Good morning, Memphis! ☀️
Heads up: this issue contains cocktails, pancakes, sushi and a mechanical bull. Please do not attempt all four in that order.
Plus, it's Wednesday, so grab your thinking cap. Memphis Trivia is below.
Let's get into it.
Events
🕺 The Dixon Goes Disco for Art on the Rocks Friday
Dixon Gallery & Gardens
Art on the Rocks: A Garden Cocktail Festival takes over the Dixon Gallery & Gardens this Friday, Sept. 11, 6 to 9 p.m.
🍸 30+ pours and bites. Samples from more than 30 local restaurants, breweries and drink makers, including Wiseacre, Hampline, Grind City, Soul & Spirits, Hog Wild BBQ, Las Delicias and Mempops, plus zero-proof options. Live music, karaoke and after-hours garden access. 21+.
🪩 Dress for 1976. The Dixon turns 50 this year, so the theme is "Back to the '70s." Tie-dye, flares and platforms welcome. Tickets are $55 ($45 for members). Park free at U of M South Campus (4075 N. Park Loop) and ride the free shuttle.
Get tickets here.
Events
🐐 Goat Days Is Back in Millington This Saturday
Goat Days 2026
The International Goat Days Festival returns to Millington's Ed Haley Sports Complex (4885 Bill Knight Rd.) this Saturday, Sept. 12.
🏆 Goats, glorious goats. Expect goat shows, an obstacle course, lawnmower races and a food midway. Past years added goat yoga, a goat beauty pageant and a car show. Kids 5 to 17 can sell their own creations at the Kids Market, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
🐐 Delightfully weird since 1990. The festival drew about 5,000 people in 2024, and locals will tell you it's a little strange. That's the point. It's also the subject of today's trivia question below. No peeking.
Get the details here.
Events
🏃 Cooper-Young Runs Next Friday, Then Parties Saturday
Cooper Young Festival 2026
Next weekend is Cooper-Young's big one: the Cooper-Young Festival Friday 4 Miler on Friday, Sept. 18, then the Cooper-Young Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19.
👟 Run first. The 4 Miler starts at 7 p.m. under the trestle at Cooper and York. Sign-up is $44.79 and stays open until the race starts. Neighbors throw yard parties along the route, and Trestlefest after has pizza, Memphis Made beer and yacht rock. Not running? It's a $10 donation to join the party. Proceeds go to the Cooper-Young Community Association.
🎨 Then play. Saturday is the 38th festival: free, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with 435+ artists and about 130,000 people expected. Two music stages, and Afrikan Jazz Ensemble closes it out at 5:15 p.m. Leave the dog at home (no pets).
Events
🥞 Bartlett Firefighters Flip Pancakes for a 46th Year
The Bartlett Fire Department's Pancake Breakfast is coming back Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7am.
🚒 Breakfast with a purpose. Every dollar goes toward training for the department's reserve program.
🚁 More than syrup. In past years, the morning has included a helicopter landing, fire truck tours and a mini firefighter course for kids. Tickets have run about $6 for adults and $4 for kids.
Local businesses can sponsor the breakfast now. Read more here.
Trivia
🧠 Wednesday Trivia
Think you know your Memphis history? Answer below and see how you stack up. We'll share the story behind the answer in tomorrow's issue.
The first-ever fainting goat contest was held at Millington's Goat Days in 1990. How many goats fainted?
Daily Picks
🗞️ Other News Around the 901
🍣 Roll with it. Maru Handroll Bar (4615 Poplar Ave.) is adding an omakase counter upstairs this month: a fixed-price, chef's-choice meal served at a hinoki cypress bar. Co-owner Ann Nguyen believes it's Memphis' first dedicated omakase space.
🤠 Ride 'em, Wolfchase. 8D Rodeo Bar & Thrill is coming to Wolfchase Galleria: a Western-themed bar with a mechanical bull, a 12-seat motion ride called the Forbidden Mine, funnel cakes and cocktails. Owner Tiffany Edwards ran the 8D ride at Oak Court Mall for about 10 years. No opening date yet.
🏛️ 50 years of open doors. The Central Gardens Home Tour turns 50 this Sunday, Sept. 13, 1 to 6 p.m. Eight homes plus two historic churches, a free shuttle, live music and food trucks. $20 ahead, $30 day-of, and it's cashless. Tickets here.
🍽️ Four days left. Taste of Memphis: Black Dining Week runs through Saturday, Sept. 12. Nineteen restaurants, from The Four Way to Hungry AF. No coupons needed. Just go eat. See all 19 here.
🖼️ Free art. The Brooks Museum is free for Shelby County residents all September, its last month in Overton Park. Don't miss the final Super Saturday family art day on Sept. 26. The new Memphis Art Museum opens downtown Dec. 6, free for residents forever.
🏈 Classic weekend, one link. The 37th Southern Heritage Classic is this Saturday, Sept. 12: UAPB vs. Alcorn State at 6 p.m. at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, plus the parade, the Battle of the Bands and a whole weekend of tailgating. We put everything you need in one place. Read our 2026 Southern Heritage Classic guide here.
🧸 Bear with us. Today is National Teddy Bear Day. Build-A-Bear at Wolfchase has 2-for-$25 Lil' Cubs today only, and through Sept. 16 every $1 you donate there sends a teddy bear to a children's hospital.
🍦 Drop it like it's soft serve. Snoop Dogg is hiring an "International Ice-Cream Taster" for his Dr. Bombay ice cream brand: $10,000 a month for three months to travel, taste and report back to Snoop. You need a passport and, per the job post, you "gotta know how to chill." Applications close in mid-September. Read more here.
🐶 Thin Mints for your mutt. The Girl Scouts just announced Patch Pals, their first-ever dog cookie (blueberry-muffin flavor, made with BARK), plus Sparkables, their first cookie made without the nine major allergens. Both are online only, starting Jan. 12, 2027.
🌶️ Pepper power. Chili's has committed giving $150 million to St. Jude over 15 years, the biggest naming gift a corporate partner has ever made to St. Jude, per the Daily Memphian. Those $1 coloring-sheet peppers add up: Chili's guests have raised $130 million+ since 2002.
📝 Tell us about you. Fill out our 5-minute reader survey and you're entered to win a $50 gift card to the Memphis-area restaurant of your choice. Take the survey here.
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Adoptable Pet of the Week
🐾 Meet Bazooka Jones, a Big Softie
Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County
This week's adoptable pup is Bazooka Jones, a 2-year-old mixed breed at the Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County.
💣 Tough name, mushy heart. He's a big brown boy who, the shelter says, "is all love." He walks great on a leash, loves other dogs, and gives kisses like it's his job.
🏠 Ready when you are. He came in as a stray in February and is finishing up heartworm treatment at the shelter. All he needs now is a couch and a family.
Meet Bazooka Jones here.
Reader Survey
📝 Tell Us About You, Win Dinner on Us
We're building 901 Today for you, so we want to know who you are and what you want more of. Fill out our quick reader survey and you're entered to win a $50 gift card to the Memphis-area restaurant of your choice. It takes less than five minutes. One entry per person. We'll pick the winner at the end of September.
That's it for today!
Thanks for spending part of your morning with us.
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Have a great Wednesday, Memphis. We'll see you tomorrow.
— 901 Today
