It's time to get this week started, Memphis! Here’s our roundup of local happenings you need to know about, from a Funkadelic party at the New Daisy to a Day of Merrymaking on the Greensward... 

While many of us enjoy Memorial Day cookouts and pool parties, it's important to remember what the holiday is really about: remembering those who died while serving our country.
Several events and observances are planned for Monday. Among them:
• American Legion Post 249's Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans Park in Bartlett (10 a.m.)
• Elmwood Cemetery's 90-minute Memorial Day Tour (10:30 a.m.)
• Memorial Park Funeral Home & Cemetery's Memorial Day service (11 a.m.) 

The Memphis Black Expo begins Wednesday and citywide events include panel discussions, cocktail receptions, cultural festival, visual art and fashion party, celebrity appearances and big-plate events. To get all the details, go to memphisblackexpo.com. An evening with Ginuwine and Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell, presented with the Black Expo's Lifetime Achievement Award in Soulful Music, will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday at Stax Museum, 926 E. McLemore Ave.

The New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street marks its 74th anniversary Friday with a show by Parliament Funkadelic. Band founder and leader George Clinton is himself 74 years old and no stranger to stages big and small in Memphis during his long and funky journey.
The New Daisy meanwhile continues to collect postings of past shows for its memory wall on Facebook. If you’ve got a story and/or a photo to go with it, send it to marketing@newdaisy.com. 

The Overton Park Conservancy’s annual Day of Merrymaking is Saturday on the Greensward from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And yes, the tethered hot air balloon rides are back this year. Making its debut this year is a beer garden by Memphis Made Brewing Co. Lots of food trucks and the conservancy is going to the shuttle system for the event on what is another busy weekend in the park.

The Shelby County Schools board should vote at its Tuesday meeting on whether or not to close Carver High School. SCS superintendent Dorsey Hopson has told school board members that he hasn’t seen anything since he proposed the closing that changes his mind about the need to close the school.
The vote Tuesday would come days after the 2015-2016 school year ended, which likely could be Carver’s last.

City Council members meet Tuesday as well and hope to complete the budget committee’s work on a city budget proposal for the full council to vote on at its June 7 meeting, along with a city property tax rate.

On Saturday, it’s a “Night at the Lorraine.” Step back in time to the swinging, storied history of the Lorraine Motel in its heyday. Relive the magic with live ’60s music and dancing, silent auction, special museum experience, and food inspired by iconic Memphis restaurants. Runs from 7 to 11 p.m. at the National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry St. 901-521-9699, civilrightsmuseum.org/event/night-at-the-lorraine.

The Memphis Redbirds open a four-game homestand Tuesday night and the action continues through Friday night. Friday’s game will feature postgame fireworks and a special golf theme in tribute to the upcoming FedEx St. Jude Classic PGA Tour event held at TPC Southwind the following week. All games begin at 7:05 p.m. The AutoZone Park box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday on non-game days and opens at 10 a.m. on game days. You can also call for tickets at 901-721-6000 or go to memphisredbirds.com for tickets and detailed information about promotions and discounts.

Memphis Democrats are to meet Thursday in Midtown, and on the agenda is an attempt to heal some rifts in this election for a party that has had a rough six years of it in two sets of partisan countywide elections.
Local party chairwoman Randa Spears and vice chair Deidre Malone resigned not too far apart in April. Spears cited increased duties at her day job.
She was chairwoman for just less than a year, imposing new financial measures following the February 2015 resignation of chairman Bryan Carson. Carson resigned as chairman following questions from the Democratic executive committee and a negotiated settlement over the local party’s finances.
Malone has said she was tired of the rift within the local party that has been a major factor in the party’s nominees only winning one countywide race in the 2010 and 2014 county general elections.
The party has had interim leadership since the resignations of Spears and Malone.

Ghost River Brewing Co. will clear another hurdle this Wednesday when it goes before the Design Review Board. The owners of Ghost River plan an interior taproom and patio to open this summer. Located at the corner of E.H. Crump Boulevard and South Main, the Ghost River brewery is at a prominent – and underutilized – Downtown gateway. The taproom will help the brewery transition from a manufacturing facility to a neighborhood asset.
The Center City Development Corp. granted Ghost River a $66,500 storefront improvement grant on May 16. To fulfill the terms of the grant, Ghost River is back before the Design Review Board for final approval of the exterior changes. The project has had the full support throughout the process, and it is expected that the design will sail through the meeting.
Also under consideration is an application to light up the Harahan Bridge with high-quality LED lights. When the bridge opens for pedestrian use as part of the Main Street-to-Main Street Intermodal Connector Project, it will be lit with $5 million in private backing.
“The creative intent of this concept is to complement the two structures, acknowledge their uniqueness and bind them more closely together through the use of dynamic LED lighting and controls,” states contractor Philips Lighting in its application.

If you’ve ever wanted to get a drink with City Council members Patrice Robinson and Berlin Boyd, Thursday is your chance. They’ll both be speaking about the proposed budget at an event hosted by Millennials for Memphis. It takes place at Alchemy Memphis, 940 S. Cooper Street, beginning at 6 p.m. 

Also Thursday, Literacy Mid-South’s Young Professionals Council presents Books on Tap at High Cotton Brewing Co., 598 Monroe Ave. The event, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is to raise composition notebooks for the more than 4,000 children participating in Literacy Mid-South’s Summer Reading Initiative. There will be free drink giveaways and a raffle for a FitBit Charge, as well as tickets to Literacy Mid-South’s Literatini event.

All aboard for National Train Day on Saturday. Real locomotive and passenger car tours, train-centric displays and vendors, free museum admission, Double J Smokehouse food truck, music, and choo-choo surprises. Event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum, 545 S. Main St., 901-590-3099, mrtm.org.     

Last but definitely not least, here’s one for the foodies: GPAC is hosting a food truck and music festival Saturday in the GPAC Grove at 1801 Exeter Rd. It kicks off at 3 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m. Admission is free, there will be activities for kids like a bounce house and sidewalk chalk, and vendors will include Corky’s, Gus's Fried Chicken, MEMPops and more. (The event is a fundraiser for the Germantown Education Foundation and the GPAC Education Fund.)

The Daily News staff compiles The Week Ahead for you, our readers, every week. You'll receive it as part of our Monday online edition. Email associate editor Kate Simone at ksimone@memphisdailynews.com if you have items for consideration.