Forbes magazine has a good article about the Cochon Heritage BBQ festival that will happen Downtown August 31-September 2. The festival will celebrate the pairing of heritage pork with fine bourbon. There will be events the entire three days including a rooftop party, a tailgating party, a distiller’s reception/dinner tour, a BBQ eating contest, a bourbon sampling at Felicia Suzanne’s, and of course the main event which is a heritage BBQ cookoff featuring two dozen all-star chefs. Good to see this new festival receiving some national coverage.
Tonight’s movie in the Orpheum Summer Movie Series is Blazing Saddles. The classic 1974 Western spoof will be shown on the big screen at 7:15 PM. If you bring a can of beans to donate to the Mid-South Food Bank, you get $2 off admission.
Next Thursday, August 2 is National IPA Day. This will be a celebration of India Pale Ale, a hoppy style of beer invented when beer makers added hops to keep the beer from going bad over the long transport to India. Participants are encouraged to share photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes and thoughts with the world using the social media platform of their choice. There will be a Twitter hashtag, #IPAday, to help people keep track of the celebration going on around the world.
Not surprisingly, the Flying Saucer will participate in IPA Day. Saucer locations will be doing IPA specials, rare tappings, special flights, and food specials for the day (will vary by location – I’ll try to get more details about what the Downtown Saucer will be doing). The Saucer is also partnering with social beer-drinking app Untappd on a special “IPA Day at the Saucer” badge for attendees.
The theme at the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow is Peas Be with You. From 9 to 11 kids can create their own miniature greenhouse to grow their own peas. They can take the greenhouse home, put it on the windowsill, and watch the peas grow limbs and leaves. There will also be a tomato canning demo at 10:15. From 9 to 12 the Hooper Troopers will demo hula hooping as a way to stay fit.
Rob Fischer tweeted a really good Grizzlies schedule cheat sheet. He notes things like TV games, Sunday afternoon games, tough stretches, home vs. away over particular stretches, and more. You can follow him at @thefishnation on Twitter.
Plans for tonight: Not sure. Maybe Trolley Tour, maybe Saucer, maybe Aldo’s Pizza Pies, maybe Blind Bear later in the evening.