Charlotte Folk Society has moved its monthly Gatherings to a new location -- the Great Aunt Stella Center -- after 26 years at Central Piedmont Community College. The building now known as the Great Aunt Stella Center was built in 1914 as a home for the Tabernacle ARP Church. Designed by James M. McMichael, the architect of the churches now known as Spirit Square and the Afro- American Cultural Center, it possesses the same grace and warmth. Men, women, and children gathered, prayed, celebrated, and mourned in the neoclassical church for nearly 70 years.

In the late 1980s, Tabernacle ARP was faced with declining membership and a dramatically changing neighborhood. After much prayer and thought, the congregation opted to keep the church alive by moving to the suburbs.

In 1997 the property was purchased by local businessman and philanthropist Bruce Parker. He christened it the Great Aunt Stella Center, after a beloved great aunt, Stella Vandalia Sparrow, who was a home missionary and advocate for the poor. Fitted with state-ofthe- art sound and lighting systems, it became a prime setting for concerts, lectures, debates, and conferences. The attached four-story education building, built in 1925, has served as home to several non-profit organizations and a charter school. The Uptown Church continues to hold services there every Sunday. Hundreds of couples have been married in the beauty of the sanctuary.

In 2002, Self-Help, an affiliate of one of the nation’s leading community development financial institutions, purchased the property. The Center has continued to serve as a site for meetings and weddings, but musical performances have been absent for several years.

Charlotte Folk Society will bring music back to Great Aunt Stella on August 8th – a happy occasion for us and for the Stella Center, both. The former church sanctuary offers a beautiful performance space. Its curving designs, handsome dark wooden pews, and brilliant Italian stained glass windows delight the eye. The warmth of its acoustics delight the ear. Designed to accommodate 400, the room’s intimacy and spirituality delight the soul. Please take a virtual tour on the Great Aunt Stella website here.

Great Aunt Stella Center is located at 926 Elizabeth Avenue, between Kings Drive and McDowell Street in downtown Charlotte (map here). It is just a couple of blocks west of our CPCC concert venue. Ample free surface parking is adjacent to the Stella Center, with free parking also available after 7 PM in a nearby parking deck. The building’s side entrance next to the parking lot is accessible to all. There is an elevator from the entry/ground floor to the sanctuary level. If you arrive early, please relax in the groundfloor Café space until the sound check is completed. After the concert, we will use a number of spaces throughout the building for refreshments, jamming, singing and visiting.

We are anticipating this new chapter in the life of the Folk Society. Not only is the Stella Center a perfect physical and spiritual fit for our community, we are also blessed to work with Mark Ponischil, the Center’s site manager. He is excited to have music again at Great Aunt Stella and he will be running sound for our events. We have also received a warm welcome from Jessica Dean, office manager for the Uptown Church. Jessica has enjoyed our Gatherings at CPCC and is passing the word about our new season to church members.

We hope you’ll come soon to a Gathering and get to know our new home. And invite your family and friends – we have room for them!