Opinion: As the RNC arrives in Charlotte, let’s party like it’s 2012. Oh, wait.
To forecast what the Republican National Convention will be like in Charlotte during the year of COVID-19, let’s first look back to 2012, when the Democratic National Convention arrived.
Before the DNC began in Charlotte, we had a slumber party in my former newsroom (RIP Creative Loafing).
We saw this as a necessity — for those of us who didn’t live in walking distance of uptown, we had no idea what to expect. Would we even be able to drive into Center City with all the road closures and traffic and Secret Service everywhere?
So I packed an overnight bag and a griddle (for pancakes for the newsroom the next morning), and off to the NC Music Factory (now Avid Xchange Music Factory) I went.
It was the start of the adventure of a lifetime.
My coworkers and I drank margaritas on an air mattress on the kitchen floor of our former-mill-turned-office space. We ate lasagna at Small Bar with the owner. We slept on cots under our desks, drifting off to the sounds of concerts at the Fillmore.
The DNC press party was the biggest event I’d ever seen. All of the bars at the Music Factory were wide open, drinks were flowing and food was — wait, there was food? Local journalists partied with famous, national press. There were no masks, no social distancing, no COVID-19.
‘The whole world is watching’
That’s not to say this was all fun and games. We worked harder and longer hours than we’d ever worked in our lives. It’s part of why the press party and the margaritas in the kitchen were so welcomed — it was a change from the 16+ hour days leading up to the biggest event I’d ever covered. “The whole world is watching,” one of our covers proclaimed.
I drove my photographers as close to the scene as possible. I had an old, beat-up convertible and we put the top down so they could shoot from the car. They often ended up walking back to the offices with heavy gear, unable to reach me to pick them up (no cell signal).
Celebrities were everywhere. Newly opened 5Church became nationally famous that week, with sightings including Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks and Nancy Pelosi at the restaurant we in Charlotte know and love.
And several years later, it was time to prepare for round two. The 2020 RNC, including the formal nomination of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, was set to be in Charlotte. It would be time to roll out the red carpet again and show the country that the Queen City can throw a heck of a party for the 50,000 people who would be visiting.
At the CharlotteFive and Charlotte Observer newsrooms, we had it all planned out. (For the record, CharlotteFive was to be in charge of the social scene and the parties. Score.) I began wondering if I would sleep under my desk again, or perhaps bicycle into uptown instead.
And then, we all know what happened. March came in like a lion with the arrival of COVID-19, and no one has seen any lamb in sight. Trump moved the convention to Jacksonville (sorta), then back to Charlotte (sorta).
And now here we are. About 50,000 people have turned into 336 delegates. Huge parties have turned into crickets — no one wants to rub elbows when a deadly pandemic is hanging around.
Masks and daily temperature checks are part of the conversation. No celebrities are expected. Network news will cover the nominations and then leave. The full schedule of events has not even been released.
5Church’s RNC plans — a stark difference
Even 5Church, which went on to host celebrities at last year’s All-Star Weekend and gained the official reputation of where to go for your celebrity sightings, will remain closed this weekend. Due to COVID-19, it has no plans to re-open until Phase 3. This is quite a difference from 8 years ago. “It’s disappointing because the DNC was such a great success, not only for us but for the whole city,” Patrick Whalen, the CEO of 5th Street Group, which owns 5Church, told me on Thursday evening.
Whalen estimates the restaurant would have made between $100,000-$200,000 during the RNC, about double than normal. “It wasn’t just about the capital,” he said. “Like you said, at the DNC, we had a lot of really high profile people coming in. It got people talking about us a lot sooner than it would have.
“The result is what it is. Hopefully the social distancing that will happen will be part of the solution, so it will be worth it.”
Of course, he’s right — this is a good thing. No one should be doing large group activities of any kind, not when the coronavirus is in town along with a convention.
But the sense of adventure is gone. I won’t be sleeping under my desk this year. I’ll be sleeping in my bed, quarantined like the rest of the city, wondering what could have been.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 6:36 PM.
