VOL. 132 | NO. 200 | Monday, October 9, 2017
Week Ahead: Oct. 9-15
The Daily News
Hey, Memphis! The real NBA and college basketball seasons creep closer with teasing events this week and the schedule of fun things to do is highlighted by the second annual Memphis Food & Wine Festival Saturday evening. Here’s toasting to a great week.
(Daily News/Andrew J. Breig)
This week is fall break for Shelby County Schools, which when many of us were school age, was the one- or two-day break built in around the Mid-South Fair. Now the fair is held south of the state line and even when it was still at the Fairgrounds, there was some debate about a holiday to attend the fair. Of course, that was when the school year started in September instead of early August.
The Ben F. Jones chapter of the National Bar Association is marking its 51st anniversary Thursday at the National Civil Rights Museum with several continuing legal education discussions and presentations. The keynote speaker is U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Robert Wilkins Jr., who will be part of a panel discussion that includes U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Julia Gibbons of Memphis, U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes of Memphis, former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder, former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey.
The Tennessee Historical Commission meets in Athens, Tennessee, Friday. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland will be there trying to convince the commission to hear the city’s request for a state law waiver that would allow Memphis to remove the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest from Health Sciences Park. The chairman and the legal counsel to the historical commission have both said the commission will not hear the waiver request on Friday. Strickland’s administration has said the full historical commission membership should decide whether or not to hear the waiver request.
The Pink Palace is hosting the 45th annual Pink Palace Crafts Fair presented by Bank of America this weekend. The event runs from 10 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Artisan crafts are the highlights, but there will also be music, food, educational exhibits, kids’ crafts, rides and interactive family activities each of the three days. The event is also the largest fundraising event for the Pink Palace Museum.
The Memphis Food & Wine Festival, which benefits FedExFamilyHouse, returns to the Memphis Botanic Garden this week. The event – set for Saturday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. – will bring together 34 chefs, vintners showcasing more than 150 wines and entertainers playing live Memphis music. Last year’s festival attracted 1,600 foodies and raised $100,000 for FedExFamilyHouse, which is the home-away-from-home for families of patients being treated at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. This year’s festival will have big-name chefs like Guy Savoy, the French chef who owns restaurants in Paris and Las Vegas and who’s known for training celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. The event has a capacity for 2,500 and is hoping for a sellout crowd this year. Go to memphisfoodwinefestival.org for more information.
The Memphis Grizzlies continue their preseason schedule with a 7 p.m. game Wednesday vs. the Houston Rockets, who have added Grizzlies nemesis Chris Paul since last season. Memphis plays the New Orleans Pelicans – now home to former Grizzly and fan favorite Tony Allen – here at 7 p.m. Friday at FedExForum. Check out nba.com/grizzlies for tickets.
The Daily News continues its annual seminar series this week, this time focused on redevelopment of the Pinch District at the north end of Downtown. The event is Thursday at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar Ave. It gets started at 3:30 p.m. and will feature a panel discussion about the Pinch that includes Memphis Medical District Collaborative president Tommy Pacello, interim Downtown Memphis Commission president Jennifer Oswalt, and LRK principal Frank Ricks. The cover story in the current edition of The Memphis News takes a look at the Pinch and offers a preview of the event this week.
College basketball season is drawing near and to help get ready for the official tipoff, the University of Memphis will host Memphis Madness at 7 p.m. Thursday at FedExForum. U of M students with their student ID are admitted free, as are children 12 and younger. Admission for everyone else is $5. The men’s and women’s basketball teams will be introduced and fans will get chance to meet the players and even get some autographs.
The Memphis football team returns to action at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium with a 2:45 p.m. kickoff on Saturday against American Athletic Conference foe Navy. The Midshipmen run a unique offense – the triple-option. You can find tickets at gotigersgo.com. The game also will be carried on television by ESPNU.
Two development projects on Cooper Street in Midtown will be seeking 11-year tax abatements from the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Center City Revenue Finance Corp. board Tuesday. The first project, located at 663 and 673 Cooper St., is an office/residential mixed-use development submitted by filament LLC, the development wing of local architectural firm archimania. Further south along Cooper Street, Focal Point Investments LLC wants to construct a 25-unit studio apartment complex on a 0.4-acre vacant lot at 999 S. Cooper.
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.