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Pretty good theme, huh?

This weekend, there are three festivals in Downtown and Midtown where much beer will be consumed. I’ll be at all three. Here are the details:

Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest, Saturday, 1-5 PM

This festival, held in the parking lot behind LifeLink at Cooper and Walker, will prove that you don’t have to fly to another part of the country to get a great craft beer. They’re limiting the event to 400 attendees so that everyone will be able to talk to the brewers and learn about what they’re drinking. There will also be an education tent where people can learn about beer and brewing. They’ll have food for sale by Chef Ben Vaughn and Au Fond Farmtable. Tickets are on sale here through 10 PM tonight. $25 for CYCA members, $30 for everyone else, $5 more if you buy a ticket at the gate tomorrow (if they don’t sell out).

Attn Downtowners: Anyone want to split a cab down there? I’m planning on having a pre-game beer at the Saucer at noon, then walking to the Peabody or Beale about 12:40 to find a cab. Feel free to meet up.

First Annual Fall Beer Festival at the Flying Saucer, Sunday, noon-10 PM

The Saucer will be selling tasting cards for this event – 10 tasters for $20. You’ll get to try some beers not seen in this area. They’re blocking off the street, and there will be 8 tents featuring Sierra 30th Fritz & Ken; Sierra 30th Charlie, Fred, and Ken; Sierra Celebration ’09; Sierra 30th Charlie & Ken; Stone IRS; Yazoo Cask Sue; Schlafly; and Oktoberfest selections. This is their first time doing an outdoor beer festival, but if they hold it to the same high standard as their beer dinners, it should be an outstanding event.

SMA Oktoberfest, G.E. Patterson between Main and Mulberry, Sunday 3-7 PM

This is not so much a beerfest as the other two events – only Ghost River will be there – yet it is the festival I am looking forward to the most. Oktoberfest has always been one of the best events of the fall, and this year it will get even bigger, as they block off the street. Pam & Terry will provide the music, the Ghost River beer will be flowing (as well as wine), and Harry’s Detour and Circa will provide delicious Oktoberfest food. I’m putting the over/under on how many plates of food the Nuh-Uh Girl will have at 5. Free for SMA members, $10 for non-members.

Note that since the Saucer’s festival runs from noon to 10, you have plenty of time Sunday to attend both events. You can even do it Ryburn style and attend the Saucer’s festival before AND after SMA Oktoberfest if you choose.

What to wear to these festivals? This is likely the last time this year we will see temps in the 90s. Ladies, it’s time to put those tube tops on display one last time. Guys, I couldn’t care less what you wear. I’ll be sporting my brand-new “Wooooo Pig Sooiee” Arkansas Razorbacks shirt at the CY beerfest.

I have more stuff, so look for a “Friday update” post later today.

If you’ve been reading my blog the past couple of months, you may have seen me mention that a very cool Grizzlies promotion for Downtowners has been in the works. Yesterday I got the green light to announce it.

The Wednesday, November 10 game with the Dallas Mavericks will be Downtown Night with the Grizzlies. For $50, you will get a $99 club level seat for the game. Furthermore, from 6 to 7:30 PM, we will have our own room (pictured below) in the elegant Opus restaurant in the club level. Downtowners will be able to mingle, enjoy food and beverages, and meet the Grizz girls, Grizz the mascot, and members of the basketball operations staff.

The private room looks like it holds about 100, but if we draw a bigger crowd than that, management has said they will shut down the entire Opus restaurant for us.

You can order your tickets here. Password is fedexforum.

Here’s a PDF with more information.

This is an event that was planned in part by people who live Downtown. The Grizzlies contacted six of us back in August. They said they wanted to give Downtowners a space to mingle with their neighbors, and also show them a great time at a game. They sought our input on what would attract people who live here, and they incorporated our feedback to set up this event. I think it is a great value and hope to see a lot of my Downtown neighbors there.

For more information, you can contact Carl Rosen at crosen@grizzlies.com or 901-205-1445. You can also get more information from the Grizzlies staff at major Downtown events between now and the date of the game.

I am delighted to extend a hearty WELCOME to my new neighbors, Pinnacle Airlines, who will be moving into 12 floors of One Commerce Square just down the street from me. Their lease in their current space on Nonconnah Blvd. expires next year, and they have been weighing their options – another building near the airport, space in Olive branch, or the Downtown location. Yesterday they announced that they’re coming Downtown! Great decision!

Since it will be a while before employees actually move in, I won’t mention that you have to eat lunch at the Little Tea Shop and meet Downtown icon Suhair… or that you will love the sliders and the spaghetti and meatballs at Bardog… or that Court House Deli makes delicious crawfish etoufee and jambalaya… or that Elliott’s has some of the best breakfasts you’ll find anywhere, and their burgers are really good too. Nope, won’t mention any of that, all of which is within a block walk of the new office.

Pinnacle will bring 600-650 jobs Downtown. The move will also increase demand for hotel rooms by about 21,000 annually, according to estimates.

Major, major kudos to the CCC, Mayor Wharton, the City Council, and everyone else who put together the incentive package that attracted Pinnacle down here.

There will be a pep rally tomorrow morning, Friday, October 8, from 8:45-9:15 AM to welcome our new neighbors.  Rally will be at One Commerce Square at Main and Monroe.  Let’s get out there and show Pinnacle we’re glad they’re coming!  The Beale Street Flippers, Rockey Redbird, cheerleaders, drummers and more will be on hand.

Check back later today… For a couple of months I’ve been saying that the Grizzlies have been planning something special for Downtowners. I now have permission to tell you what’s going on. I just have to get home and upload a PDF before I can make the post.

Pinnacle Airlines will announce its decision for its new headquarters location today at 1. I hope it’s Downtown. We’d love to have Pinnacle as our neighbor!

Drew Barton will be on the My Fox Memphis morning show tomorrow discussing this Saturday’s Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest. He should be on around 9:45. Tickets are still on sale. This beer fest will be a little different from most in that it will emphasize breweries that are within a day’s drive of Memphis.

Have you ever wanted to be a BBQ judge? Memphis in May will hold a judging seminar Saturday, November 6 at the Holiday Inn Select on Union. For more info or to register, go here.

Fun evening ahead… I have a brief meeting with the Grizzlies at 6:30, then I’m attending their first exhibition game at the FedExForum at 7. Plenty of seats remain, so come on down and see how the players have improved their game over the summer.

After I posted a link to a composite SEC schedule in the last post, one of my blog readers contacted me and told me he maintains a calendar of all SEC football games and scores that is iPhone-friendly.  Because game times are not always known in advance due to TV, he updates his calendar weekly.  He doesn’t make any money off this – he just does it because he’s a huge SEC fan.  Go here and click Subscribe if you’d like to have the calendar added to your Outlook, Apple iCal, or iPhone calendar.

The SMA meeting which I posted about at lunch now has a speaker:  Jimmy Ogle, who conducts the Downtown walking tours.  His topic will be “Historic South Main.”  Again, meeting is next Tuesday, October 13, at Earnestine & Hazel’s, social at 6, program at 6:30.

Good news for the Pinch, the area surrounding the Pyramid:  MHA announced that it will receive $9.9 million in federal dollars to improve that neighborhood.  Renovations will be completed without the use of city property taxes or general fund revenues.  That’s great news.  I’m telling you, I really think 2011 is going to be a big year for Downtown.  I’m seeing some key businesses going into some key locations.  Good things are about to happen.

I just checked the Hot Chicks with Douchebags site… excellent tube top on there today.

Waiting to throw the laundry in the dryer, then it’s off to trivia… I hope the bonus beer is something I need for my plate… down to my last 30.

If you’re Downtown this afternoon and can get away from work for a few minutes, stop by Shelton Clothiers between 1 and 3 PM. They’re having a thank-you event for our Downtown police officers, thanking them for all their hard work. Hot dogs and fixins will be served. Wish I could make it… MPD has really stepped up their efforts lately, and it’s made a huge difference. Thank you officers!

A fellow Hog fan sent me this link, which will be useful to all SEC fans… it’s a composite SEC football schedule. Very useful for planning out your game viewing for the rest of the fall.

Save the date for the next SMA meeting, which will be Tuesday, October 12 at Earnestine & Hazel’s. Featured speaker is yet to be determined, but I wanted to go aheaed and mention it because there will be complimentary Soul Burgers for SMA members! Social at 6, program at 6:30 and as soon as I get details about the speaker I’ll post. Free Soul Burgers? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Time to hit Wal-Mart and shop for props for my Halloween costume… really getting into the idea of being Bruce Pearl for a weekend. I enjoy costumes where I can become the character, and being Pearl gives me license to act like a complete douchebag in public, not to mention hit on 22 year old females.

Trivia tonight at the Saucer, 7 PM.

Writing about my Halloween costume in my last blog post makes me realize… we’re less than four weeks away! I guess it’s time for me to start compiling a list of who’s having a party when… as for parties Downtown that are open to the public, the only one I’ve heard of that is set in stone is Kooky Canuck which will be Sunday the 31st, the actual day of. That will prompt me to take a half-day off work Monday the 1st so I can stay out late.

Who else is having parties, and what days? Shoot me an e-mail at paul@paulryburn.com and let me know. I’ll start compiling a list and post an update every few days.

If memory serves, the last time we had Halloween on a Sunday was 2004, and it worked out well because the the parties were pretty well balanced between Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th. Kind of worried that this time around, nearly everyone (except Kooky) will do their party on the 30th, which will scatter people this year the way we were last year when everyone did Saturday the 31st. I’m hoping that one or two places will see Friday the 29th as an opportunity.

It’s not Halloween, but it’s time for me to haunt the Saucer and have some Pint Nite beers. Some $3 Pint Nite beers.

The Greater Memphis Chamber has released results of a study about the Grizzlies and the FedExForum. For years, people have wondered if the Forum is worth what the city paid for it… well, now we have evidence that it is. The study shows that the team and arena bring $223 million a year into the local economy, and that the equivalent of 1,374 full-time jobs exist because the FedExForum is here. Sounds like the $250 million to build the FedExForum was not such a bad investment after all.

The study also indicates that 35-40% of the Forum’s visitors come from outside Shelby County. On average, each of those visitors spends $23.40 in Memphis outside of the FedExForum. $5.3 million in local tax revenue is generated annually by the team, arena, and visitor spending. You can read more details in this CA article.

Glad to see the Grizzlies pulling their weight financially… now they just need to win some games!

Having trouble putting together my Halloween costume. I was going to buy an orange blazer and orange tie and be Bruce Pearl. I figured I’d print up some papers reading “NCAA RECRUITING VIOLATION” and maybe carry a mini basketball and act like a douchebag all weekend. But there’s a problem… I can’t find a reasonably priced orange blazer. I’ve found several, but I really can’t see spending more than $100 for something I’ll wear 3 days and then never use again. There’s one on eBay for $19, but it’s Texas orange, not Tennessee orange, and it’s too big for me besides. Anyone have ideas how I can pull this costume off without spending an arm and a leg?

I’d like to propose a new rule in this great drinking game called life.  I’d like to propose that any time the tiny giraffe appears on TV, it should be a community drink.

If you are not familiar with this tiny giraffe of which I speak, watch the video below.