Memphis in May

Every year Memphis has a huge fesitval in May appropriately called "Memphis in May." Each weekend of the month there is some kind of event with a specific theme. The first weekend is the "Beale Street Music Festival" where over 60 artists perform on four large stages. They get some pretty big names each year. This year some of the performers included Jason Mraz, Train, Three 6 Mafia, Blues Traveler, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, and for all you 80's fans out there, Bryan Adams and Huey Lewis & The News. It's 3 days of all different kinds of music and all different kinds of people.

The second week of "Memphis in May" is an international festival and each year they feature a different country. This year is Costa Rica. The week includes different performances and exhibits from the country all around town at schools, museums and parks.

The third weekend of "Memphis in May" is the World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest, also known as the "SuperBowl of Swine." This is a truly amazing event. There are hundreds of different teams that come, set up their tents, and compete to become the World Champions of BBQ. All the contestants have a team name and some of those names are very clever. Here are some of the best ones - The Best Little Boar House in Memphis, The Church of Swinetology, Gettin' Piggy With It, Here for the Beer, Serial Grillers, Resevoir Hogs, and my personal favorite, Slab Yo' Mama. All the teams have a large tent where they cook their food and serve it up to friends. The festival is open to the public, but you can only get into a tent to eat their food and consume their beverages by invitation only. It's all about who you know. And since we are quite the popular people on the Memphis social circuit, we were invited by the "PorkStars" into their tent. Jeremy works with the lead cooker of this team so we were able to sample their ribs. Very delicious. This festival is the largest BBQ contest in the world so it attracts a lot of attention from all over. Before we moved to Memphis, we had seen specials about it on the Travel Channel and the Food Network. There were teams from over 12 different countries competing. It was a lot of fun and we hope to go again next year.

The final weekend in May is the Sunset Symphony. The Memphis Symphony Orchestra performs in the park for the afternoon until sundown. The public can come, bring a picnic, listen to beautiful music, and watch the sunset over the Mississippi River. We have not yet attended the Sunset Symphony since we have been in Memphis, but we hope to one of these years. It seems like a wonderful way to close out spring and welcome summer.

So, there you have it. A run down on the activities happening here in Memphis during the month of May. We would love to have you visit and join us next year for some of these events!