economy and the Governor encourages Music Midtown to find its new home in North Carolina.”
According to Atlanta News First, it’s not the first time the festival has been canceled. Since it began in 1994, it went on hiatus from 2006 through 2010 due to a decline in attendance and rising costs. It was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Atlanta News First reports it returned in 2021, but it was canceled once again in 2022. It’s speculated that organizers made this decision over the Georgia gun laws — which would have prevented them from allowing firearms at the event.
In 2023, the festival returned with thousands of attendees over a 3-day period, according to Atlanta News First.
WBTV’s sister station Atlanta News First contributed to this report.
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Copyright 2024 WBTV. All rights reserved.
North Carolina
Art exhibit in Atlanta aids North Carolina artists hit by Hurricane Helene
ATLANTA – Nearly three months after Hurricane Helene barreled through the southeast, a North Carolina-based non-profit has opened an art exhibit in Atlanta to try and help struggling artists recover.
Asheville’s Historic River Arts District was reduced to ruins after Helene came through in September and destroyed 80 percent of the artist’s studio space.
“Art is very important to Asheville and kind of always has been…this was definitely a wonderful gift,” RADA Foundation Executive Director Kim Hundertmark told FOX 5.
That gift to Asheville artists came in the form of exposure at Atlanta’s Ponce City Market.
“Ponce City Market donated this space…we don’t really have a lot of gallery space or studio space in the River Arts (District) right now,” she explained.
Hundertmark is one of the dozens of artists whose studio spaces were damaged by the hurricane that claimed hundreds of lives and left widespread devastation.
“The River Arts District started as an inexpensive place for artists to find studio space,” she said. “We all had to move out…I was in the second floor…and had about a foot and a half of water in my studio.”
Hundertmark says even in the cold of this winter season, the response from Metro Atlanta residents has been warm.
“We’ve sold about $20,000 worth of art in the last four weeks,” she told FOX 5.
She says that support means everything to the 40 artists featured.
“It means they pay their rent for the next month or two…it means that they’re able to buy supplies that they lost in the flood,” Hundertmark said.
The River Arts District pop-up exhibit will be open until Sunday, Dec. 29. The exhibit is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Source: This article is based on original reporting by FOX 5’s Joi Dukes.
North Carolina
Vince Marrow turns down offer to join Bill Belichick at North Carolina
The Kentucky Wildcats will keep Vince Marrow in Lexington for at least one more season.
According to John Brice of Football Scoop, Marrow has decided to remain with Kentucky. He was recently offered a spot on Bill Belichick’s first staff as head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
“Sources with direct knowledge tell FootballScoop that Marrow intends to remain on Mark Stoops’s Kentucky staff,” Brice wrote.
So, for what feels like the hundredth time, Kentucky’s recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach has turned down offers from another school to remain on Mark Stoops’ staff, where he’s been ever since Stoops was first hired as the program’s head coach in November of 2012.
It’s no secret that Marrow has been Kentucky’s most important assistant coach in terms of recruiting for the duration of the Stoops era. That’s led to him receiving frequent interest from other programs, including Michigan, Michigan State, Louisville, and even head-coaching interest from Youngstown State and Southern Miss.
That interest has helped Marrow receive numerous extensions and subsequent pay raises while in Lexington. He’s now one of the highest-paid assistants in college football at $1.3 million per season.
Now, Marrow will look to help this program rebound from its most disappointing season in the Stoops era.
North Carolina
2024 photo galleries: Businesses hit hard by Helene in Western North Carolina
Businesses in Western North Carolina took a hit after Helene hit on Sept. 27, causing unemployment to skyrocket. For example, before Helene, only around 5,000 were unemployed in the Buncombe County, but after the storm over 13,000 people out of work, according to a report from the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
Fraser fir farmers
Christmas Cottage
Asheville Tea Company
River Arts District
Ellaberry Llama Farm
Corner Kitchen
Zillicoah Beer Co.
Asheville breweries
US Reps. tour Asheville’s River Arts District
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