It’s a new year, and we’ve got a big new opportunity we’ve been aching to tell you about. Unpretentious Palate will be organizing the food events at this year’s Charlotte SHOUT! festival.

If you’re a longtime Charlottean, you know the event. Put on by Charlotte Center City Partners, it’s a celebration of what makes this city so incredible. And a big part of that is the city’s restaurants.

Along with Casey Wilson at Carben Events, who helped us put on The UPPYs, we’ll be hosting a signature event at Gateway Village in Uptown to showcase those restaurants. It’s called the Charlotte StrEATs Festival, and we’ll be recreating a mini map of Charlotte with two or three restaurants representing each neighborhood. Attendees will be able to take a culinary tour of the city without leaving Uptown.

As we move into a new era of hospitality, we’ll be prioritizing how we work with our participating restaurants, providing not only food cost reimbursement, but also covering labor costs and prep time. We’re also looking to diversify the restaurants invited to participate, including not only fine dining establishments but international and fast casual concepts, too.

The event will take place in mid-April, and we’ll share more details about it with you soon. For now, though, please accept our gratitude — Unpretentious Palate wouldn’t be here to take on this opportunity without the members who support our mission. If you’re not a member, we’d love to have your support.

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