The Downtown Christmas tree lighting has been announced for Friday, November 27, 4 to 6 PM, at the usual corner of Main and Peabody Place. If this were a normal year, kids would be able to get their photos taken sitting on Santa’s lap. However, having Santa come in contact with hundreds of kids could turn into a COVID-19 super-spreader event. So this year, they’re doing something different. Santa will be enclosed inside a snowglobe near the Christmas tree. The globe will be decorated with artwork from the kids at St. Jude. From 4 to 6 that afternoon, your kids will be able to pose for COVID-safe photos with Santa.
If you don’t want to wait until the end of the month to see Santa, he will make an appearance tomorrow 5-7 PM at the reimagined Santa’s Wonderland at Bass Pro at the Pyramid. Elves will hand out crafts and hot cocoa, and Christmas music will be playing. Bring your homemade signs to let Santa know what you want. Reservations must be booked in advance for this drive-by event.
I didn’t watch the COVID-19 press conference yesterday, but here are a few things @local24brad shared:
- There is still a big problem with people continuing their day-to-day routines even after they have developed symptoms that could possibly indicate COVID
- Quick, cheap pool testing/assurance testing will be rolled out to industries like restaurants whose workers are at a high risk due to contact with the public every day
- Despite the surge, health department director Dr. Haushalter said there are NO plans to bring back restrictions. Well, that’ll make the Facebook “health experts” unhappy.
Tomorrow would be a great day to grab some soul food at Alcenia’s, as the restaurant in the Pinch celebrates its 23rd anniversary.
The PRVLG play the Huling Station outdoor dining space across the street from Grecian Gourmet and Memphis Soul Food today 5-7.
Ohio State has withdrawn from the Crossover Classic, to be played in South Dakota and in which the Memphis Tigers are a participant, the week of Thanksgiving. The DM reports that Saint Mary’s will be the replacement. If the name sounds familiar, they’re a frequent NCAA tournament team, known for being the second-best team in the conference Gonzaga dominates. If Memphis beats St. Mary’s in the opening round, they’ll face Texas A&M or good ole West Virginny in the second round, and a victory in that game would put them in the championship final. We won’t have to wait long to find out how good the Tigers really are this year.
The NBA’s Players Association has approved a 72-game schedule for 2020-21 with a December 22 start. The season would get done before the Summer Olympics™ get started in July. With a start two months later than normal, I wonder if that means back-to-back-to-backs will return.
From Local 24: The legend of music teacher Elmertha Cole lives on at the Eight & Sand bar at Central Station Hotel.
Vintage plays The Vault tonight at 8.
The presidential election remains undecided this morning, with Nevada and Georgia leaning Biden (just barely in Georgia’s case) and Alaska, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina leaning Trump. FiveThirtyEight reports that many of the outstanding Pennsylvania votes are mail-ins from the Philadelphia metro which could flip that state blue. A Biden win in any of the states mentioned except Alaska would give him enough electoral votes to win the presidency. (Edit 7:59 AM: Biden has taken the lead in Pennsylvania.)
Those are the facts. I am going to leave opinions out of this until the race gets called one way or the other. Could happen today. I don’t understand how a state as sparsely populated as Nevada could take this long. Someone ride out to the Ponderosa and collect the last votes from Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe so we can get this show on the road.
Today’s Politico Playbook discusses how the House and Senate could be a place for further shenanigans in January when it’s time to certify the vote.
FiveThirtyEight’s live blog is a good way to stay up to date with election coverage while you’re at work and can’t be in front of a TV.
That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with more news.