Category Archives: Event

Fourth of July: Memphis fireworks, festival return to Liberty Park. Here’s what’s planned.

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This year’s official City of Memphis fireworks display and “Independence Day” celebration will be held Monday, July 3, in Liberty Park.

The event is co-hosted by the Downtown Memphis Commission, which also is giving away free tickets to the Memphis Redbirds game set for Saturday, July 1, in AutoZone Park, which will be followed by a fireworks show.

The Liberty Park event marks the second year in a row that the city’s fireworks party has been relocated to the old Fairgrounds location, from its traditional Downtown home in Tom Lee Park. The relocation is again necessary because of construction at Tom Lee, which is undergoing an ambitious redesign that was put on hold last month so the park could host Memphis in May International Festival events. Tom Lee is set to reopen to the public Labor Day weekend.

Mid-South Pride To Host Memphis Pride Fest Weekend

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Mid-South Pride will host the Memphis Pride Fest Weekend starting on Thursday, June 1st, and ending on Sunday, June 4th.

According to the organization, this event “honors the diverse LGBTQ+ community and its allies, offering a unique experience that transcends traditional boundaries and fosters unity through a variety of engaging activities and inspiring performances.”

“Mid-South Pride will not back down when any part of our community is attacked. We will always support drag entertainment and those who choose it as a freedom of expression,” said Vanessa Rodley, president of Mid-South Pride.

‘This race allows us to show off the assets of Memphis’

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Thousands of runners from 39 states and at least three different countries gathered at the corner of Beale and Fourth streets bright and early Saturday, May 27, for the seventh Memphis in May Great American River Run.

The downtown race held to kick off Memorial Day weekend included a 5K, 10K and half-marathon throughout Downtown Memphis. The river run is the final event for Memphis in May but no less significant to the annual monthlong celebration, according to Randy Blevins, Memphis in May vice president of marketing and programming.

Patio Porkers, Rib King bring the barbecue competition to Beale Street. Here’s who won.

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Downtown Memphis was hazy Saturday afternoon, with a combination of smoke and overcast skies. Just off Beale Street, people walked in and out of Handy Park and popped over to the various tents where contestants in this year’s Patio Porkers competition were cooking.

The Patio Porkers division of the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest was dropped this year due to space constraints in the redesigned Tom Lee Park, but that did not stop teams from 15 different tents from competing on the same street where the barbecue competition first began in 1978.

The 2023 edition of Patio Porkers, a sanctioned Kansas City Barbecue Society competition, saw teams face off in a one-day event Saturday in Handy Park to determine the best of the backyard barbecuers, with each team cooking ribs for the judges.

Memphis celebrates Bike to Work Day to promote pedestrian and biking safety

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With many different ways to get around Memphis, the Downtown Memphis Commission is working to educate Memphians.

Lauren Bermudez with the Downtown Memphis Commission told FOX13 that May is considered commuter month in the city. The downtown commission uses the month to inform commuters about the resources available to them.

“Not everyone has a personal vehicle for their use 24/7, you know, to make every trip,” said Bermudez.

Bike to Work Day is part of commuter month. Members of the downtown commission were spread across Memphis offering free breakfast and coffee to bikers. Richard Grover told FOX13 he chooses to ride a scooter every day.

Down by the river: BSMF cranks up the energy in Tom Lee Park

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Beale Street Music Festival returned to Tom Lee Park Friday, May 5 at 5 p.m., with multiple acres of garden patches and trees greeting attendees along with a new pavilion and pathways.

But despite updates to the notorious park which have stirred a fervor among many Memphians, some festivalgoers didn’t feel much of a difference once they got back on the river.

As a crowd gathered in front of Zyn stage around 6 p.m., waiting for Marcy Playground to begin its set, sunshine emerged from the dusky clouds over the Mississippi River and took the moderately cool temperatures up to nearly hot within moments.

5 Star Story: Peabody rooftop parties

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There’s an event that’s been happening for so long, it’s become a tradition for many Memphians and a legacy for the Peabody Hotel, where it happens every spring and summer.

The South’s Grandest Hotel Rooftop Parties are into their eighth decade, bringing music, fun and sometimes lifelong relationships to those who attend.

High atop the Peabody Hotel in the heart of downtown Memphis is where Memphians and hotel guests alike party their Thursday nights away at rooftop soirees that have a long history.

“(For) 84 years we have been having parties on the rooftop of the Peabody Hotel,” Kelly Brock, Director of Marketing and Communications at the hotel, said.

‘Blues Stage on Beale’: The story behind Memphis in May’s big change and what to expect

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On May 5, the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival will launch a new stage in its history.

Literally.

The “Memphis Tourism Blues Stage on Beale” relocates the festival’s popular Blues Tent theme from Tom Lee Park to the gently sloped lawn and built-in outdoor performance space at Handy Park, in the center of the Beale Street Entertainment District, about three blocks east of the Mississippi River park where the other three music festival stages will operate, as usual.

The new blues stage is free, making it an open-to-all complement to the music festival as well as a component of the paid-admission main event.

Africa in April wraps up four days of celebration

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A beloved cultural festival in downtown Memphis is wrapping up after four days of celebration and education.

The 36th annual Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival at Robert Church Park was a salute to the Republic of Rwanda. Vendors, many of them from Africa, were in Memphis selling their authentic goods.

“It’s a platform where you get authentic African products. Most of these products are from Africa,” said Mutarr Jallow, a vendor at the festival.