Last night I had drinks with friends at the Silly Goose, and one of them commented that they heard the Southern Hot Wing Festival was moving out of South Main this year. I pulled out my phone and checked, and sure enough, they were right. The fest has outgrown South Main, but will still be Downtown. It will be at Jefferson Davis Park on Saturday, April 21. That’s the park on Riverside Drive, next to the visitor center at Jefferson. They expect more than 60 competitors this year, and will have three live music stages and a hot wing eating contest. More details here.
That will be quite a change. Glad to see it on the river, always a good backdrop for a festival. On the other hand, a lot of the locals like to pick a bar in the area as “home base” – on South Main it was Max’s – and drift in and out all day. No such option at Jefferson Davis Park. Bardog, about 3 blocks away, will probably see a pickup in business that day.
Blind Bear has announced that they will start opening for lunch on Fridays and Wednesdays. Nothing on the menu will be over $8, and I can already tell you that they have veggies that can hold their own against the area’s meat-and-two lunch shops. Circa and Bar None never really got a lunch business going in that location, but I think it was because their price point was too high. I think the Bear is pricing it right.
If I ever buy a house, this is what I want on the walls – Flocked PBR wallpaper.
Seth of the Best Memphis Burger blog tried Bleu’s Build Your Own sandwich menu recently. It’s only available at lunch. You fill it out as you would sushi-style, picking your protein, your bun, your temperature, your sauce, your cheese, your toppings, and your side. Posts like this really make me wish I worked close enough to Downtown to get there for lunch.
FootballScoop.com is reporting that Larry Porter has been hired as running backs coach at Arizona State. (Thanks to @ChrisVernonShow for tweeting.) Good for him. He’s a good man with a lot of tools to build a successful program. It’s just that head coach is not the ideal role for him, or wasn’t when he was at Memphis.
That’s enough for now. May do a second news post after work. No idea what I’ll get into tonight.