Page 20 - SeptOct2021Vol33No3

TCAPWA/SWANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE By Lisa Hood Skinner
Memphis: Experience Its Music,

Museums, and More

Kick back on Beale Street while listening where the Big E ate those legendary
to some sultry Memphis blues. sandwiches and sped around the grounds
on everything from go-carts to Golden
Munch on a fried peanut butter and Palomino horses.
banana sandwich in honor of Elvis.
Explore a diverse set of nearby museums MULTIPLE MUSEUMS: An eclectic
mix of museums are located near our
and attractions. conference hotel, from the Fire Museum
The site for this year’s fall TCAPWA/ of Memphis (.3 mile away) to the Cotton
SWANA Annual Conference, the Sheraton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange
Memphis Downtown Hotel, is conveniently (.7 mile away) to the National Civil Rights
located for easy exploration of many of Museum at the Lorraine Motel (1.4 miles
Memphis’ top tourism spots. Located away). Others include the Mississippi River
at 250 N. Main Street in the heart of Museum at Mud Island (River Park) at
downtown Memphis, it’s a perfect starting .3 mile away, and the Magevney House,
point for visiting: at a half mile away, a clapboard cottage
on 198 Adams Avenue, one of the oldest
BEALE STREET: A five-minute drive from residences remaining in Memphis history. Motor City of Detroit, but her roots and
the hotel, the famed Beale Street Historic musical foundations were firmly laid in
District hosts three blocks of nightclubs, THE MEMPHIS ZOO, 2000 Prentiss Memphis. She was born at 406 Lucy Street,
restaurants and shops where you can still Place, in Midtown, is the venue for two during the time her father, well-known
hear echoes of musical greats such as the of our conference outings, including the preacher C.L. Franklin, was pastor of the
1920s-era’s W.C. Handy, jazz legend Louis “Teton Trek.” The large zoo is home to city’s New Salem Church.
Armstrong and mid-century blues stylist more than 3,500 animals representing 500
B.B. King. These days, a variety of musical species. Created in April 1906, the zoo has Got an Extra Day? Explore the Outdoors
genres spills out of the lively venues from been a major tenant of Overton Park for If you’re more into the outdoors, and
late night until dawn, evoking memories of more than 100 years. have a day before or after the conference,
those icons as well as others such as Muddy the Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways
Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. OLD DOMINICK DISTILLERY: Brothers
Chris and Alex Canale (of the Canale program provides a valuable resource for
SUN RECORDS AND SUN STUDIO: family who founded Memphis’ legendary adventuring through the West Tennessee
Memphis has long been known as the grocery, liquor and wines business in the Delta. For example:
Home of the Blues, (and was given that mid-1800s) built a distillery after the 2013 • A winding boardwalk traverses the
designation by an Act of Congress in the surprise discovery of an unopened bottle 162-acre cypress forest at Cypress Grove
‘70s), but is also known by many as the of Old Dominick Toddy from the late Nature Park in Jackson.
Birthplace of Rock ‘N’ Roll, thanks largely 1800s. Erected in downtown Memphis, the • In Waynesboro, Middle Green River
to Sam Phillips’ historic Sun Records and new distillery produced its first batch of Stables offers ponies or horses to explore
Sun Studio. The studio reportedly has Tennessee Whiskey in 2016, the first time 2,700 acres of trails.
connections to nearly 20 percent of the since prohibition that whiskey legally had • A self-guided, 10-mile driving tour
early inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of been distilled in the city. Old Dominick through Shiloh National Military Park
Fame, and, of course, Elvis Presley. There’s joined Tennessee’s Whiskey Trail in 2017 as provides insights into one of the violent
actually an “X” on the Sun Studio floor in the trail’s sole West Tennessee destination. battles of the Civil War.
the room’s center where Elvis stood while Enjoy tastings and take a tour detailing • At Tripp Country Hams in Brownsville,
recording (now enjoyed by many visitors the distillery’s history from the days “the visitors can bring home the bacon made
who like standing in places where history Government,” waged constant battles from a secret decades-old family recipe.
was made.) against “countrified alcohol makers,” such Or, about 18 miles from the hotel, you
as moonshiners, whiskey distillers and can visit Shelby Farms, one of the twenty
GRACELAND: Pay homage to the King of others. largest urban parks in the United States,
Rock and Roll at Elvis Presley’s Graceland spanning over 4,500 acres.
Mansion, which attracts thousands of FUN FACT: Aretha Franklin, the first Memphis awaits with music trails,
tourists who “walk in the King’s shoes” female Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whiskey trails, outdoor adventure trails,
both inside and outside the grand home inductee, is most often associated with The and all that lies in between.

20 TPW September/October 2021