Memphis has been hit with tragedy of late, making it harder to find the love for the city we celebrated a few weeks ago with 901 Day. That love isn’t gone. But, sometimes, it’s easier to recognize it when it’s spelled out before us. So we took time to reflect on things that make us most grateful for our city.
Cooper-Young Festival parties
New bike lanes on Peabody
Bail reform
Mane
Amazing local craft beer
Trolley dings
Big Ass Beers on Beale
Miss Barbara’s biscuits at City Market, Cooper-Young
Mary, the Orpheum Theatre ghost
Mempops on a hot day
Calling TACOnganas on Cooper “taco village”
The kids’ play area at Railgarten
The promise of Blue Oval City
The promise of Brooks on the Bluff
The promise of the Metal Museum in Overton Park
The promise of Tom Lee Park
The promise of a new interchange at I-55 and Crump
The opportunity to fill the Brooks building in Overton Park
All the new Black officials on city/county level
The Kroc Center
After-hike burgers at the Shelby Forest General Store
Overton Park 9
Simultaneously loving and hating “Walking in Memphis”
LeMoyne-Owen College
“Hush Y’all” signs at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
The new Ida B. Wells statue
The Broom Closet and Historical Haunts
Memphis AF
The new relationship between the Memphis Zoo and Overton Park Conservancy
Great reporters and news outlets
Wearing a Bass Pro hat as a civic function
Big River Crossing
The new concourse at Memphis International Airport
Bill Ganus
Black Restaurant Week
Obruni Dance Band
The horns of Victor Sawyer and Hope Clayburn in any band
Not using a watch to know it’s 3:30 p.m. on a Wednesday
The nasty foot billboard over Union is gone.
Larry Finch statue
Pujols Chair at AutoZone Park
Island green (11th hole) at TPC Southwind
Tiger basketball through the voices of Dave Woloshin and Matt Dillon
Penny Hardaway calling the shots
Ja Morant … period
Super Grizz to start the fourth quarter
Zach Randolph’s number 50
The Mighty Sound of the South marching band
“Eye of the Tiger” before tip-off
Memphis Pom Squad. National champs. Again.
Martin Luther King Day game at FedExForum
Halftime at the Southern Heritage Classic
Disc golf at Sea Isle Park
Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center
Jaren Jackson Jr. from three-point range
Desmond Bane from three-point range
