HUNTERSVILLE – At a sold-out luncheon at the NorthStone Country Club Thursday, July 21, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx encouraged local businesses to seek out contracts to serve the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Foxx told local elected officials and members of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce that businesses can become vendors by responding to requests for proposals at the convention website, www.Charlottein2012.com.

More than 140 hotels from Statesville to Rock Hill, S.C., have reserved 30,000 hotel rooms for the convention. Visit Lake Norman Executive Director Sally Ashworth said Lake Norman-area hotels “have already contracted 1,000 of our available 1,600 rooms in this market and that number is expected to climb.”