Football

Weekend-long celebration kicks off for Panthers game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The three-day-long celebration for the Carolina Panthers kicked off Friday night at the EpiCentre in the heart of the city where fans showed their Panthers pride.

At every turn, fans were decked out in black and teal flair.

"I love to see it," one fan said. "Everybody is into it, no matter where you go today. There are Panthers everywhere."
They packed into restaurants, from the big guys to the little ones.

"Normally I'm a homebody. I'm out representing myself," said Kelvin Allen.

Jeremy Ashe, operating partner of BlackFinn Saloon, said, "This is just exciting for everybody."

Ashe said this winning season has helped draw people not only to the Panthers fan club, but to Uptown.

"We've noticed a spike in our sales for Sundays, obviously with people walking around downtown and the stadium being sold out for so many games in a row," he said.

For fans, this weekend is all about showing pride up to the playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday afternoon at the Bank of America Stadium.

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