Today’s the big day for the Craft Food and Wine Festival at Columns at One Commerce Square. Guests get to taste a variety of artisanal meats, cheeses, and wines, as well as other goodies such as gelato, popcorn, sweets, and tea. The Tri-State Defender has a preview of the event and a profile of its creator, Cristina McCarter of City Tasting Tours. The 4:00 session and VIP tickets are sold out but as of the time I am typing this they are still selling tickets for the 6:30 session.
Today is also the day for The Bar Olympics out at the Hi-Tone in Crosstown. Come watch teams compete in a variety of fun events to see who is the best, while raising money for a great charity, ALIVE! Rescue Memphis, which is a foster-based program for homeless dogs in the Memphis area.
There’s also an ALIVE! Rescue fundraiser at the Green Beetle this afternoon.
It’s Bring Your Dog to Bingo Day at Loflin Yard this afternoon from 4 to 6. Those with a dog get an extra bingo card.
The CA reports that a free yoga class has soared in popularity once a few tweaks were made. Every Tuesday from 6 to 7 PM, the DMC and the Memphis River Parks Partnership host Our Yoga Downtown in River Garden. It’s not just Downtowners who show up, though. On a recent Tuesday people from 32 different zip codes attended. YOGA!
I want to take a minute to say “cheers” to the management of a local bar for taking feedback from their regulars. They recently polled their regulars on whether they should stop offering specials to riders on the party pedal bikes, and based on feedback they eliminated the specials. Those party bike riders expect to be served immediately when they barge into bars, ahead of customers waiting on drinks before they came in. They tend to wreck the vibe of the bars they enter, meaning any Saturday afternoon or Friday evening can turn into Amateur Night on the spot. Plus, although I’m sure it does happen, I have never once seen a party bike rider tip a bartender. Earlier this year at the very bar of which I speak, a party bike rider pushed into my personal space and ran up a $32 tab as he loudly ordered shots for himself and 7 of his friends… and he did not tip one cent.
UConn is planning to leave the American Athletic Conference and return to its former home, the Big East, in all sports but football. The Big East doesn’t offer football as a sport, so UConn will have to figure out what to do there. LOL! You just KNOW Penny Hardaway and his recruiting class had a lot to do with that decision!
There will be a Downtown Margarita Bar Crawl on Saturday, August 17. There will be at least 5 venues. They have not all been announced yet but Blind Bear will be the starting point. There will be themed margaritas, discounted Mexican food and Mexican beer for crawlers, and free take-home swag. There will be themed music at each venue – ’80s, ’90s, 2000s. There will also be a raffle, prizes, and a professional photographer shooting photos and videos.
The Memphis Tigers football team has scheduled a Fan Fest at the Liberty Bowl on Saturday, August 10. Fans will be able to watch an open scrimmage, buy discounted apparel, and get autographs. There will be inflatables, concessions, and music.
This is really cool: NASA has a huge library of images and videos, and for many uses you can access it for free.
That’s it for this post! Back tomorrow with more news, or possibly Tuesday since Mondays tend to be slow news days.