Thur update: St. Jude marathon traffic, Stumbling Santa, Madison Avenue reopens today, beer news

The St. Jude Marathon is this Saturday, December 1. That means the streets of Downtown and Midtown will be clogged with runners in the morning and early afternoon. Action News 5 has a list of streets on which you can expect traffic delays, and at what times.

Saturday is also the 8th annual Bob & Roland’s Stumbling Santa pub crawl, where participants dress up as Santa and stumble around the Flying Saucer and Beale Street. The MemphisWeather.net forecast has a high of 69 (other sources are going as high as 74) and a low only in the mid-50s that day. Yikes, that’s going to be kind of warm for Santa suits. Bring a toy to the first stop, the Flying Saucer (7 PM), for Porter-Leath (stuffed animals not allowed for health reasons). The stops after the Saucer are a secret this year, but I got a sneak peek last night on the condition that I don’t post the list to my blog or social media. I’ll say that it’s a pretty good lineup, and the Saucer is probably the smallest venue on the list. Since 700 Santas are expected, that’s a good thing.

Mayor Wharton will re-open Madison Avenue Downtown at 1 PM today. It’s been partly blocked since March 2011 due to a building collapse.

Beer news: Archaeologists have discovered a 3500 year old microbrewery in western Cyprus. I wonder if 21st century brewers will attempt to re-create the recipe, as Dogfish Head did with Midas Touch?

Tigers vs. UT Martin at 7 PM at FedExForum. Tarik Black will not be playing tonight. I hope we don’t lose again.