Charlotte brewery bans anti-mask church from its parking lot. ‘Freedom isn’t free.’
A popular brewery in Charlotte’s South End district is banning a nearby church that vowed to ignore Mecklenburg County’s mask mandate from using its parking lot.
“We will no longer allow this church to use our parking lot on Sundays,” Chris Harker, owner of Triple C Brewing Co. posted on Facebook Friday, referring to Freedom House Church. “Freedom isn’t always free I guess.”
Penny and Troy Maxwell, the married senior pastors of the church, have expressed their opposition to the mandate in social media posts and a statement to The Charlotte Observer.
“Mecklenburg County is messing with the wrong people,” Penny Maxwell said in an Instagram video, adding, “Our lawyers are ready to go.”
The Freedom House Church South End campus is two minutes from the brewery, both on Griffith Street.
In a brief phone interview Saturday, Harker told The Charlotte Observer the decision to block the Sunday worshipers was made with the best interests of the overall community in mind.
He declined further comment, including answering questions from the Observer about the number of worshipers who parked at the brewery, details of the parking contract and how brewery management plans to enforce the ban.
The church didn’t reply to an email by the Observer on Saturday requesting comment about the parking ban.
Harker’s Facebook post followed an Observer story on Friday about the church’s intentions to buck the pending mask mandate. In his post, he attached a link to the story.
In a 5-4 vote, Mecklenburg County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to remove the exemption for religious organizations from the mask mandate that takes effect on Sept. 22.
The religious exemption previously allowed churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship to not require masks.
The Maxwells recently declined to be interviewed by the Observer but in a joint statement said the church “believes you can decide for yourself if you wear a mask or not,” and that, “Though the overwhelming majority of our church does not wear them, it is your decision.”
“The gates of hell will not prevail,” the couple said in the statement.