I remember one of my BBQ teammates complaining recently about the new streetscape in The Edge. “I used to be able to zoom down Marshall and then Monroe to get home, but now they totally screwed up that intersection,” she said. “TABLES in the STREET? Who’s going to go sit where they could get hit by a car? What were they thinking?” To that teammate: Guess what’s going to happen right outside your favorite cocktail lounge:
Some familiar @DowntownMemphis streets will get a new look this summer! Introducing the Great Streets Pilot Project: https://t.co/7N6fG9vttY pic.twitter.com/FdyDVlDlPw
— City of Memphis (@CityOfMemphis) May 3, 2017
DowntownMemphis.com has a list of Cinco de Mayo specials going on today.
RiverPlay, the new temporary park on Riverside between Court and Jefferson, opens today at 3 PM and will stay open until 10. You will be able to rent roller skates and check out basketballs, ping-pong paddles, chess pieces and equipment for other games for kids and adults. There will be food trucks rotating through the park on a daily basis. There will also be programming including 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, theatre, live music, fitness boot camps, and yoga. YOGA!
Terence Patterson who runs DMC tweeted a preview video of RiverPlay:
#riverplay preview @DowntownMemphis pic.twitter.com/UWr9Hd2VDO
— Terence Patterson (@tpatterson901) May 4, 2017
Suggestion for anyone who wants to pre-game for Music Fest Saturday morning: Legendary dive bar Earnestine & Hazel’s opens at 10 AM Saturday. That may be 15-16 hours earlier than you usually go, but you can still get a beer, you can still get a Soul Burger, you can still play the jukebox, and you can still go upstairs and see where the working girls took their customers. If you want to hang out with your favorite blogger, I will be there from 10 AM tomorrow to noonish, 1ish, maybe even 2ish. I will play it by ear as to what time I leave. Come join me!
Before I go to E&H, of course, I will hit the Memphis Farmers Market, where Strawberry Fields Forever is this Saturday’s theme. Thanks to an unusually warm winter, strawberry season came early this year. They are big and juicy. Live music by The Skitch 8:30-10 and Austin Holcomb 11-12:30. The Market happens every Saturday under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson from 7 AM to 1 PM.
Meat lovers in particular should check out this week’s Market, where Claybrook Farms will have the May Bundle on sale at a special price. You get six 12 oz. ribeyes, four 12 oz. strip steaks, and four 1.5 lb. packs of ground beef for $150. That’s normally over $185 worth of food.
If you can’t wait until 5 to get your fill of music at Music Fest, Billy Gibson and Linear Smith will perform at 11:30 AM today at the Center for Southern Folklore.
Oh dear Lord. SENSES is re-opening. Saturday night is the opening night with a $20 cover charge and “DRESS TO IMPRESS” prominently featured on the flyer. I will not be attending.
That’s it for now. Possibly a second post at lunchtime.