NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

LIVE from Charlotte: CarolinaFest in pictures

Good after­noon from Char­lotte! Today, in hon­or of Labor Day, and to thank the peo­ple of Char­lote for wel­com­ing us to their fine city, the DNC is throw­ing a big par­ty called Car­oli­naFest in Uptown. It’s essen­tial­ly a big, fes­tive street fair, with a tem­po­rary food court, big stage, aux­il­iary stage, and lots of tents set up for ven­dors and orga­ni­za­tions doing out­reach to delegates.

The AFL-CIO, for instance, has an activ­i­ty called “Hug A Thug”, giv­ing del­e­gates an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet local union lead­ers and get their pic­tures tak­en. (For those not in on the joke, the right wing fre­quent­ly refers to labor lead­ers and orga­niz­ers as “union thugs”. Hence, Hug A Thug — a tongue-in-cheek rejoin­der to the right wing).

As the old say­ing goes, a pic­ture is worth a thou­sand words. Here are some glimpses of Car­oli­naFest as seen through our Zuiko lens:

Conventiongoers and guests explore CarolinaFest

Many ven­dors set up shop along Try­on Street to offer good­ies or mer­chan­dise to con­ven­tion­go­ers and guests explor­ing Car­oli­naFest. (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

Food court at CarolinaFest

The food court — or per­haps food block would be a bet­ter descrip­tor — on Try­on Street. (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

View going northeast on Tryon Street

Car­oli­naFest took up sev­er­al blocks of Try­on Street. The road was closed to traf­fic for the dura­tion of the event, though odd­ly enough, the traf­fic lights were not shut off. (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

C-SPAN Bus

The C‑SPAN bus at Car­oli­naFest (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

A protest sign at CarolinaFest

Pro­tes­tors at Car­oli­naFest stress that the Amer­i­can peo­ple want good jobs, health­care, and eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty, not for­eign inva­sions and occu­pa­tions. (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

The main stage at CarolinaFest

The main stage at Car­oli­naFest, as seen from some yards away (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

Jeff Bridges performs

Actor and musi­cian Jeff Bridges per­forms at Car­oli­naFest. Bridges is a strong advo­cate for stamp­ing out child hunger. (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

Lat­er tonight, the Wash­ing­ton State del­e­ga­tion will be cel­e­brat­ing Labor Day at Mac’s Speed Shop. Look for anoth­er post about that event lat­er this evening.

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