Annual Events & Festivals - Annual Events
From a celebration of Elvis Presley and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthdays in January to the giant New Year’s Eve party on Beale Street, Memphis has a respectable calendar of annual events. There’s truly something for everyone, and some events also include elements of the bizarre. After all it’s not everywhere you find female, Japanese, and dwarf Elvis impersonators (Elvis Week), or a stage full of people competing for who can best squeal like a pig (World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest). Although many events are organized around sports and the arts, it’s not surprising that the main events are organized around the things Memphis is best known for: Elvis, music, and barbecue.
In this chapter we list Memphis’s top annual events, but you can find great stuff to do on just about any given weekend. Beale Street has a number of other music festivals each year, including events during Labor Day weekend and on St. Patrick’s Day, and it offers great music even on ordinary weekends. Plus, there are neighborhood festivals, 10K races, fund-raising events, parades, independent film festivals, and outdoor concerts. For more information, check the Memphis Flyer, the city’s free alternative weekly, or the Memphis Playbook section of the city’s daily newspaper, the Commercial Appeal, which comes out on Friday. Their Web sites are www.memphisflyer.com and www.commercialappeal.com.
1. Elvis Presley Birthday Celebration
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 332-3322, (800) 238-2000
Address: 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard
Description: For Elvis fans who can’t celebrate their idol enough, every year Graceland Mansion sponsors a weekend-long series of events to commemorate Elvis Presley’s January 8 birthday. The events vary but always include a traditional proclamation of Elvis Presley Day ceremony on the front lawn of Graceland. In prior years the events have included a dance party, free birthday cake to Graceland visitors, and a special musical event. It’s a miniversion of the big event, Elvis Week, which takes place in August to commemorate the King’s death.
2. Martin Luther King Jr.’S Birthday
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 521-9699
Address: 450 Mulberry Street
Description: Every year on the weekend before the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, the National Civil Rights Museum sponsors activities that include programs aimed at educating children about the life and work of Dr. King. A highlight is always a celebration of Dr. King’s birthday (January 15), which takes place at the museum on the holiday, which is the third Monday in January. In April, on the anniversary of his death, there’s also a candlelight vigil or other event to commemorate his untimely death in Memphis in 1968.
3. Beale Street Zydeco Festival
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 529-0999
Description: The street gets a dash of Louisiana spice at this popular festival, which features small family bands as well as zydeco stars such as Wayne Touts and Chubby Carrier. An annual event since 1989, the festival, which usually takes place in early to mid-February, also brings you Cajun cooking, a fitting accompaniment to the music. Some years Mardi Gras falls on the same weekend, which means a big parade and other festivities. It’s a wristband event, so $15 gets you into most of the clubs on Beale, where the bands put on their shows.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 5111 Sanderlin Avenue
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
6. W. C. Handy Blues Awards
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 527-2583
Description: The blues’ highest honor is bestowed at this annual awards presentation, also known as the Blues Grammys. The awards, presented in the city where the blues first became famous, attract the best-known names in blues: B. B. King, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Ruth Brown, and Little Milton. Named after the Father of the Blues (W. C. Handy wrote the first blues music when he lived in Memphis), the awards show takes place in downtown Memphis in late April or May, usually around the time of the Beale Street Music Festival. This is a great time for blues fans to go club hopping on Beale Street, as many of these stars find their way to the birthplace of the blues after the ceremony. The Handy Awards, put on by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, celebrated its 29th anniversary in 2008.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
8. Memphis Italian Festival
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 359-8179
Description: The Italian festival on the last weekend in May, has really become a crowd pleaser in the last few years. Hundreds flock to hear the sounds of local bands, taste the specialties of Italy, play children’s games, stomp grapes the old-fashioned way, and watch local Italian chefs in action. It’s a great event for families: Bring a blanket or lawn chairs to relax on. Parking is sometimes hectic, so the organizers arrange for a free shuttle to bring you into the festival. See the Web site for more information about where to park and ride. Tickets are $7 to $10, depending on the day you go, and children under 12 are free.
9. Memphis Kemet Jubilee
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 774-1118
Description: Formerly known as the Cotton Makers Jubilee, this annual event has a rich history dating from 1936, when the city’s African-American community, excluded from the Memphis Cotton Carnival across town, created a celebration of its own. The highlight is the Jubilee Parade, the city’s largest. The parade, which goes along Second Street from Exchange Street to Beale Street before turning east, features more than 100 marching bands from Tennessee and surrounding states as well as floats carrying Jubilee participants, including its king and queen. It’s mainly a family event and features a youth leadership program as well.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
11. Carnival Memphis
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 458-2500
Description: Established in 1931 as the Memphis Cotton Carnival to draw attention to the cotton industry and to promote business, this yearly event mimics New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities by featuring a royal court with a king and queen as well as krewes, the participating clubs. Each year Carnival honors an industry that has had a major impact on the local economy, and participants come from all over the Mid-South. It continues largely as a society event, although at one time it was much more visible, with public festivities such as a parade and fireworks. At present most of its parties and events are invitation only, taking place in early June.
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 3325 Club at Southwind
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard
15. Delta Fair & Music Festival
City: Memphis, TN
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (901) 435-7150
Address: 7777 Walnut Grove Road
Description: With 170,000 attendees in 2007, the Delta Fair has established itself as a hot attraction for the first week of September in Memphis. The fair is centered around a Delta history theme and includes attractions, like a mechanical bull and monster truck rides, and events, like the Lone Star Rodeo and Demolition Derby, that have an agricultural focus. With a Kids’ Zone featuring trampoline bungee jumping and a hay maze, the fair is a family event. Beginning in 2008, the fair will add a Creative Arts exhibit. Tickets at the gate are $8 for adults, $5 for children ages five to 12, and free for children under four. Wristbands for unlimited access to certain parts of the fair run $20 for adults and $15 for children. The rodeo requires a separate ticket for around $10.