Tag: Memphis Botanic Garden

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Zoo Babies, Botanic Garden Updates, and a Missing Horse

Zito (left) and Hinata (right) are new at the Memphis Zoo. (Credit: Memphis Zoo)

Memphis Zoo Welcomes Two New Babies

The Memphis Zoo recently welcomed two new babies around the new year, a dik-dik and a bongo. 

Hinata (pronounced Hee-nuh-tuh), which means “sunny place,” was born on New Year’s Eve. The female dik-dik was born to first-time mother, Willow, 2, and father, Mike, 10. Once the weather warms up, Hinata will be found in the Zambezi Hippo River Camp, where the dik-diks share an exhibit with an okapi and a helmeted Guineafowl. 

Zito, a male bongo, was the first animal born in the zoo this year. His name means “clumsy” – which the zoo claims he is – or big. “Once you see his ears, you’ll understand,” says the zoo. Zito was born to mother, Marley, and father, Franklin. 

Mother and baby will be on display in the African Veldt section of the zoo, weather permitting. 

New at the Garden

(Credit: Memphis Botanic Garden)

Two new projects are scheduled to open this summer at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

A new section of the Woodland Garden “is set to become the Garden’s premier showplace of native plants,” says the Garden. Improvements will also be made to better connect the Sara’s Place event venue with the Woodland, to include a new boardwalk, stone pathway, seating, and a scenic overlook. A new sculpture installation will also be part of these improvements. 

The Water Garden, first gifted by the Memphis Garden Club in 1965 and largely untouched since then, is going to get a complete makeover. When complete, this space will become accessible to the public during all operating hours. It will feature a water feature, new public art piece, seating for quiet reflection, and all new plantings. It will also be able to convert to a small event or pre-event space.

The improvements are part of a $6 million campus modernization project that began at the Botanic Gardens in 2019. 

Missing Horse

(Credit: Agricenter International)

UPDATE: Evelyn, the missing horse, was found dead Thursday morning, Agricenter officials said in a statement.

“We thank the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Memphis Police Department, and the Mid-South community for their assistance and outpouring of support in the search for Evelyn,” reads the statement. “We extend our sincerest condolences to the owners and their families during this time.”

Officials from Agricenter International’s Show Place Arena are asking the public to help locate a missing horse. 

The horse, Evelyn (above), is a three-year-old Palomino quarter horse standing 15 hands high, about five feet. She was last seen in her stall in the early morning hours of Saturday, January 15th. She and her owners had competed in the Battle in the Saddle competition at the arena. 

Those who see Evelyn are asked to contact the Shelby County Sheriff’s non-emergency line at (901) 222-5500 and provide her current location. Be cautious and avoid trying to catch her on your own. Keep an eye out for potential dangers to the horse or others.

Owners Jamie and John Osborne can be reached at (901) 734-5064 or loves2barrelrace@hotmail.com, in addition to Agricenter International at (901) 757-7777.

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Yoga Rox

Reach up and stretch at Memphis Rox Yoga Festival. (Photo: Courtesy ABO Marketing)

Making your Saturday healthful at an outdoor event this weekend might be just what you need. If you want to get your yoga on, Memphis Rox Yoga Festival is for you. Join a variety of local studios from Memphis, Nashville, and North Mississippi for a festival celebrating all things yoga.

The festival will offer lectures, workshops, film screenings, and yoga classes for all levels — even kids. Browse the Memphis Botanic Garden while enjoying live music, food trucks, kids’ activities, lectures, and 20 different yoga classes throughout the venue for the entire day.

A portion of the proceeds from the festival will benefit Memphis Rox, a nonprofit climbing gym located in Soulsville, South Memphis, that functions on a pay-what-you-can model. The community benefits from the climbing facility that offers programs to foster relationships across cultural, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds. Rock climbing is a metaphor for overcoming life’s obstacles. The higher the community climbs physically, the higher the community climbs metaphorically. In addition to rock climbing, Memphis Rox also offers other community amenities such as yoga, a community closet, and the Juice Almighty juice bar cafe lunch program.

Co-founder of Memphis Rox Yoga Festival and Memphis Rox board member Susannah Herring says, “When we created the festival, we wanted to partner with a nonprofit organization that supported both yoga and Memphis, and Memphis Rox was the perfect fit. Often rock climbing and yoga go hand-in-hand.”

Memphis Rox Yoga Festival, Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry, Saturday, Sept. 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $35 – $55

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Music Music Blog

Live at the Garden Returns This Summer

Earth, Wind & Fire (photo courtesy Live at the Garden)

Music can be heard among the flowers once again this summer, as Memphis Botanic Garden announces the return of its Live at the Garden summer concert series. In what was supposed to be a 20th anniversary year, Live at the Garden was forced to cancel last summer because of COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions, making the return of the music series all the sweeter. 

Live at the Garden will begin on July 13th, with a performance by country stars Little Big Town, in the recently renamed Radians Amphitheater. Brad Paisley will perform on August 13th, and Memphians can “Soak Up the Sun” with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow on September 17th. Soul/fun superstars Earth, Wind & Fire will headline on October 21st, and a fifth concert is yet to be announced. 

“We were devastated, as was everyone in the event business, to have to cancel last season’s plans. It was supposed to be our 20th anniversary. Due to generous fans and sponsors, we were still able to commemorate the anniversary with the permanent Can’t Stop the Music donor wall, which is located on the west side of the stage,” says Sherry May, co-director of Live at the Garden. “We are so excited to bring Live at the Garden back this July.” 

Sheryl Crow (photo courtesy Live at the Garden)

As the bands strike up again, a new “Title Sponsor” will be supporting the concert series: Regions Bank. The Title Sponsorship role follows Regions’ support as the Can’t Stop the Music Kick-Off Sponsor in 2020. 

Season Lawn Passes for Live at the Garden are $250 for a regular season lawn pass and $300 for a Premium Season Lawn Pass, which allows patrons entry to the venue 15 minutes prior to general gates opening. Individual TruGreen lawn tickets start at $50 plus fees. Both Season Lawn and all individual show tickets go on sale Friday, June 11th, at noon. 

Patrons are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and coolers to the concerts. Food trucks and bars are also located onsite, as well as pre-order catering. 

For more information on Live at the Garden, call 636-4107 or visit liveatthegarden.com.

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Celebrate Mother’s Day at MBG with an Outdoor Picnic

Mother’s Day at the Garden is Sunday, May 9th. (Photo by Frank Chin, Courtesy of Memphis Botanic Garden)

Roses are red, violets are blue, moms are the best, so it is Mother’s Day at the Memphis Botanic Garden for you. In case you have not heard, festivities at the garden are back starting with an outdoor picnic for mom.

“We’re very excited to be able to start phasing in our normal events this spring, albeit in a slightly different format,” says Gina Harris, director of education and events. “The return of a Mother’s Day Picnic is another step toward normalcy at the garden, and we are looking forward to welcoming families to the garden on this special day.”

Pre-order a picnic brunch or pack a lunch to bring with mom’s favorite treats. Local jazz musician Kenneth Jackson will be entertaining with smooth jazz. Sit at a table, available throughout the garden, or bring a blanket. Enjoy cocktails from the cash bar. Special brunch menus and picnic pre-order information can be found on MBG’s website at memphisbotanicgarden.com.

Did you forget to get a gift? Kids can plant a flower for mom, and table floral arrangements will be available for purchase.

Best of all, celebrating mom doesn’t have to break the bank — the event is free with garden admission. No reservations are required.

You can also bring mom to the Garden Food Truck Party series, starting May 13th. Listen to live music from Tracking Giants and enjoy food from 9 Dough 1, Lynnie’s Links and Drinks, El Mero, Soi #9, Smokin’ Hot BBQ, and Muddy’s Bake Shop.

Mother’s Day at the Garden Outdoor Picnic, Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry, Sunday, May 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., free with Garden admission.

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Art Art Feature

Work by Josh Breeden and E.A. Chase.

St. Francis Elevator Ride, i.e. designer and artist Josh Breeden, makes digital collages that look roughly like what your grandmother might have seen if she took acid and spent a long time exploring her 1960s kitchen. Tequila-sunrise-tinted backdrops create a ground for bouquets of metallic machinery, while illustrative body parts float somewhere in the natural order.

In a new show, “Lush Interiors,” at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Breeden expands his practice into three dimensions: The collages are separated out on several wooden planes, which, in turn, are bolted together to create a layered image. Breeden makes the cuts using a CNC router, and so, like everything else on the Elevator Ride, the panels are cleanly designed. This approach is a step forward but not a departure from the artist’s earlier work, which variously portrayed the crystallized and melting visage of Miley Cyrus and mid-century dinner parties gone psychedelically haywire.

Tending the Typing Pool by St. Francis Elevator Ride

The collages in “Lush Interiors” bring to mind Renaissance botanical drawings. The outsized fruits of the artist’s imagination, coupled with some engineering-style linework, give the impression of a Taxonomy of the Weird. Even the assumed name seems to confirm: St. Francis, old world patron of the natural, goes on an elevator ride, otherwise known as the No. 1 American experience. So it makes sense that there is a good mix of gross Americana and transcendent florals visible in the work.

Breeden is a great designer, and his work as St. Francis definitely walks a border between art and design. But I’d be curious to see what would happen if he abandoned his spic-and-span design sensibility and let in some mess. After all, a 1960s grandma on hallucinogens would probably not have the time to clean.

Contemporary blacksmithing is not so much a job as it is a vocation, like nunhood or being a Hollywood stuntman. The average American teenager doesn’t just stumble into a smithy on the way home from Anime club, and so the few current-day souls who choose to spend their life in a forge are special. In my experience (and I used to work at the Metal Museum, so I get to have an opinion), the field is populated with people who love doing things the hard way, appreciate nature, make bad puns, and are usually very sturdy.

Bear these traits in mind when you go see the blacksmith E.A. Chase’s exhibit of engineering sketches, on view at the museum through October 2nd. The small exhibit is located on the first floor of the museum’s library building, and, though it isn’t the flashiest show in the museum’s history, it is certainly one of the most candid. You can imagine Chase, a white-bearded, veteran craftsman, sitting in his California studio and carefully shading in his imaginative designs of steel mermaids, copper monkeys, and iron dragonflies.

E.A. Chase’s Proposed Sculpture for the City of Exeter, California

Chase is one of the 20th century’s most noted blacksmiths, a New-York-educated craft revivalist whose designs are both innovatively engineered and unusually artful. The artist made his drawings of gates, lamps, railings, chandeliers, and fireplace sets for a seemingly whimsical and monied Californian clientele. His butterfly-shaped steel gates, lovingly sketched on velum paper, will make you want to acquire coastal property and grow citrus fruit. Hand-serifed letters and accompanying sketches of miniature blacksmiths only add to the candor and charm of the work.

The show of Chase’s drawings offers visitors a chance to visualize the labor and extensive planning that goes into large-scale metalworking projects, even those that never came to fore. There’s something sad and beautiful about the drawings for projects that were left somewhere in the balance. One structure, a proposed public commission, showcases the complete history of the city of Santa Cruz from indigenous history to tech economy. The drawing is elaborately made, but the gate never came to fruition. A brief note beneath the piece reads that it “floundered in politics.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Porktoberfest at Memphis Botanic Garden

A new event took place at the Memphis Botanic Garden this year, and it was all about the best pork and brews! Porktoberfest is the joining together of Oktoberfest (a celebration of beer) and a celebration of food that Memphis is well known for… pork!! Gates opened at 11 am and the event went till 6 pm.

Here’s a list of some of the Mid-South’s favorite restaurants that were on-site. Every sample had some type of pork dish.

1. Tart – Pork Rillette with Mango Salsa on Crustinis
2. BGR The Burger Joint – Onion Bacon Jam Sliders and Bacon Cheese Sliders
3. Ridgeway Country Club – Wild Boar Bolognese
4. Corky’s – BBQ Pork Nachos
5. Jim’s Place – Souflima
6. The Boiling Point – Chicken Sausage Gumbo & Seafood Gumbo
7. PIG OUT – Smoked Pork Lasagna
8. P.F. Chang’s – Jicama Pork Tacos
9. Fairbanks Steakhouse in Hollywood Casino – Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Herb Polenta
10. Double J Smokehouse – BBQ Egg Rolls & Pulled Pork Sliders
11. Ty & Maddy’s – Maple Bacon Popcorn
12. Miss Polly’s – BBQ Spaghetti
13. Agave Maria – Pork Carnitas Tostada
14. Fuel Café – Sweet Potato Bacon Phyllo Cup
15. The Brass Door – Bavarian Style Bacon and Cabbage with Pulled Pork McFadden Style

There was also a huge beer tent, bars, football games on a big screen, live music, and yard games. People brought their lawn chairs and blankets and just hung out! It was $10 to attend and food-wise that gave you access to two samples. For just $10 more, you got a card that gave you access to five more samples! It was the perfect way to have a relaxing Saturday.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

On the Scene at Cooking for a Cure

The annual Cooking For A Cure fund-raiser took place on Friday night at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. It benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Camp Sunshine.

The Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide funding to the brain tumor program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, organizes the event. The foundation also supports Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine, a camp for families of children with cancer. The Noyes family started the foundation back in 2007 after their son, Matthew, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2002.

By raising funds for the St. Jude Brain Tumor Program, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation hopes to improve survival rates and decrease side effects for children who suffer from this illness.

The event featured a live auction and food was provided by Lafayette’s Music Room, A Taste Of Heaven Catering, Smokers Anonymous, Folk’s Folly, Bonefish Grill, Spaghetti Warehouse, Babul Tacos & Tapas, Itta Bena, Seasons 52, Outback Steakhouse, P.F. Changs, Nothing Bundt Cakes, DeJaVu, The Royal Panda, Boozy Bites Sweets, Bahama Breeze, More Than Coffee, and Ms. Shelbi L. Southern Belle. 

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Style Sessions We Recommend

Dress for Success Memphis presents The Little Black Dress Event

A few LBD committee members and volunteers. Front Row, Left to Right: Cynthia Daniels, Yevette Hughes, Sandra Burke, Tyria Perkins.  Second Row: Nykeshia Cole and Rebecca Bush. Photographed at Memphis Botanic Garden.

Tomorrow night, Dress for Success Memphis hosts its annual Little Black Dress Event at Memphis Botanic Garden. The fundraising event created around this classic essential also highlights an organization that helps transform the lives of women through fashion.

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“The LBD event is a chance to share our story,” explains DFS Memphis Executive Director Sandra Burke. “Donors and potential donors will meet our clients who be there as hostesses. Put on your favorite little black dress, and you’ll feel your highest.”

As Sandra points out her fascination with the history of the little black dress, it appears that the LBD story begins to touch on the positive effects of the organization’s story. Coco Chanel, credited to the introduction of the little black dress, designed and showcased a simple black dress in the 1920s worn by highly regarded women such as Edith Piaf. The LBD made its statement by being accessible to women of any social standing yet maintaining a chic appearance. The economy of the black fabric made it affordable, and the neutrality of black allowed the silhouette of the dress to become the focus. In essence, without the frivolity of details or another color causing distraction, a superbly simple black dress allows its wearer to shine and feel their highest.

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A sample of auction items donated by sponsors.

Dress for Success Memphis serves the community by helping low-income women make the transition into the workplace. DFS volunteers are “change agents” for these women by providing them with work-appropriate attire, counseling, and career development to help them feel their highest.

“It’s a wonderful organization. Women [we serve] gain self-sufficiency and independence and become more economically sound. We can all make a difference in their lives and in our community,” says Sandra about being change agents. 

Sandra Burke, DFS Memphis Executive Director.

Before becoming part of the Dress for Success Worldwide network in 1999, DFS Memphis began as the Career Closet, founded about a year before by Janelle Ray, an AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer, and Anne Jones, a member of Idlewild Presbyterian Church. Today, the non-profit organization has served around 500 women this year and over 6,500 women in the Memphis Metropolitan Area since its inception. Dedicated volunteer Ruby Dandridge has been with Dress for Success for almost 10 years, enjoying her role as personal shopper and mentor to these women helping them gain confidence in themselves. In the first client “suiting,” volunteers like Ruby work closely with clients to find the best professional outfit for them to wear to their job interview. Lives can change profoundly through just one outfit.
 

Ruby Dandridge, DFS volunteer.

The growing awareness of Dress of Success and more involvement by DFS worldwide and their national sponsors help the local affiliate keep their donation closets filled. Other ways people can help the organization are by donating money and time as a volunteer and, of course, by attending events like the Little Black Dress.

“It’ll be a fun evening where women can showcase their most darling little black dress and exotic shoes, while the men are displaying their favorite tie. There will be music, wine & hors d’oeuvres, a fashion show by White House Black Market, as well as a silent auction of wonderful items donated from local businesses to benefit Dress for Success Memphis,” says LBD event chair, Yevette Hughes. “One of the new thing this year is our cigar lounge. We want to embrace the male culture and get them involved with this event, and we will have our CEO from our Worldwide office for Dress For Success attending.”

As far as finding the right LBD, Yevette suggests finding the one right for you. “You want to make sure that you are comfortable and radiant with beauty.”

Event Details
The Little Black Dress, Thursday, October 15th, 6-9 PM at Memphis Botanic Garden.
Purchase tickets online at Eventbrite or at the event. Proceeds from the event will benefit Dress for Success Memphis.

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Other upcoming DFS fundraising events include the Upscale Boutique Sale on October 31st where they will sell their overflow of donated clothes, shoes, and accessories. Many items are still new marked at a discounted price. Proceeds benefit Dress for Success Memphis. It will be held at Dress for Success Memphis
2730 Colony Park Dr # 7, Memphis, TN 38118.

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Easter Events

CREDIT: Konstanttin | Dreamstime.com

There has not been a want for “eggstravaganzas” around these part. Case in point: the Eco EGGstravagnza at Shelby Farms (Saturday, April 4th, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.), which kicks off the park’s month of Earth Day events. This family-friendly event includes an egg hunt, environmental exhibits, eco crafts, a fishing rodeo, nature hikes, live music, food trucks, and more. The park’s new Treetop Adventure course and zipline will be open as well. The Memphis Botanic Garden is holding a Family Egg Hunt (Saturday, 1-4 p.m., $10), with age-specific hunts. The Easter Bunny will be there for photo opportunities and there will be a magic show and crafts. The Dixon’s also in the egg-hunt game (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-noon, $10). Reservations are required for this one: 761-5250.

Konstanttin | Dreamstime.com

Also happening Saturday are the annual Bunny Run in Audubon Park (9 a.m.), a 5K and fun run benefiting SRVS, which helps children with special needs, and the Easter Eve Concert at Levitt Shell (6-9 p.m.) featuring family-friendly music by the Passport and more from the students of Visible Music College.

All that egg-hunting can build up an appetite, so head downtown for eighty3’s Easter brunch (Sunday, April 5th, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.). The special menu includes an andouille sausage pie, brown sugar smoked ham, and a trio of desserts to choose from, including carrot cake ice cream sandwiches with ginger ice cream and lime caramel dipping sauce. Reservations: 333-1224. The Peabody will be having its annual Easter brunch (10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., $22 for children 5 to 12, $64 adults). This is a massive feed with 100s of dishes to choose from and a 32-foot-long dessert table. Reservations: 529-4183.

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A Sketchy Past

While most of Irene Miller Rodkin’s art is unsigned, chances are, if you lived in Memphis in the 1970s and much of the ’80s, you know her work well. That’s when Rodkin was the main staff fashion artist for the Goldsmith’s in-house advertising department. Back then, Goldsmith’s used illustrations, rather than photographs, to show off their goods in advertisements, and Rodkin would, on average, create an illustration a day for that purpose. A collection of her illustrations, along with portraits and other work, will be on display in the exhibit “When Ads Were Art” at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

“Buyers within the store would be responsible for choosing the things they wanted featured in the ad,” Rodkin says. “They would bring [the clothes] up to my office, and I would first sketch them on hangers, and then I would put them on figures.” The figures were copied from tearsheets from other newspapers collected by the layout department and chosen to best highlight the clothes. “I liked high fashion the best,” Rodkin says. “A large volume of ads were sale ads, where they’d feature a really good sale price, and the illustrations would be of dresses or house garments or lingerie. They would be kind of generic. But once in a while, I would get really nice fashion ads.”

The illustrations featured in the exhibit are originals given to Rodkin over the years by the production department. “The production person would return some of the originals to me because they would store them, and they wouldn’t always have room,” she says. “Some things they thought were too nice to pitch.”

“When Ads Were Art” at the Memphis Botanic Garden from January 5th-31st. The opening reception is Sunday, January 6th,
from 2 to 4 p.m.