And the basketball? The Bobcats are an expansion club, but they made strides last season by winning eight more games than they did during the previous campaign.

The 19,026-seat arena includes two private restaurants, but the place to be is in the cheap seats on the upper level, where an open-end bar dubbed Rock the Rooftop offers a number of beers and drinks paired with an enviable vantage point overlooking the game action below. At halftime take a stroll along the lower concourse, where displays and jumbo graphics tell the story of Charlotte and the Tar Heel State’s rich hoops history. Find the season schedule and ticket information at nba.com/bobcats.

As any Tar Heel State resident is eager to tell you, there are two kinds of ’cue: Eastern style, which comes with a vinegar-based sauce, and Western style, which thrives on a tomato-based sauce. This Western style hails from North Carolina’s Piedmont, where pig purveyors make Lexington the barbecue capital. There, slowcooked pork shoulders are basted with a mixture of vinegar, ketchup, water, and salt and pepper over hickory wood until it’s tender enough to fall apart. The meat is then chopped and served with slaw and other sides.

The event is an easy hour’s drive north from Charlotte. All of the culinary precision of this legendary cuisine is celebrated on an eight-block stretch along Lexington’s Main Street, where three tents manned by vendors from seven local eateries serve up thousands of pounds of barbecue to more than 100,000 attendees. This year’s event will be held on October 21. Admission is free and special Amtrak train service will be available to take attendees from Charlotte to the festival. The grounds are open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The full lineup of events and attractions can be found on the Web at barbecuefestival.com.

The Festival’s “Artist’s Walk” is situated around Freedom Park’s geese-filled pond, where artisans exhibit and sell caricatures, oil paintings, pottery, and other arts and crafts. From the main stage, an eclectic mix of local and regional bands and international musicians will provide a steady stream of rock, soul, bluegrass, and folk, while dancers, magicians, and other performers entertain from smaller stages scattered throughout the festival.

After you’ve given your eyes and ears a treat, indulge your taste buds with an array of edible goodies, from traditional concessions like popcorn, hot dogs, and cotton candy to more unique items like crab cakes, gyros, and bratwurst. And of course, the festival will have plenty to keep kids entertained, including interactive games and shows.

Freedom Park is near uptown Charlotte. There’s limited parking within and around the park, but festivalgoers can catch the shuttle vans from East Boulevard to the main entrance of the park. For more information, check out festivalinthepark.org.

Novello will be headlined this year by best-selling author Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club). Other authors scheduled to appear at this year’s festival include Mitch Albom, David Baldacci, Augusten Burroughs, and Jane and Michael Stern. The literary event has been featured in Southern Living, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Wall Street Journal, a testimony to its popularity.

Beyond readings and book signings, the festival features WordPlay Saturday, held on the first weekend of Novello and encompassing a family-driven street fair with stage acts, author appearances, and autograph tables. Carolina Writers Night highlights local and regional writers (Lee Smith and Clyde Edgerton are among past performers). A slew of free and paid events tied to the reading life are always part of Novello, which has grown to 120 programs held during the festival.

The festival will run from October 9 through November 7. For more info or a complete lineup of authors and readings, go online to novellofestival.org.

While Charlotte’s 80,000- square-foot, two-story Neiman Marcus won’t have the human elevator operators who announce the floors as they do at the flagship Dallas location, the store will include a number of in-house specialty boutique shops. And you can bet you’ll see the designer brands it has become famous for, such as Valentino and the Manolo Blahnik shoes made famous by HBO’s Sex and the City shopper Carrie Bradshaw. The new Neiman Marcus wing adds class alongside Polo Ralph Lauren and French retailer Hermes.

SouthPark itself has become the ritziest locale between Atlanta and Washington, D.C., for window shopping, and it’s a mall where you’ll want to avoid any fashion faux pas by running in for a quick errand sans lipstick. The Neiman Marcus wing is the latest in a $100 million redux and expansion of SouthPark that has added such luxury retailers as Nordstrom, Burberry, and Kate Spade.

SouthPark is located at 4400 Sharon Rd., near the intersection of Sharon and Fairview roads in Charlotte.