Photography courtesy memphis botanic garden
Holiday Wonders
Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry
Friday, November 25 – December 23
Welp, readers, it’s about that time where I feel that I can formally recognize that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everywhere you go. Even I can recognize that with my poor near-sighted vision, for which I refuse to wear glasses or contact lenses. But listen, I can recognize shapes and colors from a distance. Like Memphis Botanic Garden, where larger-than-life Alice in Wonderland characters are all lit up, I can tell which mosaiculture figure is the Queen of Hearts versus which figure is Alice — even without my glasses. I know, it’s impressive. But can you say the same?
Well, there’s only one way to find out: You gotta go to MBG. And why the heck wouldn’t you want to test your vision when it’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas? By that, of course, I mean, the garden is bringing back its annual Holiday Wonders, this year with a bigger footprint than ever before. We’re talking eight acres of lights and cheer, new features, old favorites, brighter lights, and an updated layout, along with the “Alice's Adventures” sculptures all aglow this season. Not to mention the special themed nights like dog-friendly Paw-liday Wonders, Santa Sundays, Ugly Sweater Nights, Mistletoe Mondays, and more!
Holiday Wonders runs select nights through December 23. Tickets can be purchased online, $10 for members and $12 for nonmembers. Same-day tickets cost $14. Children under 2 are free. For more information, head on over to MBG’s website.
And as if you need to extend your list of things to do, if you love the lights at MBG, you’ll love the lights at Shelby Farms Park’s Starry Nights, MoSH’s Enchanted Forest Festival of Trees, and Zoo Lights. Talk about a lit weekend.
photography courtesy crosstown concourse
Season of Delight
Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse
Friday, December 2, 5 – 7 p.m.
I’m not advocating for people not to wear their glasses, but I have to say looking at twinkling lights with a bit of blurred vision just adds to the magic of the whole affair. It’s like your very own Hallmark movie fade-in. I’m certain that’s not just a me-thing … right? Actually, would you do me a favor and see if you have the same sensation, either by taking off your glasses or by just letting your eyes glaze over, at Crosstown’s annual lighting of the Central Atrium?
And as a bonus to doing me a favor, you can also enjoy the other offerings at Crosstown’s holiday extravaganza this Friday (and the next and the one after that). There’ll be live music, including a brass choir which will accompany the lighting at 6 p.m., plus photo ops with Dino Claws, free holiday-themed caricature portraits, balloon art, and more. And to cap off the night, you can catch a free screening of The Muppet Christmas Carol at the Crosstown Theater at 6:30 p.m.
Plus, Crosstown Arts is opening the doors to its artist studios for all to get the chance to meet their artists in residence — Brittney Boyd Bullock, R Jason Rawlings, Nelson Gutierrez, and Angelo Madsen Minax. (Read more about the open studio here.)
Crosstown’s Season of Delight continues on Fridays, December 9 and December 16, with more festive music, activities, and movies.
Oh, and while you’re at the Concourse, check out Choose901’s Holiday Pop-Up Shop on the fourth floor. The pop-up will feature brand-new Memphis-themed merch like tees, totes, and sweatshirts. And other vendors will be on-site, too. The pop-up will be popping Friday, noon- 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Find out more here.
And since you’re still here, might as well talk about WYXR’s Raised By Sound Fest also happening this weekend at Crosstown. The single-day fest features free live performances, Saturday, 1-7 p.m. (schedule can be found here), plus two ticketed fundraising events — Big Star’s 50th Anniversary of #1 Record and a DJ after-party featuring Andrew VanWyngarden and Bodywerk. As a bonus, throughout the day, you can enjoy WYXR DJs spinning tunes between musical performances, and you can check out Kevin Morby’s “This Is a Photograph” exhibit on the second floor.
photography by jesson mata
Stumbling Santa
Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, 130 Peabody Place
Saturday, December 3, 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Around this time of year, people like to throw around the saying, “Seeing isn’t always believing,” which is, like, fine. But sometimes you gotta see to believe, and yes, sometimes that means putting on your glasses to make sure you aren’t seeing double or triple or hundreduple (definitely a word ’cause you’re seeing it and therefore must believe it). But if you walk Downtown and see Santa Claus a hundred-fold, you aren’t seeing things. Heck, you could even be one of them if you want. It’s a part of the Stumbling Santa bar crawl, where you dress like Santa and stumble along the prescribed path from the Flying Saucer to Rum Boogie Café, King’s Palace Café Tap Room, Silky O’Sullivan’s, The Absinthe Room, Blues Hall Juke Joint, Alfred’s, and Tin Roof.
Like any good Santa, participating stumblers should arrive with either a new, unwrapped toy or a cash donation for Porter-Leath Toy Collection. Toy donations — such as puzzles, dolls, trucks, and building blocks — should promote early learning for children under age 5.
And if you can’t make the stumble, you can still donate to the cause online or by dropping off toys at Poplar Collection (4615 Poplar) on Saturday, December 3, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; WMC Action News 5 (1960 Union) on Friday-Saturday, December 9-10; or IKEA (7900 IKEA Way) on Saturday-Sunday, December 17-18. For more information and to view Porter-Leath’s wish list, visit here.
photography courtesy metal museum
Metal Museum’s Holiday Open House
Metal Museum, 374 Metal Museum
Sunday, December 4, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sight unseen, never! Always see the sights! And you know what’s a sight? The Metal Museum. And this weekend, the museum is serving sights on sights — with free admission to its exhibitions, bilingual story time with Lewis the Cardinal, and demonstrations! And if that’s not enough you can make a sight yourself — that is you can make your own enamel ornament for $25 (sign up here) and scratch block tiles for $20. Plus, there’ll be free take-home cookie cutters and complimentary cookies from Ricki’s Cookies and customizable warm winter beverages like hot cocoa and apple cider.
By the way, if you’re down to see even more sights, why not check out the Brooks’ Wild Holiday Rumpus? After all, you can enjoy free admission, art-making, cookie decorating (registration required), Maurice Sendak’s Nutcracker film screening, and live performances by Opera Memphis, the New Ballet Ensemble, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. The event will last 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, December 3.
Acoustic Sunday Live!: The Concert to Protect Our Aquifer
First Congregational Church, 1000 S. Cooper
Sunday, December 4, 7 p.m.
Did you know that if you close your eyes you can hear better? But if you close your ears, you won’t see better? Oh, the not-so-sweet irony. Still, that means that you don’t need to wear your glasses to enjoy some sweet, sweet rhythms and tunes — and this weekend, you can find that at First Congo for the annual Acoustic Sunday Live, which has been going on for nearly three decades.
This year’s concert will feature performances by Grammy-winning Tom Paxton, The Accidentals, Crys Matthews, Susan Werner, and Terry “Harmonica” Bean. Each artist will take the stage for two sets, performing two songs per set, and then will end with a big finale sing-along.
As in recent years, this year’s concert will benefit Protect our Aquifer. Purchase tickets ($50+) here.
