Five Things To Do In Memphis This Weekend

It's the first weekend of 2025!

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Time Travel Half-Marathon/10K/5K

Shelby Farms Park

Sunday, January 5, 9 a.m. – noon

It’s my first day back from my holiday vacation and already I have a deadline. Ugh. And it’s one of these “Five Things To Do.” Double ugh. Just kidding. There are no ughs when it comes to these “Five Things To Do,” but sometimes there are ifs, ands, or buts, when it comes to those weekly deadlines. I know they’re coming. Every. Single. Week. But somehow they always catch me by surprise. Monday goes by, woosh — Tuesday, woosh — Wednesday, woosh — and then, BAM, it’s Thursday. Where did it come from? If only I had a time machine. Or a planner. 

I do have one by the way — a planner, not a time machine. Imagine the rifts in the time-space continuum I’d create with a time machine if I can’t even keep track of these “Five Things To Do.” So we’ll leave the time traveling to the Time Travel Half-Marathon/10K/5K, which bills itself as a “wild ride through the ages.” I’m sure some of you have new year’s resolutions to run more or get active, so why not jump right in and run so fast you go back in time? 

There’s also a one-mile and a kids’ dash for kids ages 10 and under. Register here. 

901 Wrestling New Year’s BANG

Minglewood Hall

Sunday, January 5, 5 p.m.

I’ve been wrestling with whether I should make new year’s resolutions. I see why people make them, but at the same time, aren’t they arbitrary? Like, why not have June resolutions? Or Ides of March resolutions? Just because we turn the calendar page to a new year, or a new month, or a new week, or a new day, how does that make me a new person? New year, new me? I just don’t see how that’s possible. Maybe it’s possible for you. Maybe you don’t have to wrestle your way through resolutions. But maybe you enjoy wrestling. And, aye, there’s the rub. Worry not, though: 901 Wrestling is back with a BANG this year. 

This weekend’s main event is the 901 Wrestling Championship Match between Tyler “The Lion” LeMasters vs. “The True One of One” Kevin Bless. There will be others wrestling, too. 

Kids get in free. Doors open at 5 p.m. Get your tickets here.  

“All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840–1955”

The Dixon Gallery and Gallery Gardens

Through January 26  

I’m not sure if I’m all aboard this 2025 train yet. I know it’s only two days in, but I’ve grown skeptical of these roaring twenty-twenties. I am, however, all aboard the Dixon’s latest exhibit “All Aboard.” (See what I did there?) This exhibit explores the influence of the introduction of the railroad on painters of the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. 

“Back for Seconds”

Sheet Cake

Through February 1

To be clear when I say I’m not sure if I’m all aboard this 2025 train, I’m also not saying that I want to get back on the 2024 train. Been there, done that. It’s a one-hit wonder. No seconds for me. I’ll take seconds of Sheet Cake’s latest exhibit, “Back for Seconds,” which, in celebration of the gallery’s first anniversary, will feature works by artists showcased in its first-ever exhibit last year: Roger Allan Cleaves, Melissa Dunn, Stephanie Howard, and Clare Torina. 

“Pompeii: The Exhibition”

Graceland Exhibition Center

Through April 13

At Graceland, it’s not 2025. It’s 79 A.D. And it’s not Memphis. It’s Pompeii. Well, a Pompeii exhibit with 150 artifacts and an immersive experience, including holographic gladiatorial combat, a simulated 4D eruption theater, and a reproduced atrium from a Roman villa. Tickets are available in time slots ($24.95/adult, $22.95/senior (65+), $19.95/youth (6-11)) or for flex entry ($29.95/VIP). “Pompeii: The Exhibit” will be at Graceland through April 13.