Good morning, Memphis! ☀️
It's Tuesday, and the city is hitting all the right notes.
Here's what's in today’s issue:
🎷 A free three-day jazz festival lands Downtown
🎃 Where to find pumpkin patches and corn mazes
🏊 Lakeland's mayor shares big YMCA and pickleball news
🎀 Non-Profit of the Week: West Cancer Foundation
🏀 Memphis Madness heads to the Zoo
It's also National Noodle Day, so you now have a perfectly good excuse for some extra carbs.
Let's get into it.
Events
🎷 The First-Ever Memphis Jazz Festival Is Free and Downtown
Memphis Jazz Festival
The Memphis Jazz Festival runs Friday, Oct. 9, through Sunday, Oct. 11, and it's free. The Downtown Memphis Commission calls it the inaugural fest.
🎺 Main Street swing. On Saturday, Oct. 10, music and workshops run 1 to 7 p.m. on two stages at the Main Street Mall, from Peabody Place to Union Ave. Headliners are Theo Croker and Dear Silas, with 14 artists on the lineup.
🍸 Bookends. Friday brings Jazz After Hours at The Westin Memphis Beale Street. Sunday's Sunset Jazz finale is 3 to 7 p.m. at Court Square Park. RSVP on Eventbrite if you like, but you don't have to.
See the full lineup here.
Guides
🎃 Your Guide to Pumpkin Patches & Corn Mazes Around the 901
Our Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze Guide rounds up the best spots to get lost, get gourds and get the shot. Some highlights:
🌽 Maze craze. The Mid-South Maze at 7777 Walnut Grove Rd. runs Sept. 18 to Oct. 31. Tickets are $12 for ages 13+, $8 for ages 6 to 12, and free for ages 5 and under.
🎃 Oh My Gourd. Priddy Farms has Bartlett and Millington locations open Sept. 19 to Nov. 8, with a petting zoo, hayrides, a corn maze and a pumpkin patch.
The Dixon Pumpkin House at 4339 Park Ave. is free, with 1,200+ pumpkins and gourds.
Find your patch here.
Civic
Lakeland YMCA Construction
Lakeland Mayor Josh Roman highlighted the city's progress and priorities in the 2026 State of the City address. Among those were updates on the city’s big recreation plans.
🏊 Swim, sweat, repeat. Construction is underway on the Lakeland Community Center & Aquatic Facility, built with the YMCA. It's set to open in summer 2027.
🏓 Dink responsibly. Lakeland also landed a $963,000 grant for six pickleball courts on Huff N' Puff Rd.
Read more of the the mayor's recap here.
Non-Profit of the Week
🎀 Non-Profit of the Week: West Cancer Foundation Wants You to Give a Gram
West Cancer Foundation
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so our Non-Profit of the Week is the West Cancer Foundation. It's named for Dr. William H. West, who founded West Clinic in Memphis in 1979 after his mother died of breast cancer.
💌 Give a Gram. Gifts start at as little as $20 and help fund breast cancer screenings for uninsured and underinsured women across the Mid-South.
🎗️ Care that comes to you. The foundation offers free mammograms for qualifying women at 901-322-2984, free rides to and from appointments, and free wigs for chemo patients.
Sports
🏀 Memphis Madness Heads to the Zoo for the First Time
Memphis Athletics
Memphis Madness, the Tigers' basketball kickoff celebration, is moving to the Memphis Zoo on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Last year's was on Beale Street.
🏀 Zoo Hoops. It's free. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the 90-minute show starts at 6 p.m. The men's and women's teams will be there, along with the Mighty Sound of the South, the Spirit Squads and DJ Mic Tee.
🎃 Wild night out. Expect player meet-and-greets and autographs, trick-or-treat stations, face painting, T-shirt giveaways, the Zip Line, the Farmer Train and select Zoo Boo attractions.
See the details here.
Poll of the Week
The Tuesday Poll: Jazz or Gourd? 🎃
Which of these is a pumpkin, not a jazz legend? 🎃
Daily Picks
🗞️ Other News Around the 901
🖼️ Hang it up. Our October partner, Memphis photographer Connor Ryan, is offering 30% off his Memphis prints, including Sun Studio and Beale Street, through Oct. 31. Use code 901. (Partner content.) Shop the prints.
📶 Orange Mound, now connected. The City of Memphis and mStreet Fiber launched Connecting 901 on Friday, Oct. 2. You'll find free high-speed Wi-Fi at the Orange Mound Community Center, Library and Melrose Stadium, plus two tech labs with 18 upgraded computers and new smart kiosks. Read more.
🏫 KIPP heads to Cordova. KIPP Cordova Collegiate Elementary opens in August 2027 at 7275 Goodlett Farms Pkwy. It starts with grades K-2, grows to K-5, and offers daily arts instruction.
🕰️ Memphis History: 20 years ago today. At 2:39 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2006, fire hit First United Methodist Church at Second and Poplar. The roof caved in and the steeple fell, and wind-blown embers lit nearby buildings, including the Lincoln American Tower. The congregation held its first service in the rebuilt sanctuary on Aug. 5, 2018.
🎷 School's in for jazz. The Memphis Jazz Workshop Hip-Hop and Jazz school matinee is Thursday, Oct. 8 at GPAC in Germantown. Tickets are $8 per student, with 1 free teacher or chaperone per 10 students. Schools book through GPAC.
🍴 Taste test. Taste of the District returns today, Oct. 6, 4 to 6 p.m. at Medical District Park, Madison Ave. and S. Dunlap St. Expect food and drink samples, live music and giveaways.
🍪 Cookies and careers. Trefoils & Trailblazers is today, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Memphis Botanic Garden. Women leaders from FedEx, Baptist Memorial Health Care and the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis share their stories. Register on the Girl Scouts page.
🎤 Laugh it up. Hi Tone's Open Mic Comedy Night hits the Small Room every Tuesday. Doors are 7 p.m., the show starts at 8 p.m., and the downstairs room is 21+. Hi Tone is at 282 N. Cleveland St.
⚽ Tigers on turf. Memphis men's soccer hosts Lipscomb tonight at 7 p.m. at the Billy J. Murphy Track & Soccer Complex. It streams on ESPN+. The Tigers tied No. 7 Missouri State 1-1 on Saturday.
🛒 Deal days. Amazon Prime Big Deal Days are Oct. 6 and 7 and need a Prime membership. Target Circle Deal Days are also Oct. 6 and 7 with a free Target Circle account. Walmart's deals run Oct. 5 to 11.
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That's it for today!
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Have a great Tuesday, Memphis. We'll see you tomorrow.
— 901 Today
