Home Care In Matthews, NC

Republica Restaurant & Lounge in Matthews promises authentic Dominican food with a “little bit of gourmet.”

The restaurant, which was once an idea shared among owner Madeline Perez and two friends, started with the sentiment, “We wish there was a good Dominican restaurant.”

“There’s very few Dominican restaurants here in North Carolina, and we wanted to get that authentic taste that we missed from our island,” Perez said.

The Republica dining experience is a cultural celebration, as it hosts DJs on Fridays and live bands on Sundays.

Republica’s atmosphere is family-oriented, with an open policy for children. A local Dominican band adds to the authenticity every Sunday, creating a matinee atmosphere reminiscent of Dominican celebrations.

And, as February nears, the restaurant is gearing up for Dominican Independence Day. Festivities include costumes, cultural dances and a showcase of traditional Dominican dishes.

“For the Dominican Independence in the Dominican Republic, people get dressed with these costumes that have horns, and they’re very colorful. Then we do our cultural dances, with the cultural dressing. And, we’ll have a little group of young girls and boys that’ll come in dressed with the cultural clothing and come do a little show for us,” Perez said.

One of the standout dishes, mofonguitos, is a crowd favorite. Mashed plantains with pork rinds and belly pieces, topped with garlic sauce and a choice of proteins, showcase the rich flavors of Dominican cuisine.

Perez said the nostalgic Sancocho is her favorite, as it is almost a representative item of the Dominican Republic.

“Every time I go over to the Dominican Republic, I’m like, ‘Who’s gonna make my sancocho?’ Because when I think of that, I think of the Dominican Republic,” Perez said.

The menu features a variety of dishes, including skirt steak with vegetables and plantains, and fried rice Dominican-style with barbecued shrimp and vegetables.

Madeline extends an invitation to enjoy the flavors of the Dominican Republic. “Come try our dishes; you won’t be disappointed,” she said.

Alex Cason contributed reporting.

Location: Fullwood Plaza Shopping Center, 11315 E Independence Blvd, Matthews, NC 28105

Menu

Cuisine: Dominican, Caribbean, Latin

MATTHEWS, N.C. — More than 100 witches will take over Downtown Matthews Thursday night for a Witches Walk to raise money for childhood cancer.

What You Need To Know

The OliviaStrong Foundation is hosting its second annual Witches Walk with the goal of raising $15,000 to donate to St. Jude and Novant Health facilities.

"It was just something fun for us to do to get the community out and get some awareness to childhood cancer," Founder of the OliviaStrong Foundation, Christina Reardon said. "It's just a drastically underfunded cause and so we want to keep doing our part to try to find a cure."

Reardon is Olivia's mom, the 11-year-old the foundation is named after.

When Olivia was 9, she was diagnosed with stage IV alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the paranasal sinuses, a rare childhood cancer. After 66 weeks of chemotherapy and 28 proton radiation treatments, she beat it.

"It was honestly just a really hard time for everyone, not just for me, but for my parents and siblings too. But, I eventually got over it and I'm healthy now," Olivia said."It was honestly just a really hard time for everyone, not just for me, but for my parents and siblings too. But, I eventually got over it and I'm healthy now," Olivia said.

She has been in remission for six months.

Olivia says the Witches Walk is an opportunity to raise money for people just like her.

The bar crawl event starts with registration at 5 p.m. at Kristophers Bar in Downtown Matthews, with the walk starting at 6 p.m. People dressed in their own creative witches outfits will visit several bars and enter raffles for their chance to win themed baskets and over $600 worth of donated restaurant gift cards.

Olivia led the walk last year. This year, a local first grader named Leah who battled the same cancer as Olivia will be leading the witches. Leah has been in remission for three months.

Reardon says the community supported her family through Olivia's diagnoses and the community continues to show up.

"Every year that we continue to do the Witches Walk, we will have a new child in our community that will lead us until there's no more children with cancer, and then we have done our job," Reardon said.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — The Town of Matthews is trying to decide between using fireworks or drones to light up the sky next Fourth of July.

The fireworks show is an Independence Day tradition for many families in Matthews. Leslie Marquez is lucky enough to see the display from her backyard.

“I love it because normally we went in the pool, so we enjoy the fireworks and we stay with my family and my friends,” she said.

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But some of her neighbors in the Hampton Green neighborhood say their proximity to the show is problematic. The community backs up to the athletic fields, which is where the town holds the event.

Neighbors told Channel 9′s Erika Jackson debris from the fireworks ends up in their yards. Mayor John Higdon has heard those concerns.

“I think there’s general consensus of our board not to shoot fireworks -- traditional fireworks -- so close to a residential area, because it’s kind of dangerous,” he said.

Higdon said the town is considering a quieter and more environmentally friendly option like an aerial drone show. Town staff is looking at flying up to 200 drones near Stumptown Park for about 15 minutes.

ALSO READ: Customers make trip across state line to buy fireworks

The drone option comes with a higher price tag. The town believes a show would cost between $50,000 and $60,000. That’s more than double the cost of a traditional fireworks show, which is expected to cost $23,000.

“I think maybe the best thing to do would be to move the fireworks display to our Sportsplex facility, which has less much less residential areas nearby,” Mayor Higdon said. “And that would mitigate the problem with both sound and the debris field.”

Marquez said she would love to see her family tradition stay as-is.

“Everybody’s happy about it,” she said. “I feel a couple of neighbors over here, we’re OK with that.”

Higdon expects the town will vote on its plans in early 2024.

(WATCH BELOW: July 4 events go on at Whitewater Center without fireworks after permit rescinded)

Matthews Social House opened this summer in an old bike shop in the heart of downtown Matthews. It’s the culmination of a three-year journey for owner Gary Murray, who modeled it after a local pub in his hometown of Limerick, Ireland.

Murray calls the Social House a “labor of love,” having done much of the renovation work himself while working part time bartending at a local country club.

“I wanted to create an Irish bar that looks like an Irish bar,” said Murray, who came to America at age 19 on an engineering scholarship. “The draft towers were imported from Ireland. The mirrors and whiskey barrels came directly from my old neighborhood bar in Ireland.”

What he couldn’t find in Ireland, he sourced through Facebook Marketplace. Lined along the back wall of the pub are refurbished church pews. The bar counter is made from 120-year-old floorboards from an Amish Mennonite Church in Ohio. The 100-year-old shelves came from a Monroe warehouse.

Murray and his business partner, Adam “Jacko” Jackson, have been planning the pub since just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was set to open last fall, hence the “Est. 2022” on a wooden sign that hangs by the front door, but permitting and other issues delayed the process.

It was worth the wait. Since opening in June, the pub and beer garden nestled on Charles Street just around the corner from Trade Street has taken off.

“When people come here for the first time, their eyes are just so big and their faces light up,” Murray said. “We call it a Social House because we want strangers to talk. We have the long tables because hopefully two groups will gather around and strike up a conversation.”

Inside, the 1,000-square-foot building holds about 50 people in an intimate setting with six tables and a bar. A pool table is the focal point – the only pool table in downtown Matthews, Murray said.

Outside is where all of the action is. The expansive patio area has seating for 180 people, with 10 long tables, eight six-person tables and 10 high top tables converted from old whiskey barrels designed to look like pints of Guinness – dark on the bottom with creamy white tops. There’s also a food truck, walk-up beer window, ice cream stand, cornhole and large wooden swing.

As for the food and drink options, Murray says they are “keeping it simple” with the food truck by offering a selection of three burgers— a cheeseburger, a Carolina BBQ burger and an Aloha burger with the pub’s signature crack sauce and pineapple — as well as fries.

The pub has a full bar and specializes in whiskey and bourbons from Ireland and other countries. The pints of Guinness are just like back in Ireland, Murray said, with the “perfect temperature and nitrogen blend.”

The pub is “very family-friendly,” Murray added, noting that both he and Jacko have young kids. “We wanted to create a community space where we could be proud to bring our families. It’s a little neighborhood pub in downtown Matthews, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing people together.”

Location: 105 W. Charles St., Matthews, NC 28105

Menu

Cuisine: American, burgers

Instagram: @matthews_social_house

This story was originally published August 24, 2023, 6:00 AM.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The Town of Matthews is in the early stages of considering a proposal to replace its 4th of July fireworks with a 15 minute drone light show.

This proposal comes after some people living in the Hampton Green neighborhood complained about the noise and debris from the fireworks last Independence Day. The neighborhood is adjacent to the MARA complex, where the town usually launches the fireworks.

“My dog goes crazy, I have PTSD, boom booms don’t really help me at all,” David Galant, who lives in Hampton Green, told WBTV.

The Matthews Board of Commissioners watched a video from a company called Sky Elements during their last meeting.

Right now $23,000 is budgeted for the traditional fireworks show. Town staff is asking for an additional $37,000 from the tourism fund for a drone light show.

In a letter to the mayor and commissioners, the special events coordinator said the benefits of a drone show include that it would be environmentally friendly, with little to no noise, no smoke or chemical release into the air and no fallout debris.

Kyle Pivnick with Sky Elements says the company brings hundreds of drones in and handles all of the logistics.

“Everything is done well before the show,” Pivnick said. “Everything is pre-programmed, coordinated by our team of animators and designers that we have in house, and they work hard to create custom images and shapes.”

Due to the $60,000 price tag, the town of Matthews is also considering moving the fireworks show to another location, like the Matthews Sportsplex or Pursey-Halsey Park.

Garland said he would be in favor of this. His house is so close to MARA Complex, that ash falls onto his home.

“I love our country and I think it has to be recognized that it’s a great country, but we also have to recognize the citizens of that great country,” Garland said.

Mayor John Higdon told WBTV over the phone that he is not in favor of the drone show because of the cost, but he agrees the fireworks need to be moved further away from peoples’ homes.

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