Happy Monday, Memphis! This week, Downtown welcomes barbecue teams from around the world coming to compete in the Super Bowl of Swine. Plus, we’ve got details on the remembrance of a somber moment in Memphis history; a reading festival for kids of all ages; and more you need to know about in The Week Ahead…

(memphisinmay.org)

The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest opens Wednesday in Tom Lee Park, marking its 40th year. And the barbecue has come a long way from a backyard grill or two on an asphalt parking lot in a nearly deserted Downtown.
If you didn’t get enough music in the park at Beale Street Music Festival on the opening MIM weekend, Coolio is the featured entertainment Friday evening and Clarence Carter plays Saturday evening.

(Daily News File/Andrew J. Breig)

Ghost River Brewing Co. is hosting a “Small Shop Saturday” event Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at 827 S. Main St. For the series, Ghost River each week will host a local vendor/artist/maker set up in the Ghost River tap room, and the public can come by to learn about that brand and their craft. This week’s vendor is bozwell + lily, and attendees can expect “prints, apparel, pins and more,” according to Ghost River.
How’s this for a description of the brand? From bozwell + lily - "We started bozwell + lily as an adventure. as a risk. as something that would resonate with our home – memphis. to stir emotions of past, present and future. we have taken our passion for this city to create something that we believe can be hard yet beautiful."

Read more here. (Daily News/Bill Dries)

A century after his brutal and macabre murder by a lynch mob, Ell Persons will be remembered in a field behind a row of businesses on Summer Avenue near where it turns into Bartlett Road.
The gathering by the Lynching Sites Project and other organizations marks the centennial of a lynching that led to the formation of the Memphis Branch NAACP. Two historical markers will also be formally dedicated, one by Overton High School students in a 2 p.m. ceremony and another at a 3 p.m. prayer gathering – both at 5404 Summer Ave.
The prayer gathering will be at the lynching site which is an area by an oxbow lake that is heavily overgrown. Those organizing the event are recommending boots and closed-toe shoes for the trek. Shuttle buses will also be running to the site starting at 1 p.m. from Perimeter Mall further south on Summer Avenue.

Crosstown Arts and The Recording Academy’s Memphis chapter are presenting SoundOff: From Studio to Turntable, a discussion with Matt Ross-Spang and Jeff Powell, Thursday at 430 N. Cleveland St. from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Matt is a Grammy Award-winning producer and recording engineer, while Jeff is a recording engineer, mixer, producer and vinyl mastering engineer. They’ll be talking about the recording process, starting with tracking and mixing all the way to mastering songs for vinyl.
The event will be moderated by The Recording Academy Memphis Chapter president Scott Bomar. It’s free and open to the public, there will be free food and drinks, and doors open at 6:30 before the event gets started at 7 p.m.

(civilrightsmuseum.org)

The Ruby Bridges Reading Festival is back at the National Civil Rights Museum Saturday for a second year. The festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the museum courtyard, is free and open to the public. It is organized and hosted by Ruby Bridges-Hall, who is herself a part of the history depicted in the museum. As a 6-year-old, she was integrated public schools in New Orleans in 1960. Her first day at school is captured in a Norman Rockwell painting that hung in the White House.
Bridges-Hall formed a foundation that partners with local libraries and literacy organizations to promote reading and literacy. As a child, her parents couldn’t afford to buy books for Bridges-Hall and her siblings. But Bridges-Hall says she got Dr. Seuss books in the mail from someone anonymously. “To this day, I do not know who sent me the books,” she has said.

Bicycle Story Times and Riding Lessons will be offered Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Cossitt Library, 33 S. Front St. From training wheels to two wheels, this interactive program takes a child's once-in-a-lifetime bicycle rite of passage into a memorable one supported by family and friends in this free educational program, offered in partnership with Revolutions Bicycle Co-op.

Not one summit but two in Memphis this week, starting with Wednesday’s second annual Memphis Blight Elimination Summit at Clayborn Temple starting at 11 a.m. All of the different agencies, public and private, will be part of the gathering, which includes some awards for blight projects as well as discussions about the work ahead.

Thursday, meanwhile, is the start of the two-day Tennessee Bike Summit, with Harbor Landing at Mud Island River Park as its base of operations and meetings. This is the sixth annual gathering for those across the state making bicycle and pedestrian projects happen. More than 100 planners, public officials, advocates and, of course, bike riders and walkers will be in attendance. The summit will also go on the road for a mobile tour of the Memphis Medical District.
Check out the full schedule here. 

(Daily News File/Lance Murphey)

The Metal Museum’s Foundry Invitational and River Exhibition is being held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The general conference, which runs Wednesday through Sunday, includes foundry workshops, lectures, expert talks and demonstrations. Saturday is Family Fun Day, with food trucks and hands-on activities. 

The Memphis Redbirds play four games at AutoZone Park starting Monday at 6:35 p.m. vs. Albuquerque. On Tuesday and Wednesday, first pitch is at 11:05 a.m. and Thursday’s game is at 7:05 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the AutoZone Park Box Office, or via phone at 901-721-6000.

The University of Memphis baseball team puts a wrap on the home schedule for the season with a 6:30 p.m. game Tuesday vs. Murray State at FedExPark, and a three-game American Athletic Conference series against Tulane. The Tigers and Green Wave play at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Early voting ends Saturday in Lakeland’s special election for a vacancy on the city commission. That is the last day to cast early ballots in the three-candidate race before the May 25 election day in Lakeland.
Lakeland’s local elections are somewhat different from the other six cities and towns within Shelby County. Lakeland has a city commission as opposed to a city council or a board of aldermen. And usually Lakeland voters will vote for several candidates in a single list to determine who wins multiple seats on the commission.
This time just one race and one choice per voter because of a second vacancy. The first vacancy on the commission was filled by appointment but when the second vacancy came up, Lakeland had to call a special election under terms of its charter.

The Junior Fishing Rodeo at Agricenter International for anglers ages 5-13 is Saturday at Catch’em Lake on the Agricenter side of Walnut Grove Road. Registration is at 7 a.m. with fishing from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. because that’s when the fish are the most awake.
And if they aren’t biting, feel free to feed or even create new local legends about the gigantic goldfish that was covertly dropped in one of the lakes and has eluded capture or how the fish respond best to a certain type of biscuit dough. But be careful; if you pick the brand that used to draw fish at the ancient fishing rodeo in Audubon Park, someone’s grandparents may hear that and will be forced to correct you. (Who knows this story? Leave us a comment!)

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.