So, you think this is the “off-week” of the Memphis In May International Festival – the gap between the Beale Street Music Festival and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. But, while Tom Lee Park gets a breather, there are plenty of cultural experiences to soak up across Memphis. Here's our weekly roundup of local happenings you need to know about...

2. The Week Ahead: Feb. 12, 2016 - Monday, February 15, 2016

How was your weekend, Memphis? Here’s our weekly rundown of local happenings you need to know about, from circus clowns to Republican senators…

Both U.S. Senators representing Tennessee will be in Memphis Saturday for the Shelby County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Gala, historically the local party’s largest annual fundraising event.
Sen. Bob Corker is the keynote speaker with Sen. Lamar Alexander as a special guest.
The Lincoln Day gatherings are county-by-county events across the state that can extend far beyond the shadow of Presidents Day: A few of the Lincoln Day dinners have been known to find a place on the calendar in April.
This is the 41st Lincoln Day event in Shelby County, which puts the local event’s origins squarely in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, a low-point for Republican fortunes nationally after the state’s modern Republican party was formed and prospered in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The event always comes with a large helping of local candidates testing the political waters among the dinner tables between podium speeches.
This year, the Shelby County event is sure to feature partisans from the various Republican presidential campaigns because of its place on the February calendar during the early voting period before the March 1 election day.

3. Photographer Opens Midtown Creative Co-Working Space - Monday, February 16, 2015

This year has seen a dream come true for Lisa Mac, who in 2012 opened her Midtown photography business at 688 S. Cox St.

4. New Business Pattern - Thursday, May 10, 2012

Entrepreneurs by nature are risk-takers, and two Midtown neighbors-turned-business partners are the latest evidence.

Susan Schwartz and Mary Allison Cates have watched their impromptu idea of owning a sewing boutique transform from a margarita-inspired dinner at Las Delicias to the culmination of Sew Memphis opening its doors in the Cooper-Young neighborhood at 688 S. Cox St. last week.

5. ‘Sew’ Unusual: Store Aims to Break Rules - Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A business is planning to open at 688 S. Cox St., and it’s breaking all of the rules.

All of the quilt rules, that is.