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Charlotte the stingray became a social media star after becoming pregnant without a partner.
Lydia Wilson
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Lydia Wilson
The world awaits news that an unmate stingray has become mysteriously pregnant at a small aquarium in the Appalachian Mountains of Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Visitors like Sylvia Jones of Staunton, Va., and her niece Liliana of Ellenboro, N.C., have been flooding Main Street stores every weekend since she announced her pregnancy.
“We came to see Charlotte the Stingray for my niece’s birthday,” Jones said. “We saw her on TikTok… We were now talking about what she was going to be like the day she gave birth, so we hope we'll be lucky enough to see what happens. ”
Jones drove nearly five hours from Staunton, Virginia, to see family. They turned their trip to Charlotte into a day trip, an example of the “Charlotte Effect” in action for local businesses.
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Weekend visitors hoping to meet Charlotte at Team Ecco Aquarium and Shark Lab
Lydia Wilson
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Lydia Wilson
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Weekend visitors hoping to meet Charlotte at Team Ecco Aquarium and Shark Lab
Lydia Wilson
“We are going to check out the Gem and Mineral Museum.” Jones said. “And then we went to HenDough: Chicken and Donuts. I had a Southern Fried Chicken sandwich with Brussels sprouts and a Nutella peanut butter donut.”
Travis Spencer, manager of the Mast General Store a few doors down, is also gaining more customers.
“Absolutely. We've had a huge increase in foot traffic. Weekends have been a lot busier for us. We're not complaining because this time of year can be a little slow. So it's good to see the Charlotte craze continuing. It's going to help drive business.” It will be.”
The local coffee shop has drawn visitors from as far away as Washington state and even Germany. I made a latte named Charlotte.
Mark Pavao and Kristen Pavao, owners of Black Bear Coffee Company, created a latte they named Charlotte.
“So we came up with the stingray shuffle. We flavored it with dulce de leche and some coconut,” Pavao said.
A portion of the proceeds will go back to the aquarium to honor the work of Team Ecco Aquarium and Shark Lab founder and former teacher Brand Ramer.
“Brenda is doing a great job locally with the kids,” Pavao said. “She trains her kids to scuba dive and get them interested in marine biology with her, so it’s amazing what she does, and it’s our joy that we can give that back to her.”
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Mainstreet Hendersonville is seeing more visitors thanks to Charlotte, her pregnant Stingray.
Lydia Wilson
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Lydia Wilson
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Mainstreet Hendersonville is seeing more visitors thanks to Charlotte, her pregnant Stingray.
Lydia Wilson
Hendersonville is a small mountain town with a population of 15,000 where tourism is one of the main drivers. But not in winter. Night tourism reaches its peak every year in October along with the fall foliage. Local motels and inns are selling out with guests waiting to see the vibrant yellows and reds.
Michelle Owens is the Executive Director of the County Tourism Development Authority. She said the Feb. 8 off-season announcement about Charlotte's mystery pregnancy was perfect timing. That's because February is traditionally the second slowest month of the year.
“This is unusual in the tourism world,” Owens said. “This is not just a biological anomaly, so we wanted to know what it meant: Was it just a social media phenomenon, or did that translate into visitor numbers?”
Owens said it will take several more months to have hard data on where visitors come from and how long they stay. But tourism websites have already seen a 40% increase in unique visitors in February.
The store in downtown Hendersonville continues to have fun with pregnant stingray Charlotte and is excited to welcome her pups to the downtown family.