Welcome to summertime in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s hot. It’s humid. The unforgiving sun is shining like a diamond. But the city’s opening back up in ways we only could have dreamed of this time last year. Whether outdoors or in, there’s fun to be had — and ways to cool down. Snow cones, refreshing cocktails, canoeing, swimming, and more await to make this summer the best one yet.
Assignment: Drink Beer
Summer is for beer. Cold ones are just better on hot days. That’s science.
The pandemic kept us on the porch for much of the summer 2020 beer-drinking season. Those annual traditions — like cookouts, concerts, and baseball games — all easily melted behind daily worries of a cruel illness that took so much more than just our summertime fun time.
For most, COVID-19 worries have now melted and those summer traditions have priority seating. We know what we missed last year, and we now know just how important that fun stuff — like drinking summer beers with your friends — really is.
To ensure you don’t regret missing a moment this summer, here is your Memphis summertime, beer-drinking assignment sheet.
1. Drink light beer at AutoZone Park.
Beer and baseball is the winningest combo since pork shoulder and dry rub. Let’s face it, they belong together.
You absolutely can grab an IPA (and probably other styles) at the park. But the magic of the park and the game is really made with a light American lager, like Miller Lite. It’s simple, dependable, and when it’s served ice-cold in a big plastic cup — don’t ask me how it works but — the summer spell is cast.
2. Drink a fruity sour beer watching an outdoor concert.
Drinking to livestreams in your pajamas cannot compare to dancing to live music in your bare feet. We’re back at it this year with tons of live music events guaranteed to be packed and to boogie-oogie-oogie you from your socially distanced funk-ola.
Fruity sours are summer-perfect. They’re different, light, sweet, sometimes mouth-puckeringly tart, but predictably transportive. Like dancing in a crowd in 2021, sours will make you say, “Whoa. This is different. But I like it.”
3. Drink an epic hazy IPA at your favorite taproom.
Your favorite brewery’s taproom was closed last year. You couldn’t try the crazy beer with the crazy name that would never make it to grocery-store shelves.
Now that you can, you may not know that the national haze craze — the wave of hazy IPAs — has pooled securely in Memphis breweries. Call me a hazy boi all you like, but these beers are great.
They’re soft and sometimes sweet. Here, they show off the real creativity of Memphis brewers, the diversity of flavors these talented folks can concoct from one style.
Show up and order the hazy. Then you’ll know what’s up with a trendy beer that’s crazy-Instagrammable. (Shoot your glass with the sun behind it. And your local brewery will thank you.) — Toby Sells
no need to mow your lawn. (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)
Create a Yard for Wildlife
Tired of mowing and maintaining a lawn? I was, too. That’s why, a few years back, my wife and I began transforming our Midtown backyard into a natural habitat that attracts birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. By using native and easy-to-care-for perennials, our main chore each year is to cut them back in the spring, fertilize them, and watch them grow and blossom. And as a bonus, it’s beautiful.
Our native black and blue salvia flowers, butterfly bushes, bee balm plants, daylilies, lantana, orpine, and even basil and thyme flowers attract hummingbirds better than our feeders do, though we have a couple of those, as well. The flowers also bring in bees and butterflies of every variety throughout the summer and fall. We keep a bird feeder filled with seeds year-round, which keeps the cardinals and finches nesting nearby.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) offers guidelines for making your yard a sustainable environment. The five keys are: food (plants and feeders that provide nectar, seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, foliage, pollen, and insects); water (birdbaths or other sources); cover (bushes, trees, and tall grasses); places to raise young (ditto the bushes, trees, and tall grasses); and sustainable gardening practices (no chemicals). If you’re into that sort of thing, you can apply to the NWF for a sign to put in your yard when you think you qualify.
We don’t have an official sign, but by midsummer our backyard is filled with life and beauty that brings us enjoyment throughout the day. By July, our fig tree is an all-day party. (Pecking order: blue jays, robins, cardinals, then assorted little guys and squirrels.) We have thrilling aerial “battles” between bumblebees, hummingbirds, and dragonflies as they jockey for position on the blooms. And our butterfly variety is second to none.
Sound good? Get started today. Dig up your lawn, start planting flowers and bushes, and just say no mow. — Bruce VanWyngarden
Beat the Heat With Sweet Summer Treats
Where I come from, humidity doesn’t exist. So it’s understandable that this former desert-dweller constantly needs a way to stave off all that excess water vapor when the Memphis summertime rolls in with its 90-plus-degree temperatures. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to temper the heat wave, and many of them just so happen to come out of Memphis’ booming food scene. Here are just a few ways to keep it cool while the sun is shining.
For something a little different from your standard ice cream cone, hop out to Cordova or East Memphis for a refreshing take on the sweet confection. Poke World serves up rolled ice cream, a dessert originating from Thailand. A regular ice cream base is poured over a freezing stainless steel surface and, once solidified, scraped off and formed into thin rolls. It’s both novelty and familiarity all at once, rounded out with other sweet toppings. Celebrate the season with the Summer Love, covered in bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream.
Down Summer Avenue (or one of its other four locations), Memphis’ very own paleteria always comes through in a pinch. La Michoacana serves up paletas, a popsicle derivation originating from Mexico. But these popsicles pack an extra punch that’s a cut above the usual frozen sugar water. Paletas are usually made from fresh fruits like mangos and strawberries or from creamier ingredients like chocolate. The bright, swirly combinations of fruity goodness will have your head spinning with brain freeze because it’s just so good. Devour at your own peril, but no one leaves La Michoacana unsatisfied.
But if a little more zing is needed in a dessert, just head on over to Global Cafe and let Juan work his magic behind the bar. The food hall’s cocktails always pack a punch, but go with this year’s seasonal drink, the Peaches and Cream. It comes as advertised, fresh California yellow peaches pureed into silver rum and topped with whipped cream. It’s basically ice cream in a cocktail format, and all the better for it. I stopped at one, but the urge to grab several more sits right there, dangerous and tantalizing.
These sweets are best in moderation, saved for a truly hot summer day. But there’s plenty more out there, of perhaps the Jerry’s or MEMPops variety, so get to exploring. — Samuel X. Cicci
Day at the Museum
It’s a sidewalk sizzling Memphis summer, and after a year-plus of social distancing and livestreaming digital events, I’m ready to resume one of my favorite air-conditioned(!) pastimes — strolling leisurely through one of the Bluff City’s museums.
With recently debuted and soon-to-open exhibits at many of the museums in question, one would be hard-pressed to find a better time to take in some fine art, history, or pop culture.
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Overton Park has too many exhibits to give a full accounting here, but “Persevere and Resist: The Strong Black Women of Elizabeth Catlett” and “Memphis Artists In Real Time” are two worth a closer look. Opening later this month is “Eggleston: The Louisiana Project” featuring work by Memphis photographer William Eggleston.
Over at the Memphis Museum of Science & History (MoSH for short, though old-timers might know it as the Pink Palace), museum marketing manager Bill Walsh says, “Our ‘Machine Inside: Biomechanics’ exhibit and Sea Lions: Life by A Whisker giant screen movie make MoSH the perfect place to cool off this summer and explore science, history, and nature.”
Meanwhile, further east, the Dixon, with its gardens and museum galleries, offers an equilibrium between indoor and outdoor activities. “We love to offer ways for visitors to beat the heat,” says Chantal Drake. “Cooling off in the museum is an enjoyable and educational way to get out of the heat. Summer exhibitions at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens highlight local artists, a centenarian artist, and our founders, Margaret and Hugo Dixon.
“Although it’s summer in Memphis,” she continues, “the shady spots in the garden are perfect for a picnic where visitors can top it off with gelato from Zio Matto at Food Truck Fridays.”
Meanwhile, at Elvis Presley’s Graceland, David Beckwith says, “Graceland officially kicks off the summer with the All-American 4th of July Weekend. The two-day event will include concerts, parties, a barbecue, a gospel brunch, special tours, and more, all capped off with an Elvis-themed fireworks spectacular.”
That’s just the tip of the hunka, hunka iceberg, though. The “Inside the Walt Disney Archives” exhibition, which opens July 23rd, celebrates the legacy of the Walt Disney Company archives, with behind-the-scenes access never before granted to the public. Currently open is the “King of Karate” exhibit. Included in the pop-up exhibit’s collection will be Presley’s personal karate gis, his seventh- and eighth-degree black belt certificates, and the original handwritten script for his 1974 karate documentary, The New Gladiators.
Finally, at Stax, they’re celebrating their archives with “Solid Gold Soul: The Best of the Rest from the Stax Museum,” which opens Friday, July 16th. “‘Solid Gold Soul’ showcases the museum staff’s favorite objects that are not part of the permanent exhibits and, with the exception of Isaac Hayes’ office desk and chair, all items are on display for the first time,” says Stax’s Jeff Kollath. “Highlights include rare photographs of the Bar-Kays, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes; stage costumes worn by members of Funkadelic and the TSU Toronadoes; and rare vinyl records and photographs from the recently acquired Bob Abrahamian Collection.”
Of course, there are more Memphis museums to explore. The views from the Metal Museum’s bluffs are worth the trip, and every Memphian needs to visit the National Civil Rights Museum — preferably more than once. The Withers Collection Museum & Gallery on Beale is a personal favorite, and its deceptively small size in square footage is no hindrance to the breadth of Memphis life on view, as captured by the lens of photographer Ernest Withers. Whether it’s culture, history, science, or just powerful air-conditioning you seek, Memphis’ museums make for some special summer fun. — Jesse Davis
Paddle Your Cares Away
For this former Boy Scout, summer means it’s paddling season. While crafts like kayaks, canoes, or stand-up paddle boards take a bit of skill to keep under control, it’s not a steep learning curve, and the rewards are enormous, including the sublime quiet of such boating: All you hear is the dip of your paddle in the water and whatever the environment offers.
The environment can be spectacular if you make the short trip out to the Ghost River, a section of the Wolf River. Unlike parts of the Wolf in and around Memphis, the Ghost River section to the east has not been dredged and is dominated by cypress trees rising solemnly out of the unhurried flow, complemented with abundant wildlife, flowers, and grasses.
As Mark Babb, co-founder of Ghost River Rentals (ghostriverrentals.com), puts it, “Thanks to the efforts of the Wolf River Conservancy and others in the late ’80s, there is no erosion. It’s a Class 1 river, with a mild current. But we won’t go down the river with a chain saw and clear out the vegetation to make it an easy trip. We want to keep it natural. And when these trees fall across the river, they help to restrict the flow to prevent the erosion so it doesn’t become channelized or become a steep-banked river, like you see in other sections.”
As a result, Babb’s boat rental service recommends having at least one experienced paddler per boat. “A paddler needs to know how to steer a boat,” he says, “how to re-right their boat, how to avoid the tree limbs, how to portage over and around the downed trees.” Or one can spring for a guide to lead a group through the area.
Another option is to stick closer to the city. “When it comes to inexperienced paddlers, we recommend Kayak Memphis Tours (kayakmemphistours.com), which my son started. They offer canoeing and kayaking on the Memphis harbor and at Shelby Farms, including full moon floats every month, and July Fourth fireworks viewing out on the harbor.” — Alex Greene
Cool off at Jerry’s
With apologies to Mungo Jerry and his song, “In the Summertime”: In the summertime when the weather is high — you can choose from 100 flavors at Jerry’s Sno Cones.
That also goes for fall, winter, and spring. And you can get hamburgers, chicken tenders, and other food items at either of the Jerry’s locations (1657 Wells Station Road or 1601 Bonnie Lane in Cordova).
Owner David Acklin was a customer before he owned the business, which he believes opened in 1967. “I used to go there when I was a teenager,” says David whose favorite flavor was — and still is — blue raspberry.
He got to know the owners L.B. and Cordia Clifton, whose son Jerry was the namesake of the business. The Cliftons became his “replacement grandparents,” says Acklin, who was 18 when he lost his grandfather. Acklin worked at a printing company at the time, but he also worked for the Cliftons for free after he got off his other job.
Acklin eventually bought Jerry’s Sno Cones, but he continued to work at the printing company. “I used to change clothes at red lights. Take off my tie and put on my shorts. … I used to wear penny loafers. I’d pull my socks off and slide into my flip-flops.”
There would already be a line when he got there at 3:30 p.m.
Acklin remembers going outside one July. “The line went straight out around the sign and two houses down.” He asked a kid in line to count the people. “So, 220 people.”
What’s the most popular snow cone flavor? “Wedding Cake Supreme. It’s red wedding cake and it’s got vanilla ice cream running through it.” — Michael Donahue
Summer in the Streets
Memphis has enough parks and playgrounds and other open space to accommodate a generous amount of summer recreation. And there are things to do off-campus, as it were.
The Bluff City has historically not witnessed the street stickball or other hazardous pastimes of so much big-city urban legend elsewhere, although the city’s sidewalks still work for hopscotch, and, with proper caution and adult supervision and sufficient notice to the neighbors, a children’s game or two undoubtedly gets played in the quieter residential coves.
As it happens, the streets are literally ideal for one particular form of recreation, which also has numerous utilitarian aspects. That would be bike-riding — if performed in the numerous lanes provided and plainly marked out along the margins of city streets and roads and carried out with sufficient attention to the rules of safety, particularly the wearing of helmets. Memphis has a variety of clubs for cyclists, and these groups generally provide for training and both spontaneous and carefully structured events.
As it happens, the simple act of walking and, with special care for fellow pedestrians, running are the most basic, easiest, and least expensive of street pastimes. Here, too, the largely common-sense rules of safety, such as attention to crosswalks and traffic lights, is called for.
Luckily, the Memphis Runners Track Club and other groups organize races and fun runs during the warm-weather months, and these, in cooperation with city government, take place along pre-planned and sectioned-off routes. The charge, when there is one, is nominal.
The often-overlooked Mud Island Riverwalk is technically not a street attraction, but it is outdoors, free of charge, and — in the oft-abused phrase — educational with its evocation of the city’s larger landscape, with enough DIY potential to appeal to the liberated spirit.
And, as veterans remember about the Jakob Dylan street concert of some 20 years ago, a serendipity stemming from a Beale Street opening, once in a while we have the good fortune of some free music. Maybe we’ll get lucky again. — Jackson Baker
Swim!
“It’s hot, and you need a pool!”
That’s how the classic Memphis commercial for Watson’s announced the beginning of summer. When the thermometer creeps upward, nothing is better than splashing in a pool or diving into a lake. But first, you should learn to swim, says Rob Snowberger.
As a swim coach for 50 years and the owner of Coach Rob’s Pool School, Snowberger has taught tens of thousands of Memphians to swim. “Drowning is the second-largest cause of accidental death, after car accidents,” he says. “It is the leading cause of death among preschool children. Below 3,000 deaths is considered a ‘good year.’ Seventy percent of those preschooler deaths take place in the backyard pool, which is the focus of our swim school — trying to avoid that catastrophe.”
Snowberger says it’s never too late to learn to swim — his oldest beginning student ever was 72. Children as young as 18 months can start learning, but the coach says most kids don’t develop the physical coordination needed until about age 3. “Swimming is a very complex feat. You’re kicking your legs, moving your arms, controlling your breathing. You’re turning your head in sequence with your arms. Dribbling a basketball is an easy skill, compared to all those things.”
Is it okay to jump in Memphis’ most famous body of water, the Mississippi River? “Oh, hell no!” says Snowberger.
Swimming in swiftly moving water is extremely dangerous. The Mississippi might look lazy on the surface, but that hides some of the strongest currents in the world. With those currents come all the debris that washed into the river as it traveled from Minnesota to Memphis. Swimmers run the risk of being struck by debris or pulled under by those currents.
Luckily, there are plenty of places to get wet, from public pools to backyard splashes to lakes. Snowberger says if you have small children, avoid the inflatable arm floaties and invest in a good life jacket with a strap between the legs.
And have fun! After all, it’s hot out. — Chris McCoy