Darts Productions’ Puerto Rican Night will feature performances, food, and more. (Photo: ricardo dominguez | unsplash)
Get a taste of Puerto Rico this Saturday as Darts Productions puts on Memphis’ first-ever Puerto Rican Night, complete with music, dance, and authentic cuisine.
“We’re trying to bring awareness of all the communities in the area,” says Nilka Quiros with the event production company Darts Productions. “This is the second type of festival that we’ve done. The first one was a Colombian Night [in October 2024]. … The response was phenomenal in the Memphis area. We really weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but the community responded very well. It was just a great opportunity for everybody to get together and just have fun and educate.”
Quiros hopes Puerto Rican Night will bring the same response. Darts Productions also plans to put on more festivals like these in honor of other Spanish-speaking countries.
For Puerto Rican Night, Sari, a Memphis-based singer from Puerto Rico, will perform, as will the Richmond, Virginia-based Tradición Cultural Dance Company, who will present a traditional Puerto Rican dance. The theater collective Agua, Sol y Sereno is also traveling from Puerto Rico to bring an “unforgettable performance,” including a mask parade. Earlier this week, they hosted community workshops making vejigante masks, used during the island’s local festivities.
Plus, there will be food from Puerto Rican vendors and merchandise available for purchase. “For us Puerto Ricans, because I’m Puerto Rican, we don’t have really a whole lot of Puerto Rican restaurants here [in Memphis],” Quiros says, “and we don’t have a lot of Puerto Rican performances here, so to get somebody from Puerto Rico and food and things like that, that’s pretty cool.”
Puerto Rican Night is free to attend. “Anybody that wants to come can come,” Quiros says. “It’s just been a night to have fun.”
Puerto Rican Night, Overton Square Trimble Courtyard, 2092 Trimble Place, Saturday, March 22nd, 6-9 p.m., free.
A series of information meetings and yard signs are speaking out against Memphis 3.0. (Photo: Toby Sells)
Editor’s note: Citywide planning, land use discussions, zoning, and the potential economics of it all are far too broad and dense to ever be covered in a single news story. (So are other considerations about income, race, and population loss.) Please consider this piece the beginning of our coverage on Memphis 3.0.
For this one, we’ll take you inside one of MidtownMemphis.org’s information meetings and share a Q&A rebuttal about it all from John Zeanah, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development (DPD).
Memphis 3.0 will “sell out” Midtown neighborhoods to investors and businesses looking to cash in on (but maybe never really care about) the attractive communities residents in those places have built over decades.
That’s a very basic expression of the argument voiced for months now from MidtownMemphis.org. The volunteer group is fighting the plan with a series of information meetings, an online information hub, and yard signs — sure signs that a Midtown fight has gotten real.
Passed in 2019 and devised by former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration, Memphis 3.0 is a document guiding the growth of Memphis. It’s up for its first-ever five-year renewal. A major strategy for sustainability in the plan has been to support some of the city’s anchors like Crosstown Concourse, Overton Square, and commercial areas around Cooper Street.
However, MidtownMemphis.org argues the locations for these anchors and the planned density that could surround them aren’t fair. For example, group members say a lot of density is planned for Midtown but very little for East Memphis.
Also, adding density to certain places around Midtown means multifamily homes, the group says, instead of single-family, owner-occupied homes. They fear profit-minded landlords will use 3.0 to work around zoning laws to create duplexes or quadplexes, won’t upkeep these properties, create transient tenants, and make neighborhoods less attractive for potential buyers. They say this could slowly destabilize neighborhoods into ghosts of their current selves.
“What we’re against — and we have history on our side — is destabilizing the neighborhood to support Crosstown,” said MidtownMemphis.org volunteer Robert Gordon, who has spearheaded the battle against 3.0. “[The plan] is going to wreck Crosstown, wreck the neighborhood, and, consequently, wreck the city. And if you don’t believe me, go back to Midtown in 1969. Go back to Midtown in 1974. Go back to Midtown when it was zoned like the [Memphis 3.0] future land use planning map envisions zoning.”
All of it, they say, could lead to a showdown at Memphis City Hall next year as council members review the changes for a vote.
However, John Zeanah, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development, said the 3.0 plan won’t do what MidtownMemphis.org fears it will do.
“The goal is to make sure that our community has healthy, stable anchors that are supported by healthy, stable neighborhoods,” Zeanah said. “The suggestions that we would take extreme actions to destabilize neighborhoods is really puzzling. It doesn’t come from anything that we’re saying as a part of our meetings. It doesn’t come from anything the plan is saying.”
Nearly 60 people gathered for a MidtownMemphis.org Memphis 3.0 meeting earlier this month. (Photo: Toby Sells)
Inside a MidtownMemphis.org 3.0 meeting
A dreary, cold, wet February night was not enough to stop a crowd from sloshing through puddles to hear about how the Memphis 3.0 plan could “sell out our neighborhood,” as the signs say. Nearly 60 people gathered for a MidtownMemphis.org 3.0 meeting earlier this month at Friends For All.
MidtownMemphis.org has been holding meetings like these since September. Other info sessions — six in total — have been organized at Otherlands Coffee Bar, the Cooper-Young Community Association building, and the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. Gordon said it was in January that planing officials stopped working with MidtownMemphis.org on the 3.0 issue.
At the latest February meeting, Gordon took the stage before a slideshow projected on a screen behind him. He described MidtownMemphis.org as a “sort of neighborhood association for neighborhood associations,” meaning his group meets monthly with Midtown neighborhood groups from Central Gardens, Cooper-Young, and more. MidtownMemphis.org also plants trees around Midtown and oversees the community garden next to Huey’s Midtown.
Gordon told the crowd he entered public planning discussions as a NIMBY (not in my backyard), concerned that the Poplar Art Lofts plan in 2019 would push noise and exhaust onto those enjoying Overton Park. This led him to the MidtownMemphis.org organization and he’s been a volunteer with the group ever since.
Gordon described the 3.0 plan as a “city guide” and a “North Star” for Memphis-area planning efforts. The plan’s motto, he said, reverses the sprawl strategies of years past and embraces the idea to “build up, not out.” While the motto is the essence of the plan, Gordon called it “quite misleading.”
One critical foundation of the Memphis 3.0 plan is where that growth inside the city’s footprint should happen. The plan says that growth should happen around anchors. These anchors, picked with the help of residents, are usually commercial areas like Overton Square, Crosstown Concourse, Cooper-Young, and others.
To Gordon, city planners dropped a compass point on these anchors and drew a circle around them. Inside those circles is where the 3.0 plan wants to grow, he said. This is a critical foundation of MidtownMemphis.org’s argument against the 3.0 plan, with Gordon saying, “I’m not alone in thinking that’s a bad way to make plans.”
“So, you may have bought your home in a single-family neighborhood, but the future land use planning map sees in the future … a change to a more dense kind of neighborhood,” Gordon told the crowd. “One of our big issues with [3.0] is right here at the core of it: the anchors. We don’t agree that an anchor necessarily warrants this kind of density. Nor do we agree with what are called ‘anchors.’ For example, let’s just point out, Overton Park is not an anchor.”
The anchor model and the density projections that come with it are brush strokes too broad to paint the intricacies of planning something as complex as Midtown neighborhoods, Gordon said. This is seen at a macro level in the plan as the city is divvied up into 14 planing zones. In this, Midtown, the Medical Center, and Downtown are merged into one zone called “Core City.”
“I think that is a mistake because Midtown is residential housing, and Downtown and the Medical Center are not,” Gordon says. “So, let’s start by saying those should be separated.”
But Gordon easily shifts into the micro: the dense, complex, nitty-gritty of 3.0 that could allow single-family neighborhoods to legally be chopped into quadplexes, new units built where they can’t be now and, he says, destabilize Midtown neighborhoods.
The density models from anchor planning in 3.0 are the easiest way for a developer to create multifamily in a single-family zone, he said. They’ll pay “professional convincers,” basically development lobbyists at Memphis City Hall, to speak to planning boards like the Land Use Control Board or the Board of Adjustment and ask for a special zoning change on property from single family to multifamily.
“This professional convincer is going to go in there armed with information from Memphis 3.0 and say, ‘This is what the city wants,’” he said. “So, in short order, your single-family neighborhood is going to begin to show multifamily buildings. And people who are looking for houses to buy are going to go, ‘Wait a minute. I remember this as a single-family neighborhood. What’s that four-plex doing there?’”
While the process may move slowly, he said, it could be a deciding factor for potential Midtown homeowners who might not want to gamble their biggest investment “on a neighborhood that’s in flux.”
A neighborhood could get multifamily zoning even if it’s not in one of those anchor density zones, Gordon said. The Memphis 3.0 plan designates some entire streets for higher density, regardless of where they lie, he said. So, even if your neighborhood passes all the other tests, a developer could use the street designation as an argument for, say, a four-plex on a street. Later, another developer could come in wanting the same thing nearby because there’s already one across the street.
A third way Gordon told crowd members a neighborhood could get density through 3.0 is from degree of change. He joked it was the “dreaded degree of change” because it was harder to explain. The term, he said, basically means how money gets into a neighborhood. The 3.0 plan outlines three categories, he said. In it, the city works alone or with developers to fuel projects in certain neighborhoods, based on the need, and that could mean high-density housing.
“If you’re in a ‘nurture’ neighborhood, the city’s going to throw a lot of money at you,” Gordon said. “If you’re in an ‘accelerate’ neighborhood, the city’s going to throw some money at you but they’re going to try and get private investment to come in.
“If you’re in a ‘sustain’ neighborhood, then the city’s is going to say that private investors are going to take care of that.”
Memphis 3.0’s future land use planning map envisions denser neighborhoods. (Photo: Courtesy Memphis and Shelby County DPD)
A contentious question of motivation
The Q&A portion of the meeting found a raw spot in discussions around Memphis 3.0 and the density topic in general. The basic question: Are single-family housing proponents seeking to bar low-income people from their neighborhoods?
Abby Sheridan raised the point gently at the MidtownMemphis.org meeting. The reason she and her family moved close to Crosstown, she said, was to be within walking distance of the Concourse, for the density. She went to the meeting to see what the opposition to 3.0 was about, she said.
“Don’t be afraid of density,” she told the crowd. “Just because we allow for different types of housing doesn’t mean it’s an automatic guarantee.
“I’ve lived in multi-unit neighborhoods for most of my adult life. They are thriving, vibrant communities.
“If we, as Evergreen [residents], believe that diversity is our strength, y’all are really showing your colors tonight.”
The comment sucked the air from the room that was quickly filled with side chatter, sighs, and low gasps. Emily Bishop, a MidtownMemphis.org volunteer, responded, saying owner-occupied homes stabilized Cooper-Young in the late ’80s when she bought her home (once a duplex, she said) there.
“The businesses were nonexistent in Cooper-Young,” Bishop said. “There was one Indochina restaurant. [The neighborhood] was light industrial at best.
“There was no zoning change that brought density back. What makes a neighborhood thrive are owner-occupied homes with people who get involved, who do the code enforcement work, who get rid of slumlords, and who support the local businesses.”
In all, Bishop said Memphis doesn’t have a housing shortage; it has an affordable housing shortage.
“And there again,” Sheridan said, “what I’m hearing you say is … ‘not in our neighborhood.’”
Gordon jumped in to cool off the topic by saying that MidtownMemphis.org really is simply in favor of doing smaller plans for distinct neighborhoods.
Joe Ozment spoke plainly.
“I’ve been doing criminal defense in this city for 33 years and I’ve seen what’s happened in areas like Hickory Hill and Cordova when you add density,” he said. “We don’t want that in Midtown.”
Jerred Price, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, and his board attended the meeting to “support the neighbors.” He and the board agreed that Downtown should be a separate planning bloc from Midtown. He said the anchor-and-compass method “shouldn’t be a strategy for development.”
Dropping “one of those special, little circle-drawing thingamajiggers” at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital would mean high density for the single-family neighborhoods like Uptown, he said. But higher density could be welcomed on the other side of the interstate there because it’s in the Downtown core.
“So, even for us, those circles don’t make any sense of our communities,” Price said. “We stand with you on that.”
Asked about the timeline of the Memphis 3.0 proposal, Gordon said public meetings will continue through this year. Revised plans with that public input would then be published. Then, the Memphis City Council would vote on them, likely in 2026.
“If the future land use planning map hasn’t changed,” he said, “we will continue to marshal forces and the idea will be a showdown at city council.
“We would bring many citizens up there to protest a map that is not properly planned and does not look at what is stable in Midtown, is determined to destabilize Midtown for the benefit of commercial anchors, and is giving a free pass to other parts of town.”
Q&A with John Zeanah
John Zeanah is the director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development. He said overarching city plans like Memphis 3.0 are nothing new; they’re even mandated for cities in certain states.
Among those plans, Memphis 3.0 stands out, Zeanah said. It has won awards from the American Planning Association and the Congress for the New Urbanism. Memphis 3.0 is the city’s first comprehensive plan since 1981.
We asked him to respond to the movement against the 3.0 plan, which was authored by his office. — Toby Sells
Memphis Flyer: What do you make of the arguments about 3.0 from MidtownMemphis.org? John Zeanah: Memphis 3.0 was adopted six years ago. So, when is it going to do those things [that MidtownMemphis.org argues] if it hasn’t already?
They’re saying the plan is up for a five-year review. We’re undergoing our first five-year plan update now. One of the things that we’re doing as a part of the five-year plan update … is conducting a comprehensive look at the zoning map and understanding how well our zoning works with [Memphis 3.0].
I think part of the misunderstanding is the claim that we would necessarily rezone areas, according to the plan, to the most intense use or the most intense zoning district that could be conceived. And that’s not the case.
First of all, [Memphis 3.0] is general in nature. It — and the future land use map that they are so worried about — is meant to be general, with a generalized land use map.
I think there’s some misunderstanding about whether the future land use map is calling for all these new things to happen. It’s an expression of what’s existing today. In some cases, it’s a mix of both.
Suffice to say, as we are going through the five-year plan update and we’re thinking about how zoning is a tool to implement the plan, our orientation is not to just apply the most-intense zoning district. There are changes to zoning that may not always be in residential areas. In fact, I’d say most of the zoning changes that will end up being recommended are in some of our commercial areas and commercial corridors.
The goal is to make sure that our community has healthy, stable anchors that are supported by healthy, stable neighborhoods. The suggestions that we would take extreme actions to destabilize neighborhoods are really puzzling. It doesn’t come from anything that we’re saying as a part of our meetings. It doesn’t come from anything the plan is saying.
They’ve said developers could use the future land use planning map as another arrow in their quiver. They could argue that while multi-family homes may not be allowed in a zone now, they could point to the suggestion in Memphis 3.0 and make a case for their project at city hall. One cannot simply point to a generalized land use map and say, “Well, because this area around an anchor is a mixed-use type, I should be entitled to do the most intense thing that is part of this mix.” That’s no. 1. And no. 2: The plan does not have the authority to entitle that. That’s the role of zoning.
So, if you live in a neighborhood that is predominantly single-family and your zoning is single-family detached, and it is a stable neighborhood, there is no reason for the city to propose changing the zoning for the neighborhood. You are the healthy, stable neighborhood that is helping to support the anchor nearby. That is a good thing. That’s what we want to help preserve.
Premier Flowers owner Colby Midgett (Credit: Michael Donahue)
A rose by any other name — still won’t impress Colby Midgett.
“I hate roses,” says Midgett. “They are just so normal, you know. It’s like the go-to for all flowers. But there are so many other beautiful flowers that people just overlook.”
As owner of Premier Flowers, Midgett says she still uses roses every day. Over the years, she’s used them in hundreds of floral arrangements, including one that took 500 roses. And she’ll be using more this week for Valentine’s gifts. Valentine’s Day is “a rose holiday.”
Premier Flowers (Credit: Colby Midgett)
Midgett recently moved her florist business to 2095 Madison Avenue after almost eight years downtown. As far as she knows, she may be the first full-scale florist in the history of Overton Square.
She just got tired of what was going on at her old shop at 10 North Second Street, No. 105. “The shop had been broken into three times over the course of five years,” she says. People vandalized cars parked near the shop.
Midgett also had problems when she’d “try to beautify the outside of the store” with plants. The pots were damaged or stolen and the plants got “pulled out of the pot.”
“It was always just something,” she says, adding, “I just got tired of investing money in that location. It started to have an effect on my pocketbook.”
Business also wilted after the pandemic and people began working from home instead of their downtown offices. “It just got weird downtown. Downtown just started to change.”
She decided to close when her lease was about to come to an end last October. She began selling her equipment. “Every piece of refrigeration equipment I owned. The walk-in alone was probably worth about $12,000, but, of course, I didn’t get that.”
A property investor from LPI Memphis, who was buying some coolers and other restaurant equipment from her, told her about Overton Square. “He said they would love to have us over here as a pop-up.”
She moved to the new location last November. A native Memphian, Midgett says,“What prompted me to open a florist shop, I would say, was love for flowers and plants and just nature. I love designing. I have a passion for it. I come from a crafty family. My mother and grandmother, they were gardeners. So, I’ve always loved gardening and designing.”
She began her floral business out of her home. “And then it quickly grew,” she says. “I opened my first brick and mortar at Poplar and Tillman.”
Midgett stayed at that location in Chickasaw Oaks for about a year until she moved downtown. “I just needed more space. That business rapidly grew. When I moved downtown, my business grew 47 percent.”
She wasn’t sure at first if moving downtown was the right decision. “I was hesitant initially, but I’ve always loved downtown. And the space was beautiful. An old building surrounded by windows. I was hesitant, but I stepped out on faith and did it anyway.”
But parking was terrible. Customers kept getting tickets. And, she says, “The shop got broken into the first year I was downtown. They kept coming in the same window on the alley side.”
Premier Flowers is now a six-month pop-up in Overton Square. “We’re just trying the space out. Just to get a feel of the market over here.” But, Midgett says, “It’s like starting a business all over again, really. What I like most about it is they have their own security. And you always see them.”
She also likes the fact that Gould’s Salon Spa-Overton Square is on one side of her shop and Golden India restaurant is on the other side. “We have a backdoor — we didn’t have a backdoor downtown — that looks out into the courtyard.”
Midgett feels welcome at her new spot. “They’ve been wanting a florist over here from what I’ve been told.” And, she adds, “Business has picked up a little.”
Her regular downtown customers are loyal. “People love our work and our designs. So, I feel like they’ll support us no matter where we are. But the walk-in traffic was a little bit more over there because people are always out walking.”
Asked what describes her style of floral arranging, Midgett says, “We may do a whimsical, airy design, and maybe pop in an orchid. I may throw in some dried palms or just something to give it a unique look. Not like the usual florist sends out.”
She uses “fresh flowers. We don’t do any silks.”
Hydrangeas — “a Southern favorite” — are popular, she says. She may use hydrangea flowers with some tropical greenery, eucalyptus leaves, and “maybe some curly willow or some pussy willow or some green dianthus. Something that gives it a different look. I don’t like to use a lot of low-end flowers like carnations or alstroemeria, or daisies or anything like that. But we do use those.”
As for who makes up the majority of her customers, she says, “We get more men.”
Midgett may hate the flower, but she hopes now in her new Overton Square location — with security and more peace of mind — everything will be coming up roses.
Premier Flowers (Credit: Colby Midgett)Premier Flowers (Credit: Colby Midgett)
Barry Lincoln inside Mr. Lincoln's Costume Shoppe.
Mr. Lincoln’s Costume Shoppe, a Midtown landmark for more than three decades, will close on Friday, May 31, 2024.
Barry Lincoln, the longtime owner and shop’s namesake, is retiring after building his business into a must-visit spot for Memphians wanting to look sharp for Halloween.
I interviewed Mr. Lincoln himself about how he got into the costuming business, and why he’s leaving it all behind. But the good news is, he wants to sell the shop. So, maybe this is one Memphis tradition that can continue.
Madison Tavern, where they will serve pasta jambalaya. (Photos: Michael Donahue
Tim and Tarrah Quinn own )
Madison Tavern will open May 10th at the site of the old Local on the Square at 2126 Madison Avenue.
Tim Quinn, who owns the bar/restaurant with his wife, Tarrah, hoped to open last November, but it took longer because of technicalities involved with starting a new place.
They chose the name “Madison Tavern” because of “the feel of the building. It’s got two fireplaces upstairs. It’s just a cozy, comfortable place.
“When I think of ‘tavern’ I think of some movie where people are walking down the road in the Middle Ages. They stop in and get a beer and something to eat. It’s nice and quiet. Candlelight. The owner who works there all the time serves them the daily special. And then back on the road they go.”
Why a new name? “Just a fresh beginning with a new family,” says Tim, 42, adding, “It’s been around 12, 15 years. Sometimes it’s just time to have something new.”
The Quinns, who bought Local on Main Street about four years ago, says they’ll “start working on a rebrand for Downtown as well.” They plan to change the name to “Quinn’s.”
Tim wanted to buy Local on the Square as soon as he began working there as general manager in 2017, when Jeff Johnson was the owner of both locations. “When I first worked in this building I was there one week and I asked Jeff how much to buy the place. He kind of laughed.”
Johnson gave him “a large number” as the selling price. Tim told him, “Woah. That’s a big number. Let me work on that.
“Within three years he sold me the Downtown location. And here, three more years later, I’m moving into the old spot.”
The Quinns gave the old Local on the Square a facelift, but they’re not changing the personality. They painted over the purple walls. They’re now blue with red accents, and they redid the floors. “Not a whole lot as far as the footprint of the place goes is changing. We cleaned it up to make it look fresh. Some new light fixtures, new tables, new equipment behind the bar.”
And, he says, “We took out the old games — the old Skee-Ball. We’ve got new dart boards coming in. Bubble Hockey. It’s like foosball, but it’s hockey. I’ve never played that before.”
The walls will feature “all consignment artwork by local artists.”
As for the food, Jose Reyes, who was kitchen manager when Tim worked at Local on the Square, will be back. “He took a leave of absence and went back to take care of his mother in Mexico. He’s from Mexico City. While he was there he purchased an avocado farm and opened another restaurant with his brother.
“He loves being in Memphis. Once his mom was up and good and everything was taken care of — one of his sons is running the avocado farm — he came back to Memphis.”
Tim plans to keep some of the old Local on the Square food items, including the sausage cheese board, which he will upgrade, and pretzel sticks. But he will now feature “an American menu” with “Southern-influenced” fare.
Most of the new items come “from conversations with the staff, with Jose, and some other managers, other food vendors.”
Tim is gathering his staff’s favorite family recipes, which he’ll “tweak a little bit.”
And, he says, “We’ll be, hopefully, doing a daily special: a paella. My brother’s wife’s family is from Zaragoza, Spain. Whenever we get together to eat, his wife makes her family’s paella. She’ll come in and show us how to make that.”
Tim plans to offer paella “a couple of times a week. It’s not really something you can cook on the fly. It’s something that gets better after it sits in the pot a bit.”
He also plans to serve grilled cheese sandwiches, which are popular at the Downtown location.
Tim began making grilled cheese sandwiches with Adam Hall and friends when they had a team at Memphis Grilled Cheese Festival, where they have been “fan favorites every year so far.”
The sandwich, which Hall came up with, is made of grilled chicken, buffalo sauce, white cheddar cheese, and regular white bread. “You put a mixture of butter and Miracle Whip on the bread and toast it.”
It was a hit from the beginning at Local on Main Street, Tim says. “Originally, we put that on the menu just as a special. It evolved into having grilled cheese on the menu all the time.”
The Downtown menu now includes various grilled cheese sandwiches, including ones made with duck and lobster — “different meats with different sauces.”
“We’ll do grilled cheese here as well. For the late-night menu we’ll slap a couple of grilled cheeses on there and a couple of egg rolls. And everybody’s going to be happy.”
“The front of Memphis Brooks Museum of Art looked like a hit-and-run crime scene today,” Tom Bailey wrote on Facebook. “Someone driving a van plowed through the front lawn and plaza, striking the 62-year-old installation of three statues, Spring Summer Fall, which for decades have graced the front of the museum.”
Día de los Muertos
Posted to Facebook by Overton Square
Well before the hit-and-run incident, a Día de los Muertos parade left from Overton Square to the Brooks for a fun, holiday event with loads of Las Catrinas, authentic food, and amazing music and performances.
Indian Spice
Posted to Reddit by u/Manephian
“Nothing spices up Downtown like an Indian wedding,” wrote u/Manephian this past weekend. Sounds about right to us.
It’s the first of September, and you know what that means — it’s 901 Day! And because of that, we’ve rounded up some special events to celebrate your Memphis pride on this very special day.
Some of Memphis’ most talented artists are taking the stage for this four-day music festival at Railgarten, featuring Star & Micey, Marcella & Her Lovers, Dead Soldiers, Lucky 7 Brass Band, Lord T & Eloise, Neighborhood Texture Jam, Devil Train, Cedric Burnside, and The Wilkin Sisters. Single-day tickets cost $15-$20. Arrow Creative will also be hosting its Marketplace in Motion at Railgarten, bringing the art shopping to you, September 1-3.
Choose901 will host its first 901 Day Party since the pandemic began, and the party will be poppin’. Memphis Made has brewed up a batch of special beers for the occasion, and Old Dominick Distillery will have cocktail stations. Guests can enjoy tasty bites from TACOnganas, StickEM, Central BBQ, and Mempops. Plus, Stax Music Academy, the Lucky 7 Brass Band, and DJs, Travi$, Breezye, and Shelby will provide live entertainment, and WeTightKnit, Amurica Photobooth, Mane Wilding, RotoBrothersArt, and Neighborhood Print Company will set up shop as vendors.
Grizz Nation is invited to FedExForum for an afternoon and evening celebrating the 901, with something for all ages. Throughout the event, attendees can enjoy fare from Dynamic Duo, El Mero, AD’s, and StickEM, plus local brews and more. There’ll be music by 8Ball & MJG, Big Boogie, Duke Deuce, Royal Studios House Band, and DJ Mic Tee; a Jookin’ Battle Championship; a Wrestlin’ Throwdown featuring Mads Krugger, The GunShow, and Dustin Starr; a kids zone complete with inflatables and face painters; and the Sneak Fest, which will have free sneaker cleaning and will give fans the opportunity to buy, sell, or trade for an exclusive pair of sneakers. This event is free.
The Edge District is has announced the launch of Rockwalk, a free event series that highlights local businesses and talents. Catch live performances by Amy LaVere, DJ RMZI, DJ Bizzle BlueBland, DJ Ayo Tunez, and DJ Alpha Whiskey, and check out the new businesses and restaurant specials in the area.
Overton Square will have live performances by 901 bands, including Raneem and Better in Color. Guests can also shop local 901 artisans, including 17Berkshire, Dave’s Bagels, The Tea Bar 901, and more.
Chimes Square, Overton Square, September 1, 6-9 p.m.
Enjoy inflatables, lawn games, food trucks, food and drink specials, and free beer for the first 50 guests. All flights, six-packs, and Arbo’s combos will be $9.01, and there will be yoga at 5:30 p.m. and two free brewery tours at 6 and 7 p.m. Plus, Tigers head football coach Ryan Silverfield will address the crowd at 6 p.m. and will be joined by head women’s basketball coach Katrina Merriweather and head baseball coach Kerrick Jackson. Members of the Memphis men’s basketball program are also scheduled to attend along with additional Memphis head coaches and staff members.
This free event will feature neighborhood booths, live music and performances, food, children’s activities and entertainment for all, and a friendly competition that will allow 901 neighborhoods to display their greatness. This year’s theme is “Neighborhoods Are Back.”
Celebrate K-901 Day with your dog and a few rounds of trivia at Hampline Brewing. There will be free dog treats and bonus prizes for the top teams with dogs.
You won’t want to miss the lights on the M-bridge this 901 as Mighty Lights plans to run Memphis content after sundown, including scrolling Memphis text, Grizz eyes, Tigers stripes, and more.
Instagram was predictably hot with the cold stuff last week. Snow flurries dusted Memphis without disrupting school or work, leaving behind only some pretty pictures.
Flex
Last week, Memphis Reddit user u/benefit_of_mrkite shared this image of “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson after wrestling at a flea market in Memphis for $40 (early 1990s).”
Crosswalkin’
Posted to Nextdoor by Bobi McBratney
Overton Square is set to get two new crosswalks soon close to the corners of Cooper and Monroe (yes, corners) in front of Hattiloo Theatre.
One will feature the colors of the gay pride flag that now also features colors supporting transgender, Black, and brown people. The other will read Black Lives Matter.
Cazateatro Bilingual Theater Group and the Brooks Museum will host a celebration for the community’s deceased loved ones during their Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) parade and festival this Saturday, November 2nd.
Día de los Muertos celebrations, originating from Mexico, have extended to the U.S. And people like Monica Sanchez, assistant director and co-founder of Cazateatro, want people to know that, no matter one’s heritage, anyone is welcome to celebrate and honor their dearly departed on this day.
Kevin Reed
Día de los Muertos parade
“The more you know about your neighbors, the stronger your community will be,” says Sanchez.
The parade, which kicks off at the Tower Courtyard at Overton Square, will feature a number of floats by local organizations like Comunidades Unidas en Una Voz (or United Communities in One Voice), Memphis Police Department, Latino Memphis, and more.
“One of the floats is going to look like a cemetery, where people can leave ofrendas [or offerings] for their loved ones,” she says.
The Memphis Police Department will honor fallen officers, and Comunidades Unidas will pay their respects to migrants who died this year. Attendees are also encouraged to bring photos of their loved ones.
The parade fleet will head toward Brooks for a fiesta, where attendees can get sugar skull face paintings, do crafts, shop with art vendors, enjoy live music and dance performances, and learn more about the holiday from helpful guides dressed as Las Catrinas.
“If you don’t understand what is going on, our Catrinas — ladies with humongous and beautiful dresses with their faces painted as sugar skulls — will be giving cards with information about the meaning of Día de los Muertos and the meaning of a La Catrina,” says Sanchez.
Día de los Muertos Parade and Festival, Overton Square and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Saturday, November 2nd, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., free.
Saltwater Crab, a seafood restaurant, is going in the old Indian Pass space near Overton Square. It is set to open June 24th.
While the restaurant will be owned by an out-of-town restaurateur, Gary Lin, there will be a lot of familiar names involved, including Cliff Ward (Second Line), Sam Miller (Erling Jensen, Madison Hotel), and Andy Knight (Loflin Yard, Carolina Watershed, and Railgarten).
Knight says, “Nothing’s been successful in that spot, and I would love for this spot to work.”
According to Knight, the place was gutted, and a second kitchen was added upstairs.
Lin says he was very attracted to the site. “I’ve been to a lot of different spaces all over the country. When I first saw this space, I fell in love with it.”
The plan, says Lin, is to really take advantage of the patio space. He’s removed the large metal archway that read “Indian Pass” (and was at one time “Midtown is Memphis” during the Chiwawa days) and will replace it with one that reads “Midtown Memphis.”
“It’s not the old sign,” he says. “I had to make a new one. It was important for locals.”
Lin, who owns restaurants in Atlanta (including the Asian barbecue spot Smoke + Duck), says that now that he’s in the Memphis market, he’s waiting to see how he’s received before he considers opening more restaurants in the city. “I want to see how Memphis treats me first, if they approve of my management style.”
The menu is expansive, though still being edited at press time. As of now, there are oysters (some Gulf, mostly from the East Coast). There are crab cakes. There will be sushi.
“This real estate needs to have a purpose,” Knight says. “If we can stretch out the square all the way down to Huey’s, we’ll have this whole stretch. Maybe get people to walk a few steps. It will be awesome.”
Kevin Reed 
