There are 21 days until President Obama and Vice President Biden accept the nomination.
 
Convention fun fact of the day: 20 Miles of cable will be installed in the Time Warner Cable arena to expand the technology infrastructure for the convention and the media
 
The convention will include more people than ever before, opening with CarolinaFest, and closing with tens of thousands of Americans joining President Obama and Vice President Biden as they accept the nomination…
 
Charlotte Observer: CarolinaFest? It's speed street for the DNC
“Howard describes the festival’s goal as introducing Charlotte to visitors and introducing the convention to Charlotte. It’s sort of like the way Speed Street, the annual May festival to celebrate Race Week, gives a taste of racing to locals who don’t go to the track and a taste of Charlotte to visitors who come just for the race.  “You should leave being proud to live here,” he said. “This is the first impression for local residents of the impact of the convention, and for visitors having their first impression of Charlotte.” The festival starts at 10 a.m. with a Labor Day Parade. Other activities include free admission to the Mint Museum, the Bechtler Museum and the Gantt Center, and discounted admissions to Discovery Place, NASCAR Hall of Fame and Levine Museum of the New South. Legacy Village, in the parking lot between the Gantt Center and The Green, is designed to highlight Mayor Anthony Foxx’s civic priorities to get people involved after the convention. One activity: Build the second part of a house that will be started at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. The completed house will be given to a veteran.”
 
 
Local businesses on the convention: “once in a lifetime,” “Charlotte’s never going to see something like this again,” “It is huge.”
 
WCNC: Uptown restaurants look forward to DNC business
“Business will be booming for some Charlotte restaurants when the democrats come to town. One of the newest in town is also the hottest, and they're expecting big crowds. It was peaceful Wednesday in the kitchen at 5 Church—for now. “Maybe a little nervous, not freaking out because I think we have a pretty good plan in place,” said executive chef Jamie Lynch.  With the Democratic National Convention just weeks away, the chef is testing out desserts.  He's also figuring out how much he'll need of everything on the menu. “We’ll probably be quadrupling-plus our orders,” Lynch said. The restaurant's operating partner is, well, ordering lots of drinks. “We started ordering our alcohol three weeks ago,” Patrick Whalen said. 5 Church opened in May but they have been prepping for the DNC for more than a year. “This is a once in a lifetime thing for the city of Charlotte.  We want to make the most of it and maximize our time during it,” Whalen added. Between private parties and extended hours, they are expecting long days, and they’re looking forward to it.  “We basically told the staff we’re going to be living here for a few days and make the most of it,” Whalen said. “Charlotte’s never going to see something like this again,” Lynch noted.  “It’s a phenomenon for us, so for us to be involved in it and opening at the time we did and get to be a part of it—it is huge.”
 
Denver study bodes well for uptown biz
Sheldon Schrieber says he's heard a lot of buzz about businesses lately - questions about whether they really will make a mint during the DNC. "It something that's really surprising to me," Schrieber says. "The way I see it, and I'm a pretty common sense guy, there are going to thousands and thousands of people coming to Charlotte." He is Harvest Moon Grille's director of business development, and he thinks the restaurant will be slammed. "All those people, they need a pillow to lay their head on at night, they all have to eat and drink," he says. And if you take a look at Denver's 2008 DNC numbers, Schreiber has every right to feel confident. Four years ago, the average DNC visitor spent $98 per day on food and drink.  Combined, restaurants there made over 19 million dollars.  They spent $5 million on souvenirs, and downtown drugstores said their sales spiked fifty percent. “I think we're primed for similar experiences here in Charlotte," says Dunhill Hotel General Manager Craig Spitzer.  He is certainly not worried about a mass exodus of uptown regulars. "While we'd love to have our regulars in," Spitzer says, "and hope that they'll continue to stay uptown and patronize local businesses, there's going to be more than enough people here for the convention." In Denver, the industry made a ton of cash. 12,500 visitors stayed in 8,300 rooms downtown. 15,500 stayed in hotels throughout the area.  The total impact on the hotel industry was $15.7 million. And the impact on transportation was big, too. Combined, companies they made three and a half million bucks.One taxi service reported a 42 percent increase. In Charlotte, Serge Coulibily will try to do even better. "I'm expecting to make like 60 percent more," he says.”
 
 
On the convention blog…
 
2008 Convention Volunteer Crosses Country for Charlotte Convention
“Roanne Kuenzler dedicated herself to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. She wanted to “help my city put on the best convention it could.” In the months leading up to the event, she volunteered five days a week at first and then gradually, seven days a week.  She loved every minute of volunteering, calling it the “best gig possible.” When the convention ended in a flurry of confetti, Roanne was already thinking about the future. “I knew in 2008 that in 2012 I would do everything in my power to be part of it again,” she says. Last fall, she made good on that promise when she tracked down her convention supervisor from Denver. After making a series of phone calls, Roanne finally reached her supervisor, now one of the lead organizers for the 2012 convention in Charlotte, and asked to work for the convention once more. Roanne was hired that night. In June, Roanne packed up her things and hit the road for Charlotte. The cross-country trip didn’t daunt the zealous Colorado “farm girl.” She’d always had the frontier spirit and embraced adventure. Roanne’s attitude is to “move forward” rather than “sit still.” After a car accident forced her to use a wheelchair for mobility 35 years ago, she learned that there was nothing that could stop her. “[The wheelchair] lets me go where I want to go,” she says.”
 
Meet Your Delegates: Convention a Family Tradition for West Virginia Couple
Shirley Love has not missed a Democratic National Convention since 1972, and his wife Audrey rarely misses one. The stalwart West Virginia delegates, married for sixty years, have made it a family tradition, and this year they’re planning their four-hour drive from Oakhill, West Virginia to the 2012 convention in Charlotte. Shirley says they’ve contracted the “fever of politics” and don’t plan on recovering anytime soon. “We’ve had a really great time together,” Audrey says of their political adventures. “I have stayed right along with my husband…I’ve always been right on page with him.” The statement provokes Shirley to interrupt and remind his wife that not too long ago she was a “Bradley delegate”–a reference to then-presidential candidate Senator Bill Bradley—deviating from her husband’s leanings. “A couple of times I kind of did it my way,” she playfully retorts.”