RiverArtsFest moving and more Wednesday news

RiverArtsFest is getting a new location this year. The largest juried arts festival in the region is moving to Riverside Drive between Jefferson and Union. A big part of the reason is that the closure of Main south of G.E. Patterson for a year for Central Station construction denies the festival the footprint it needs in South Main. I’m definitely not going to mind RiverArtsFest being steps away from me in the core. I plan to be there! The festival will be Saturday and Sunday, October 27-28.

The Majestic Grille’s Supper Club is back with a Spring Dinner on Wednesday, May 2 at 6 PM. Chef Patrick is planning a menu of delicate veggies, flaky buttery fish, and spring lamb. Five-course dinner perfectly paired with wine and spirits. $75 plus tax and gratuity. Call 901-522-8555 to book your reservation for the dinner.

Friends for Life is a wonderful organization that supports those with HIV/AIDS and their caretakers. Next week you can Dine Out For Life to support FFL. Here’s the schedule. Participating Downtown restaurants include Civil Pour, Pontotoc Lounge, Silly Goose, Green Beetle, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and McEwen’s.

Memphis in May has announced the music lineup, the food vendors, and the craftspeople and artists for 901 Fest, the Memphis-themed celebration that wraps up the month of May in Tom Lee Park.

There will be a Memphis Made meet and drink tonight at Food Truck Night at Miss Cordelia’s/Cordelia’s Table from 5 to 8 PM. Stanley’s Sweet Street Treat food truck will be there, as will desserts from Memphis Twist. There will be a Memphis Made beer and cheese pairing and Andy, co-founder of the brewery, will be on hand to answer any beer questions you may have.

I saw a post on Facebook implying that trolleys would be coming back to The Edge on April 30. That is not accurate. Only the Main Street line will open at the end of this month. The Riverfront line will open in early 2019, and the Madison line – stretching from the Downtown core to The Edge to the Medical District – will return late 2019 or early 2020.

RIP Barbara Bush, a lady who was the epitome of class and grace and who spent her life in service of others.

I went back to Exlines’ yesterday for lunch. I had my eye on their Ultimate Tamales on their online menu, but it looks like they don’t carry them anymore, at least not at the Quince and Kirby location. So I changed it up and went with six of Uncle Walt’s wings with hot sauce and a side of fries.

(…Aaaand I’m getting an HTTP error when I try to upload the photos. Just imagine a picture of wings and a picture of fries in this space.)

 

Wings were big and meaty, hot sauce was good, and they brought me a big cup of ranch for dipping. I appreciate places that give you enough dip to accommodate all your wings, rather than giving you a tiny cup that runs out after the second or third one. The steak fries were well seasoned and I dipped those in ranch as well. (For those who don’t know this about me, I much prefer ranch over ketchup with fries.) The wings were $5.25 for six big ones, an excellent value.

Question for my readers: Two weeks from today, I have to buy a pie for Pie Wednesday in our department here at work. Where, within a 10 minute drive of Poplar and Kirby Parkway sells whole pies? I know the bakery at Bougie Kroger across the street does, but where else? Email me at paul@paulryburn.com if you know of a place.

Yesterday I turned on 92.9 on the way home. The first thing I heard was Gary Parrish say that Geoff Calkins recommends not putting Nashville hot chicken near your butt. I turned the radio off after that.

There’s a speed trap that often operates on north-bound Kirby a couple of blocks before Humphreys. The speed limit is 35 on that stretch and people accelerate to try and make the green light. Shelby County deputies lay in wait two streets before Humphreys, at the intersection of Massey Lane. Yesterday a deputy stepped out into the road and signaled three cars in the right lane and one in the left lane to turn onto Massey Lane where another deputy was waiting. Glad I was far enough back to not get pulled over. The cars were doing probably about 42, so the deputies don’t give much leeway. Watch out if you travel on that stretch of road.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more.