Monday • Shelby County added 304 new cases of COVID-19 on test results reported from the prior weekend, bringing the total number of cases to 16,767. Eleven deaths were recorded on the weekend for a total of 244.
Courtesy: Jerred Price
Image concepts of Mud Island Amphitheater with corporate branding.
Tuesday
• Shelby County added 211 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 16,987. ICU capacity was at 85 percent.
• The Mud Island Amphitheater has been quiet for a while now, but a new group announced plans to try to change that.
Jerred Price was elected president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) in February. He formed a committee focused on reviving Mud Island Amphitheater.
Price said he hoped the group can attract corporations interested in the naming rights to the amphitheater in exchange for funds to improve it and, ultimately, begin to host shows there once again. (See image examples above.)
“(Mud Island Amphitheater) is challenging, but it can still work, and it did for years and years and years,” Price said. “It’s just become not the focus. I think a lot of Downtowners are really disappointed in the condition of it.”
• A Memphis City Council committee agreed to rename a stretch of Poplar “Black Lives Matter Avenue” last week.
However, the proposal was stalled before it could make it to the full council for a vote. Another council vote that Tuesday formed a new committee that will review the renaming of Memphis city parks, streets, and place names.
Should the Black Lives Matter renaming pass out of committee, it would then head to the Land Use Control Board for a final say. If approved, Poplar — between Front Street and Danny Thomas, which runs in front of 201 Poplar — would get the name change.
Kristen Walker
Wednesday
• Shelby County added 277 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 17,255. Seven new deaths were recorded, bringing the total death toll to 251.
• The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County (HSMSC) was searching for people to foster shelter animals, especially kittens.
Society officials said kittens are susceptible to disease and can’t stay in the shelter environment for long. Last month, the shelter’s kitten intake was up 236 percent, compared to June 2019.
While they get more puppies and kittens during warmer months, officials said they received three times the requests this year due to a variety of reasons related to COVID-19, such as limited facilities offering spay and neuter surgeries, as well as fewer shelter options for surrendering litters.
Google Maps
Thursday • Riverside Drive will reopen to vehicles on Monday, August 3rd, but will close again on weekends, according to the Mississippi River Parks Partnership (MRPP) last week.
The group said the street will close each Friday at 6 p.m. and open again at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings “to allow people to use the street and park safely.” The Tom Lee Park parking lot will remain closed.
• Shelby County added 429 new cases of COVID-19 on test results reported since Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of cases to 17,255. The death toll rose by five to 256.
• The MRPP, in response to an announcement from the Downtown Neighborhood Association (see above) regarding Mud Island Amphitheater, said refurbishing the venue would be costly and was more complicated than just upgrading the amphitheater itself.
George Abbott, director of external affairs for the MRPP, said the amphitheater should be considered a part of the entire Mud Island River Park. To deliver the venue as a “minimum viable product” — for safety upgrades to even allow shows back there at all — would cost $2 million. But to do it right for modern productions, it would cost more than $10 million.
“I don’t think there’s really anyone who disagrees with the fact that we’ve got an asset on our hands,” Abbott said. “The discussion really is, again, we need the right partner to be in place, to operate this at a level that we all want to see here in Memphis.”
Friday • Shelby County added 374 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 18,058. Three deaths were reported for a total of 259. The number of active cases in the county fell below 5,000 (4,980) and was only 27.6 percent of all virus cases reported since the disease arrived here in March.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) announced plans this week to help revive Mud Island Amphitheater. The group formed a committee to begin working to ultimately bring concerts back to the 5,000-seat amphitheater.
The venue is part of the massive Mud Island River Park, opened in 1982 at a cost of $63 million. When it opened, the park included three restaurants. While those are closed, Mud Island still features an indoor museum (now closed because of COVID-19), a boat launch, a monorail with two terminals between a suspension bridge, and a five-block long scale model of the Lower Mississippi River. The Tennessean/1982
Here’s how it was described in a 1982 full-page ad in The Tennessean right before it opened: “Not a theme park. Not an amusement park. Mud Island is a 50-acre Mississippi River adventure built by the people of Memphis.”
Mud Island River Park is one of several riverfront parks managed for the city by the Mississippi River Parks Partnership (MRPP). The group was criticized earlier this week by DNA president Jerred Price for allowing the park to fall into “despair” and allowing the stage at the amphitheater to remain unused since 2018. The group proposed finding a corporate sponsor who would get naming rights to the venue for money to fix it up. (See below.)
Courtesy: Jerred Price
George Abbott, director of external affairs for the MRPP, said the amphitheater is special but should be considered a part of the entire Mud Island River Park. To deliver the venue as a “minimum viable product” — for safety upgrades to even allow shows back there at all — it would cost $2 million. But to do it right for modern productions, it would cost more than $10 million. He said MRPP asked city leaders for the money this year but couldn’t blame them for not approving it. — Toby Sells
Memphis Flyer: What do you think about the DNA’s plans for Mud Island Amphitheater?
George Abbot:There’s no denying that the amphitheater really sits in an incredible location and has a beautiful backdrop behind it. As such, it’s an important asset for our city.
But I think it’s very hard to consider the amphitheater in isolation. Mud Island was really built as a complete experience. I wasn’t alive when it opened. But I’ve heard people talk about it. You went there to eat at one of the restaurants. You visited the museum. There were shows every hour in the amphitheater. (The amphitheater) was really designed as a piece.
(The MRPP has) been in place for just over two years. We’ve had multiple discussions with venue operators about what can take place in the amphitheater, what needs to happen, which upgrades need to go in there. There hasn’t been a show in the amphitheater since 2018. [Allison Krauss and Widespread Panic were among the last shows there.]
MRPP: Mud Island Amphitheater Fix ‘Complicated’; Will Cost $2M-$10.5M (2)
If you look at the cost-assessment, you begin to see how it’s inextricably tied to the rest of the island. You’re looking at roughly around $2 million in capital expenses, that needs to be put in [the amphitheater] to achieve a minimum viable product. That’s only the amphitheater itself.
Then, you begin to ask the question: Well, how do people get there? Then you start looking at some of the capital expenses for the two [monorail] terminals on either end. Then, you start asking questions about the monorail, and about the parking lot, and the escalators and elevators. It all adds up. We’ve worked with a couple of different firms to do cost estimates for all of Mud Island and they can get up to more than $20 million in capital expenses.
The discussions we’ve had with venue operators, and promoters all took place in a pre-pandemic environment. Looking ahead to the future, who knows what what the concert industry looks like and what the live-event industry looks like.
That, to me, actually creates a very exciting opportunity for the amphitheater. This could be a prototype of the new concert-going experience. But to get there, you need a little bit more understanding of what the landscape looks like. You need a very savvy, smart, and experienced operator to partner with us to get there.
[pullquote-1] I don’t think there’s really anyone who disagrees with the fact that we’ve got an asset on our hands. The discussion really is, again, we need the right partner to be in place, to operate this at a level that we all want to see here in Memphis. We’ve spoken of some of those offerings and we’ll continue to have those discussions. But it takes some time and I don’t think really any concert promoters or operators are looking very far in the future right now.
Courtesy: Jerred Price
MF: As far as priorities right now for the MRPP, are Mud Island and the amphitheater, maybe No. 2 or No. 3 and Tom Lee Park is No. 1?
GA: I wouldn’t necessarily rank them because we’ve been working on both of those projects at the same time.
We are stewards of public assets. As such, it is our responsibility to steward public assets in the way that brings the most benefits to the city. That’s one of the reasons I find it difficult to recommend spending that. … Let’s say you do the minimum viable product for the amphitheater. It’s about $2 million.
We actually asked for that money in the (the city’s Capital Improvement Program budget) this year. The city didn’t give that that money to us. But, to be fair, I don’t really blame them so much for that. That delivers you the safety upgrades inside the amphitheater itself. That doesn’t do anything about access.
Some of the operators we’ve spoken to have estimated that you’d need about $8.5 million on top of that $2 million for the upgrades to the amphitheater — things like raising the roof so you can fit in modern productions — to really make it a competitive facility.
So, I don’t blame (city leaders) for not approving that money while there isn’t some kind of a comprehensive plan in place for the island.
Our job as stewards of public assets is to invest in places where they can have the most impact, which is precisely why there has been a focus not just on Tom Lee Park, but on all of our parks that are adjacent to Downtown. As such, they’re accessible to many, many more people without necessarily having to drive and bringing the associated economic benefit to Downtown businesses.
One of the problems with Mud Island, for me, is that it was always kind of pitched as like the theme-park-type experience. It was difficult to access and most people would drive Downtown or you’d even drive directly on onto Mud Island, the parking lot over there, and that was kind of your day out. That’s what it was designed as.
Mississippi River Parks Partnership
You’d come Downtown. Experience the theme park. Stay in the theme park. Eat here. Entertain yourself here, and then get back in your car, and drive away.
If we think of how we build a successful and thriving Downtown, you want people to do multiple things on that trip. So, you come Downtown, maybe have dinner on the [Main Street] Mall. You visit a riverfront park and then go to a show at the Orpheum, all without having to get back into that into that car. Every time someone gets back into that car, it’s a potential that they drive away and they drive out of Downtown.
So, connectivity is key and that’s always been Mud Island’s weakness. And that’s why our focus in the past couple of years has been on those places that are accessible, that bring the economic impacts of Downtown, but that also are accessible and close to the neighborhoods to the north and south of Downtown that have been economically depressed for a long time.
For some people, visiting the riverfront is kind of the place where they find peace. It’s the place that is kind of the equivalent for a vacation. So, it makes sense to invest in places that are most accessible to them.
MF: Is Mud Island River Park open right now?
GA: It is. All of the riverfront parks are open. What is closed are the the inside facilities. So, that means that the (Mud Island) terminals and the walk bridge are closed, but you can still access the park from from Island Drive.
Mississippi River Parks Partnership
MF: What do you say to the folks who go over there and they see the cracks and the weeds and are concerned about the maintenance and upkeep of Mud Island?
GA: It’s important to make a distinction between maintenance and capital expenses. We could talk for a long, long time about Mud Island, but the program was built with an assumption of self-sustaining revenue. There was the ticket price. There were businesses there and restaurants over there.
Very, very quickly after it opened those visitorship projections didn’t didn’t bear out. And … it became a loss-making project. Four or five years after it opened, it was kind of kicked around. It was managed by various entities. I’m pretty sure [Pyramid developer] Sydney Schlencker managed it at one point before the [Riverfront Development Corporation] was created.
Because the revenue isn’t there, the backlog of maintenance issues began all the way back in the 1980s. There’s a point where it becomes a capital expense. What’s in our contract and what’s in our budget for the city is the general day-to-day maintenance. The things that are not in that are these … capital expenses.
We’ve done the cost estimates and baked in everything over there to get it to the 1982 standard. You’re looking at more than $20 million. But, again, it’s difficult for me to recommend that as a good use of public assets. Because that delivers you … Okay, we got Mud Island that’s just the way it was in 1982, with a program that that didn’t succeed in 1982. It’s now 2020.
Mississippi River Parks Partnership
You know there’s a very, very different recreation market and a very, very different concept market. [Mud Island] really needs kind of a comprehensive plan … I mentioned that connectivity was always a disadvantage of Mud Island, but it can also be an added advantage, depending on what you’re using it for. Like, you’re at once close but far away. So, you almost need to find that longtime use to take advantage of that.
There’s a lot of concrete over there. It was built with one idea of how it can be used. When that use didn’t pan out, it then became a problem. I think that that’s why you if you look at the Tom Lee plans, you’ll see that pretty much everything in the park is flexible and multipurpose, which is which is the way that we build nowadays.
That’s the way that we build kind of every project. There’s very few single-use projects. Even if you think of somewhere like (Crosstown Concourse). It’s that mix of shops, school, healthcare, and apartments. It has flexible sets that can be reconfigured depending on how the economy changes and how our tastes change.
That’s really the gold standard for public spaces now. We want to avoid building things like, like Mud Island to have one program and build things that are flexible and that can adapt and change over time.
MF: Is there anything you want to add or anything we left out?
GA: I would just like to make two additional points because I think I noticed in [the article on Jerred Price] there were these claims that we used to have hundreds of concerts a year at the amphitheater. We looked back. The last time there were double figures (for concerts) annually was 2011. The most concerts ever held in a year on Mud Island was 21 and that was back in 1997.
So, again, just thinking about how we’re spending dollars. That’s 21 nights a year. As good stewards, we’ve got to say, okay, what would it take to get us to 21 nights a year and could that even happen?
MRPP: Mud Island Amphitheater Fix ‘Complicated’; Will Cost $2M-$10.5M
Everyone forgets that it’s 5,000 seats over there with the bleachers. You take the bleachers away — the bleachers are terrible — it goes down to 4,000. Just as a comparison, the Landers Center is 8,000. Snowden Grove is 11,000. So, they’re really not competing on the same playing field.
There’s a question as to could you even get back up to that 21 nights per year? And then if you do, what’s the outturn you need to get there? What’s the return on that? This is a more complicated issue than it appears on the face of it.
I think a lot of people have memories of going to concerts there and if it could just be that again, it would be great. But then once you peek beneath the hood and look at the numbers, it becomes more complicated.
This summer was the hottest on record, and finally, some cooler weather is ahead of us. To celebrate beating the heat and the arrival of autumn, Fitness Under the Stars may be just the place to go.
Taking place around sunset every Friday until October 18th, Fitness Under the Stars features free yoga, barre, spin, and aerobics classes led by a collective of local fitness studios. The nine-week-long summer/fall fitness series takes place at Mud Island River Park, providing an aquatic background perfect for letting go and getting fit at the same time.
“It’s all about coming and leaving all your issues and problems, everything, on the mat,” says Courtney McNeal, who has partnered with Mud Island River Parks to present Fitness Under the Stars. “Or, as Janeen Gordon told me during an interview, ‘Just let it all flow down the river.'”
Izabella Sandoval
Take me to the river — for some yoga.
Fitness Under the Stars got its start when McNeal, who’d been a member of Your Inner Yogi, saw the need for more free fitness programming in Memphis.
“There is yoga that takes place on the riverfront. And that’s been pretty consistent,” she says. “It’s fabulous. I’ve actually participated in it several times. But I wanted to do something a little bit different — something that gives a little more variety and at a different location.”
The stars aligned when McNeal heard about Fuel the Fourth Bluff, a community grant provided to Memphians with ideas for programs to revitalize the Civic Commons footprint, a six-block area that stretches from Main Street to Mud Island, as part of a national initiative called Reimagining Civic Commons.
Pack your chairs, coolers, and picnic blankets and walk, scooter, or bike to Mud Island River Park for A Vibe on the Island. A monthly event, July’s AVOTI falls on Independence Day. To ring in the holiday and the fireworks is a three-parter musical event featuring Ping Rose and the Anti-Heroes, Black Cream, and Marcella & Her Lovers.
“I’ve never played a show with any of the openers,” says Ping Rose, a soul, rock, and funk artist based in Nashville, but who hails from Memphis. “But one of the members of Black Cream is one of my longtime friends,” he says. “I’m excited to play with them.”
Misfit Studios International
Ping Rose
Rose is due to release a studio album, Sketchbook, in July, and he plans to post a single from the album to Spotify before this event for a special preview. Also, be sure to check out Black Cream’s new single “All I Need Is You” and Marcella & Her Lover’s EP The Bronze Age.
The event is free, but those who want to watch the fireworks and hear some music from the sidelines can float on the Wolf River Harbor in a kayak rented from Kayak Memphis. The fireworks show can also be viewed from nearby Tom Lee Park or River Garden. Riverside Drive will be blocked off to cars after 5:30 p.m., but visitors can still walk, scooter (Bird or Lime), or ride bikes (Explore Bike Share) to any of the parks. Fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m.
A Vibe on the Island, Mud Island River Park, Thursday, July 4th, 6 p.m., Free.
At least 20 different uses — from a zoo to a 400-foot fountain — have been proposed for Mud Island River Park since 1910. Various visions to improve daily attendance have failed to flourish. More than $300 million has been poured into the park, but it hemorrhages $2 million in annual operational costs.
That’s why Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) is back to the drawing board. After posting a request for qualifications, the RDC received proposals last month from five potential redevelopers with ideas for the park, ranging from a skate park to an upgraded amphitheater to a 500-room resort and spa.
RDC issued the request to “make sure the individual parties were qualified in that they had done or been materially involved in projects of this magnitude in the past,” RDC President Benny Lendermon said. ML Professional Properties, RVC Outdoor Destinations, Bass Pro Shops, Memphis Equity Brand Management, and Mansion America, LLC, now have until Feb. 24th to explain how they plan to design, develop, finance, construct, maintain, operate, and manage their proposals.
Revitalizing the underutilized Mud Island River Park is no simple feat. Though RDC is in the preliminary stages of choosing a firm, a hotel could take years to build, while the amphitheater might only take months to refurbish, Lendermon said. How the makeover will be funded is uncertain, but footing the bill mostly with private dollars rather than pulling from the city budget is crucial for the master plan.
“We are looking at a public/private partnership to bring new capital to Mud Island to both invigorate it and to pay for deferred maintenance issues that the city does not really have the funds to pay for currently,” Lendermon said. “That is our hope. We will not know if any of these ideas accomplish that goal until we receive the final proposals and begin negotiations.”
Below are selected details from each of the redevelopment firm’s proposals:
ML Professional Properties:
• Add three new bridges, and split the lanes — one for bikers and joggers and one for walkers and sightseers. One would be designed like the Nashville entertainment and pedestrian bridge.
• Develop an area called the River’s Edge on the west bank and model it after the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas.
• Construct a water park at the end of the River Walk. Turn it into an ice skating rink during the winter.
• Convert the museum into a mixed-use area like the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Build a U-shaped fishing pier at the west side of the island.
• Build a dog park.
• Build a skateboard park.
RVC Outdoor Destinations:
• Create a new main, north entrance, and incorporate Greenbelt Park.
• Consider renovation or demolition of the Harbor Landing building with a focus on corporate events and weddings. Take advantage of overnight lodging.
• Get guests on the water with boat and kayak rentals, as wells as guided fishing and eco-tours.
Bass Pro Shops:
• Bass Pro Shops did not submit a formal proposal to the RDC by the Jan. 15th deadline. However, they requested in a letter “to still be considered a qualified development partner and have the opportunity to submit a more defined plan in the future.”
• Should they not be chosen as the master developer, Dunham asked to have “a representative on the RDC team and have ongoing involvement in the design and development process.”
Memphis Equity Brand Management:
• Build a 500-room resort hotel and spa, “which might carry the Marriott flag.”
• Construct a monorail that will stop near the hotel lobby.
• Create a parking garage to accommodate 500 spaces for the hotel and 500 spaces for visitors to the River Park.
Mansion America, LLC:
• Update the visual aesthetics of the Mud Island Amphitheater.
• Re-establish a handicap walk ramp to the seating area.
• Establish an in-house ticketing system.
• Establish an entertainment calendar including musicians, comedians, touring variety and theatrical shows, and a televised annual music event.
It is rare for a public figure to command veneration and loyalty from both sides of the political aisle and from every point on the ethnic spectrum, but such a figure is the Rev. Benjamin Hooks, who, it was announced this week, will be one of eight 2007 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Hooks kept up his tenure as pastor of Middle Baptist Church in Memphis throughout a lengthy service, beginning in 1976, as executive director of the NAACP nationally. He ranks up there with anyone else — including his friend Martin Luther King Jr. — as an exemplar of the civil rights struggle. His effectiveness with the NAACP was enhanced both by his legal brilliance and by a sunny disposition that allowed him to win friends (and disarm adversaries) across the usual social dividing lines.
A proud graduate of LeMoyne College, Hooks also is a veteran of combat service in World War II. On returning home, he got involved in local politics, but even doing so, he maintained friends in both parties. His evenhanded sense of justice would make him the first black Criminal Court judge in Tennessee history. And, while he always supported governmental action against discrimination and to offset the after-effects of segregation, he famously issued this challenge: “I’m calling for a moratorium on excuses. I challenge black America today — all of us — to set aside our alibis.”
Hooks’ career has been crowned in recent years by his service as president of the National Civil Rights Museum. He is a great man, and this week’s great honor is entirely appropriate.
On Closing Mud Island
Mud Island River Park closes for the season this week, if anyone cares.
The most expensive and attractive park on the river closes during the month of November, when the temperatures are pleasant and the colors are changing. Those white tepees and campfires at the south end of the park that pop out on summer weekends might actually get some use on a cold autumn night.
But the park is an odd duck. It is part theme park for tourists and part public park for Memphians. It is expensive to operate and maintain, from the monorail to the museum and shops and restaurants. Admission to the park is free, even if food and soft drinks are pricey. Still, the demand from locals and tourists to keep it open year-round like Overton Park and Shelby Farms simply isn’t there. So the Riverfront Development Corporation closes it, except for special events, until next spring.
This is the same outfit that wants to spend $29 million for a boat landing in Tom Lee Park and $6 million to fix up the cobblestones in the name of reconnecting Memphians to the river, attracting more tourists, and preserving a historic “treasure.” The same things were said about Mud Island when it was built almost 30 years ago.
The fact is that “connecting with the river” is praised more in words than in practice. There are not that many people who want to passively look at cobblestones and barges and pretty views. Most people want to do something and watch something more exciting, like Joe Royer’s “cyclocross” bike race along Mud Island’s Greenbelt Park next weekend. Such events do more to connect Memphians to the river than expensive parks and monuments.
Courtesy: Jerred Price 
Kristen Walker 
Google Maps 
Courtesy: Jerred Price 
The Tennessean/1982 
Courtesy: Jerred Price 
Courtesy: Jerred Price 
Mississippi River Parks Partnership 
Mississippi River Parks Partnership 
Mississippi River Parks Partnership 
Izabella Sandoval 
Misfit Studios International 