The Lake Norman Chamber will host a candidate forum in the Towns of Cornelius and Huntersville in the next couple of weeks and a Meet and Greet in Davidson Oct 30^th at The Davidson Village Inn. The two-hour forums will be held in the respective town halls. The forum for Cornelius is Thursday, October 12^th and Huntersville Tuesday, October 17^th and Thursday, October 19^th. All forums are 7:00 – 9:00 PM and open to the public.

As there are three people vying for Mayor and sixteen people running for six board seats in Huntersville, the Chamber will host the Tuesday forum with the Mayoral candidates along with five commissioner candidates with the balance appearing at the Thursday, October 19^th forum. Those candidates were randomly selected.

The forums will be moderated by Justin Ckezepis, owner and general manager of WSIC. Ckezepis, who grew up in the Lake Norman area, hosts 'Good Morning LKN' and 'Today's Real Talk' on WSIC 105.9FM. The forums are sponsored by WSIC FM and streamed live on WSIC.com and all of their social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, YouTube, and Truth.

Douglas Marion, 2023 Chamber Board Chair said, "The Lake Norman Chamber is pleased to provide forums for our members and the residents of our communities to educate themselves on the candidates for office. We are thankful for the support and the cooperation of the respective town managers and their staff in allowing us to facilitate these forums. While the Chamber does not endorse candidates, our hope is that these forums will allow the public to better understand the candidate's positions on issues that affect our communities."

Each of the three towns has newcomers to the political scene running for town board positions with contested races for Mayor in Cornelius and Huntersville. For a complete list of candidates in each community and CMS School Board at large visit meckboe.org.

Bill Russell, president of the Lake Norman Chamber, touched on the importance of this year’s election on the business community. "The local elected officials and our school board members we elect will make decisions which will have a profound impact on our local infrastructure including land use, transportation improvement, and schools. When we vote in this election, we need to select leaders who can balance the continued economic growth and vitality our business community has enjoyed with the land use decisions and insight into managed growth which makes Lake Norman an attractive region to relocate businesses and families."

The format of the forums will be similar to the forums conducted in previous years giving attendees a chance to submit their written questions to the candidates. Local citizens are strongly encouraged to attend and participate. Given the large field of candidates for town commissioner seats in each town, the candidates will be divided into groups giving each equal time.

For more information about the forums, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 704-892-1922 or visit www.lakenormanchamber.org. The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, with approximately 850 business members, has been serving the Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius, and greater Lake Norman region since 1987.

Pictured is moderator Justin Ckezepis, owner and general manager of WSIC.