It’s the Great Pumpkin (Wall), Queen Charlotte! CREDIT: The Charlotte Ledger The Great Wall (of Pumpkins)
Something (that started out) political we can all agree on
By Page LeggettHow does it happen? “With what seems like 3,000 screws, some rope, a couple of rickety ladders and a whole bunch of awesome Elizabeth neighborhood volunteers,” is how John Short, an Elizabeth resident and the current de facto leader of the group, described it. What do elections and Halloween have in common? Both can be scary and a bloody mess, but also the Great Elizabeth Pumpkin Wall began as a political statement … involving pumpkins. Today, it’s all pumpkins and no politics. Unlike election season, the window to catch the fall’s best wall is fleeting. Read on to find out when and where to see it and how the whole Elizabeth Pumpkin Wall came to be. 
 Tariq Bokhari announces partnership with Mass Challenge at Camp North End’s Boileryard. A Big Day for CLT Tech Creatives
By Amanda Lea Last week was a big one for the rise of tech creatives in Charlotte. On Wednesday, Charlotte’s billion-dollar fintech “unicorn,” AvidXchange, became a publicly traded company with NASDAQ. Coincidentally, that afternoon, Tariq Bokhari announced that Carolina Fintech Hub (CFH) is partnering with MassChallenge (MC) to create “The Meta Lab” in what they’re calling a “game-changer” for the city. This is exciting news for tech creators and cultivators in the Queen City. So let’s break it down … What is it? It’s essentially a “lab for labs” — an opportunity for different innovations to occur simultaneously within a setting designed to be a “catalyst for innovation.” The Meta Lab will help identify startups and innovators and connect them to corporate clients who need to solve big challenges. Bokhari, Charlotte City Councilman and founder of CFH, says Charlotte has become known as a global fintech destination over the last five years, and the Meta Lab is the next chapter in that story of inspiring growth. “I’m most excited about this being a first-of-its-kind approach to recruiting fintech and healthtech companies and jobs to the Carolinas.” Siobhan Dullea, MC CEO, says corporate-startup collaborations are a win-win. “One of the most important milestones for a startup is landing their first enterprise customer, especially in regulated industries like finance and healthcare. Meanwhile, corporate leaders are learning that the fastest way to solve big challenges is to partner with a startup.” Who’s behind it? Collaborators include some familiar names: - @carolinafintechhub
- @masschallenge
- @lendingtree
- @truist
- @barings_global
- @ey_us
- @movementmtg
How do you join? Entrepreneurs can apply from anywhere in the world. Applications opened Oct. 20 and close Nov. 10. Apply here. Winning applications will be selected based on their potential for impact in the challenge areas for each of the participating sponsors.
 HUG micro-grant winner, Lindsey Jenneman Four Creatives Get an October HUG
By Melissa Dorsch“A HUG grant allows me to bring a concept that only exists in my imagination into reality for everyone to see and enjoy.” – Maria Senkel
Each month, Charlotte Is Creative, publisher of The Biscuit, awards $250 micro-grants called Helpful Unfettered Gifts or HUGs. These are sometimes just the little boosts that many innovative creatives need to either start or complete a project. In our 3+ years, we have given out more than 275 HUGs. This month, we gave three deserving Queen City creatives one of these “love bombs of cash” to help them with their creative idea. And, we gave out one $1000 Bear HUG to a cultural nonprofit. - Lindsey Jenneman will use her HUG to buy a better camera to photograph her art to turn them into prints.
- Maria Senkel will use her $250 to buy a Cricut machine to help her with her exhibit, Six Pillars of Good Character.
- Makyala Binter is going to use her HUG to pay an assistant to work with her with on a mural commissioned by the Metro School.
- Charlotte Youth Ballet will be receiving a $1000 Bear HUG to help replace original Nutcracker that are 40 years old.
Queen City Quiz Show: How to Talk to Youth About Vaping
Tuesday, Oct. 26 from 6 to 7 p.m. OnlineThere are all sorts of reasons why kids pick up vaping and tobacco. And as parents, it’s tough to have legit conversation about it. Heck, it’s hard to talk to kids about a lot of stuff, so we’re trying to have a little fun with this one. Queen City Quiz Show to the rescue! Produced by Livable Meck and Mecklenburg County Public, this special edition of the the quiz show will pit two teams against one another … and viewers can play along on your phone. It will be a fun and unique way to present some important facts about vaping, tobacco use and their connections to mental health. More importantly, it is designed to give parents some easy and judgment-free ways to jumpstart the conversation. Clear your calendars, pop the corn, order a pizza, or whatever it takes… join in for this interactive, informative, and — we promise — fun hour that may make a big difference in your family. The October 26 event is free and available virtually. Sign up to watch it below. 
The post above was sponsored by Livable Meck.
 CREDIT: @bryanhumphrey Charlotte Cosplayers Have Creative Prowess
By Erika LopezWe’ve been wanting to highlight Charlotte’s active cosplay community (a form of performance art by creatives who build and wear their own costumes to embody superheroes, cartoon characters and pop art figures) for some time now. With Halloween right around the corner and people rushing out to buy their costumes, we thought we’d introduce you to folks who work on their costumes all year long. Next week, we’ll introduce you to five of our favorites in an article by Erika Lopez. But, today, meet Charlotte cosplayer, Amberle Linnea. Linnea remembers her first very cosplay, a white kitty costume her mom made her as a little girl, and answering the phone with a “meow.” But it wasn’t until 12 years ago that she taught herself to sew and began going to cosplay conventions. Amberle enjoys playing characters across pop culture fandoms: comic books, movies, video games and TV series. See more photos of Amberle in costume here. What do you love about cosplay? “My favorite part is creating a 3-D version of something 2-D, like with comic book characters. It’s an art and science — it’s someone else’s illustration, but bringing that to life with color, texture, feel and dynamic flow in three dimensions is the challenging and exciting part.” What are you known for? “I tend to be a villain more often than a princess. If anything, I’m known for outrageous costumes: Shadowcat with a real Lockheed ‘dragon’; Effie Trinket’s butterfly dress; a Medusa with a 6-foot-long mechanized tail.” Which costume took you the longest to make? “By far, the Avatar Priestess Mo’at. I hand-strung more than 30,000 seed beads for her breastplate alone. And when the whole costume was done, the body paint itself took six or seven hours standing (pretty much naked) in my kitchen. @ambermichaelart does most of my FX make-up, prosthetics and body paint. She’s amazing!” Where can people see you next? “Halloween night, for the seventh time, I’m the emcee at the front of Rosemont Manor Haunt in Elizabeth. After that, I’m one of the Bingo Verifying Divas for Gay Bingo Charlotte, a fundraiser benefitting RAIN (a local nonprofit that empowers persons living with HIV and those at risk to be healthy and stigma-free).” Check out the full story in next week’s batch!
New Mural Created at St. Jude’s Dream Home
By Tim MinerEarlier this year, we introduced you to Charlotte artist, Eulises Orellana a.k.a. “Euli.” He has been busy lately. In addition to creating new T-shirt designs, he created a special mural inside the 2021 St. Jude Dream Home in partnership with WBTV. Along the way to raising $2.25 million to benefit St. Jude, the Dream Home embraced an artistic twist. This year’s home was dedicated to six-year-old Jennings Palmer, who has fought leukemia twice in his young life. Jennings is a massive fan of the Transformers toys. He collected them throughout his treatments. To honor him and help share his story, Orellana painted a mural of the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. You can hear more about the Dream Home and see the mural right here. An interview with Orellana starts at the 6:00 mark. 
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