Five Things To Do In Memphis This Weekend: April 22-24

This weekend of fashion, drinks, cars, and music is sure to be swell.

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Memphis Fashion Week

Arrow Creative, 653 Philadelphia

Friday-Saturday, April 22-23

Can you believe we’re already two years into the sequel of the Roaring Twenties? I guess it’s true what they say: The sequel’s never as good as the original. To be fair, a lot of messed-up things were also going on in the ’20s, but at least they had fun slang — slang that should be and can be resurrected as we try to redeem the twenty-first century’s Roaring Twenties. Can we truly call our favorite elastic-waist leggings the bee’s knees or the cat’s pajamas in the same way that the flappers could describe their drop-waist dresses? That’s not to say that fashion has died. Take for instance: Memphis Fashion Week.

MFW is back to celebrate its 10th year (again) at Arrow Creative’s new home in Cooper-Young, after having to postpone due to Covid. On Friday, support Emerging Memphis Designers as they reveal their best glad rags on the runway. The show starts at 6:30 p.m., with general admission tickets costing $60. Complimentary beer and wine will be available. On Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., meet and shop from headlining designer Amanda Uprichard at Indigo Germantown.

Roar and Pour

Memphis Zoo, 2000 Prentiss Place

Friday, April 22, 7 p.m.-10 p.m.

One benefit to our ’20s: no Prohibition. Which means we can have all the giggle water and tiger milk we want, if we so choose, at the zoo this weekend. No, the zoo is not milking tigers; that’s just what they called alcoholic beverages back in the day. This weekend’s Tiger Milk of choice: Tennessee’s best whiskeys.

At Roar and Pour, distillers from across the state will transport guests along the Tennessee Whiskey Trail with liquor samples galore. If whiskey doesn’t sound like a darb of a beverage to you, there’s no need to get sore and wonder if you were flimflammed out of a good time — some distillers will also have other spirit-based beverages to sample. Plus, Memphis Zoo's Mane Event Catering will be creating delicious dishes to chew with your decadent cocktails. Afterward, you can cut a rug to Marcella Simien and Party Jammers.

Tickets ( $125/members; $150/nonmembers) can be purchased online.

Memphis International Auto Show

Renasant Convention Center, 255 N. Main

Friday-Saturday, April 22-23, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. | Sunday, April 24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Flivvers, boilers, buckets, irons, crates, heaps, hayburners, leaping Lenas, tin Lizzies — at the Memphis International Auto Show, you call them what you want, even if “car” is your choice word, but know that you can’t forget the man Henry Ford, where my knowledge of automobile history begins and ends. In fact, good old Ford Motor Company is making a splash at the auto show, where attendees can view all-new Ford vehicles and can even take a trip around the track with a professional driver in an F-150 Lightning or Mustang Mach-E.

And if you think you’re gonna want to dust out after that, oh boy, you’d be a real patsy, but if you think you’re gonna see hundreds of other new vehicles, pre-production models, luxury vehicles, and more, you’re on the trolley! (Not an actual trolley, it’s slang for “Now you’ve got it,” you see?) Plus, product specialists who know their onions will be at the show to answer questions and provide information on the latest vehicles. This year’s auto show will also feature Subaru Pet Adoptions on all show days.

And get this: Admission is free. You won’t have to spend a sawbuck or a clam to get in.

Cooper-Young Porchfest

Cooper-Young Historic District

Saturday, April 23, noon-6 p.m.

You’re gonna want to stretch out your gams for this festival of 90 bands playing on 35 porches throughout the Cooper-Young neighborhood. I know it sounds phonus balonus when I say that there will be 90 — that’s ten fewer than a 100 — bands performing, for free admission I might add, but my stoolie (i.e. my stool-pigeon (i.e. my informer (i.e. the festival website))) lists them all out.

Since all the musicians are volunteer-based, be sure to bring cabbage, kale, lettuce, spinach — it’s starting to sound like a recipe for the most boring salad — money for tips, that’s what we’re getting at, ya follow? (Venmo/Cash App will also be accepted.) And you’ll want to check out the neighborhood restaurants and bars as well as the community yard sale, which will run from approximately 8 a.m. to 1p.m.

And if after you visit all these houses and you become green with envy over all the greenery in their yards, Memphis has a plethora of plant sales this weekend: the Volunteer Plant Sale at the Lichterman Nature Center (Friday-Saturday), the Spring Plant Sale at the Memphis Botanic Garden (Thursday-Saturday, plus next Wednesday-Friday), and the Dixon Garden Fair at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens (Friday-Saturday). I believe that’s the crop.

Soulsville Street Renaming Ceremony

New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1210 College

Sunday, April 24, 3 p.m.

To Stax legend and iconic funk bassist James Alexander, Stafford Avenue was the main drag, or the most important street in town. After all, that was where his childhood home was. Now, in a special ceremony Sunday, that street is officially taking on a new moniker to be renamed after the cool cat himself. The free ceremony will feature live music, food, speakers, celebrity appearances, and more.

 Plus, did you know that Alexander played bass on the Academy Award-winning “Theme from Shaft,” written by Isaac Hayes and recorded for the talkie Shaft (1971)? And did you know that MoSH is screening that very crime-action movie on Saturday, April 23rd, at 5:30 p.m.? If you didn’t know, everything’s Jake. (Not Jake as in Jake from State Farm — Jake was slang for a-okay; I couldn’t tell you why, though I imagine Jake from State Farm would be all about reviving the phrase.) You can find out more here about the screening that will be accompanied with drinks by Tipsy Tumbler.