🎙️ Riverbeat Music Fest to debut this weekend

Good afternoon, Memphis! Welcome to the This is Memphis newsletter, where it’s our job to break down the best of Memphis every week in news, events, and more.

And it’s officially May — our favorite time of the year with endless options for fun things happening in our city.

In today’s newsletter:

• MSCS bumping teachers’ salaries to $50k 💰️ 

• Memphis hoops legend Andre Turner returns to Memphis 🏀 

• 9 things to do in Memphis this weekend 🤸 

• The first Memphis in May BBQ Contest Winner 👀 

Let’s get to it.

-Jonah Baer & Reuben Skahill

🗞️ The Rundown

No property tax hike in proposal from county mayor 💰️ 

On Wednesday, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris proposed a $1.6 billion consolidated budget to the Shelby County Commission… with no county property-tax hike.

He said that he’s the first Shelby County mayor “in the last two decades or so to have never proposed a property tax increase,” according to Bill Dries in the Daily Memphian.

MSCS bumping teachers’ salaries to $50K 📈 

Teachers across the city are celebrating as they’re poised to receive raises in the coming months. The Memphis-Shelby County School board unanimously approved an additional $28.4 million into teacher salaries for the 2024-25 academic year. This will bring the starting annual teacher salary to $50,000, close to a $5,000 per year raise for teachers.

This is one amazing step forward but if you ask me, teachers should be one of the highest paying jobs out there.

Riverbeat Music Festival to debut this weekend 🎙️ :music

While Beale Street Music Festival is on pause this year, this weekend we’re getting a look at the first inaugural Mempho Presents Riverbeat Music Festival at the new Tom Lee Park. There will be two main stages, two smaller stages, and one DJ area, all set alongside the Mississippi River. We can’t wait to see how the new festival shapes up with headliners Jelly Roll, Odesza, and The Fugees.

Learn more about the new festival.*
And get your tickets here.

Tigers legend Andre Turner added to Memphis coaching staff 🏀 

Lane College head coach and UofM hoops legend Andrew Turner will be joining Penny Hardaway’s staff as an assistant coach. Back in the 80s, Turner was a hero for then-Memphis State as he led the Tigers to the 1985 Final Four, as he hit not one, but two game-winning shots against UAB and Boston College in the tournament. The Tigers are excited to add a Tigers alum back to the staff.

Learn more about the hire here.

_{*3rd party source needs paid subscription}

📸 Photo of the Week

📸 @pvzphoto | This could be us.

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〽️ A Trip Down Memphis’ Memory Lane

In honor of Memphis in May, it’s only fitting to share the story of the first Memphis in May BBQ Contest winner: Bessie Louise Cathey. She won $500, not a bad return for her $12 entry fee. In all, there were 26 total teams competing for $1000 in prize money in the first BBQ Contest in May, 1978. According to the Facebook post in the Memphis In Pictures, Places And People Group: “Bessie Cathey was an average homemaker who entered the contest on a whim. She cooked her pork ribs on a backyard barrel cooker made from a recycled oil drum!”

Learn more about this story from the Facebook group here.

🤸 9 Things to do in the 901 This Weekend

It’s May in Memphis, so that means it’s Memphis in May… one of the best times of the year in our beautiful city. Here are 9 things going on this weekend (not including Riverbeat Music Festival!):

• Concerts in the Grove with Jerome Chism and the Royal Studios House Band | Thursday, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM | Germantown Performing Arts Center

  
  Enjoy music, food trucks, and corn hole, all in the beautiful, park-like setting of the TruGreen Lawn. Gates open at 5:30 PM.
  
  Cost: Starting at $7
  Get your tickets here.
  

• Peabody Rooftop Party | Thursday, 6 PM to 10 PM | Peabody Rooftop
  
  Peabody Rooftop Parties are back and better than ever, running every Thursday night now until August 15. For those who are 21 and up only.
  
  Cost: $15 entry
  Learn more here.
  

• Cooper Young Night Out | Thursday, 5 PM - 8 PM | Cooper Young
  
  In the Cooper Young Arts District, restaurants, bars, retail and service businesses will stay open late to offer up live music, discounts on food and drink, sidewalk sales, trivia games, shuffleboard, some of the best local brewed beer and dining the city has to offer.
  

• Miles for Melanoma 5K | Saturday, 7 AM | Shelby Farms Park
  
  Join this 5k race on Saturday and help raise funds and awareness for the Melanoma Research Foundation.
  
  Learn more here.
  

• Star Wars May the 4th | Saturday, 12 PM | Memphis Museum of Science & History (AKA The Pink Palace) at the Giant Screen Theater
  
  May the 4th be with you! The Pink Palace (sorry, we’re not calling it MMSH yet) will be hosting showings of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, & Return of the Jedi on Saturday.
  

• Super Freak: The Rick James Story | Saturday, 8 PM | The Orpheum
  
  This play sets the backdrop for the arrival of the King of Funk, Mr. Rick James, a musical icon leaving audiences with an unforgettable experience.
  
  Cost: Starting at $40
  Get your tickets here.
  

• 4th Annual Cigar and Whiskey BBQ Festival | Saturday, 11 AM | Meddlesome Brewing Company
  
  Love whiskey, cigars, and BBQ? Well, we have the festival for you. They will have premium cigars from local cigar lounges, whiskey like Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, and a BBQ Competition to cap it all off.
  
  Cost: $60
  Get your tickets here.
  

• Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Overton Square | Sunday, 3 PM | Overton Square
  
  Join Overton Square for a fun filled Cinco De May with traditional Mexican dancers, live music by Alexis White and Mariachi Guadalajara, local vendors, Mexican beers and margaritas by Tipsy Tumbler, and a presentation of the real meaning of Cinco De Mayo by Cazateatro.
  
  Cost: Free
  Learn more here.
  

• Ruby Bridges Reading Festival | Saturday, 10 AM - 3 PM | National Civil Rights Museum

  
  The National Civil Rights Museum, in partnership with civil rights icon Ruby Bridges, is proud to host the Ruby Bridges Reading Festival. Children pre-K through elementary school can receive free books and enjoy fun activities, including music, balloon art, magic shows, craft activities, and storytelling for free.
  
  Cost: Free
  Learn more here.

🌡️ WEEKEND WEATHER

Friday

76 🌡️ 64 | 🌧️ | 43%

Saturday

82 🌡️ 63 | 🌦️ | 38%

Sunday

82 🌡️ 66 | ⛈️ | 78%

THANK YOU MEMPHIS!

Thanks for reading the This is Memphis newsletter today. Please share it with someone who loves Memphis in May.

And feel free to reply to this email with anything else you’d love to see us cover in the newsletter in the future.

Let’s do this again next week!

This is Memphis Team

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