Your Guide to Spring in the 901
Spring is in full bloom in the 901!
And if you've lived in Memphis long enough, you know how incredible a Memphis spring is.
The days get longer. The air gets warmer. Things that looked dead a few weeks ago start pushing back up through the ground. It's that season where Memphis opens back up and reminds you exactly why you chose to be here. Spring in the 901 is a reminder. Not just that the weather changed but that we get to start again.
Here's your official guide to Spring in the 901:
Stroll Through a Garden
Let's start with one of my favorites: gardens.
The Dixon Gallery and Gardens just hit its 50th anniversary! With 17 acres, half a million tulips in bloom, and free admission, it's hard to beat. No excuse not to go. Here's my suggestion: stop into Park + Cherry first, grab a coffee, one of the best cups in the city, and then just walk the grounds. Half a million tulips with a great cup of coffee in your hand. That's a perfect Memphis morning.
The Memphis Botanic Garden is bursting right now with hydrangeas, azaleas, and irises. Oaklawn Garden out in Germantown has six acres of daffodils and dogwoods that are worth the drive. And if you want something a little different, the River Garden at Memphis River Parks puts the downtown skyline right behind a meadow full of wildflowers. Hard to beat that view.
If you haven't made the time to visit a garden this season, get out there.
Go to the Ballet
Ballet Memphis is performing Romeo & Juliet on April 10-12 at GPAC, and you don't want to miss it. Ballet Memphis is one of the most distinctive arts organizations in the country. And it's ours.
Right now, their dancers are in rehearsal at their Midtown home on Madison Avenue, working through fight scenes, pas de deux, and all the drama Shakespeare wrote and then some. Four shows only, April 10–12, at GPAC. Easy parking, dinner and drinks nearby. Make a night of it.
The arts are how a community processes who it is and where it's going. Memphis has that. So go. Take someone who's never been and (hint, hint), keep an eye on Choose901's socials because we've got a giveaway dropping for Romeo & Juliet!
Get Out and Be Social
Spring means farmers markets are back, and Memphis has some of the best. The Memphis Farmers Market on South Front Street opens April 4th. Cooper Young Community Farmers Market runs every Saturday year round.
And if you're in Midtown, the Carpenter Art Garden Farmers Market in Binghampton is every Monday and Thursday. Produce is picked the same day, and your purchase supports programs for Memphis youth.
Get outside, buy local, and talk to the people growing your food. That's an awesome Memphis Saturday morning.
And if you want to challenge your brain and meet some people, Memphis trivia nights are no joke. From Midtown to East Memphis to Downtown, there are more good nights out around a trivia table in this city than you probably realize. Sharp, funny neighbors everywhere you look. You just have to show up.
Choose901 This Spring
The trees and flowers don't have a choice. They're going to bloom when the season comes.
But we do have a choice. We get to decide whether spring is just a change in weather or whether it's an invitation to try the thing you've been putting off. To reconnect with a neighbor you've lost touch with. To get back involved in a city that needs you.
I meet Memphians every week who are choosing that. Who look at this city with clear eyes, seeing the hard parts, the unfinished parts, and still decide to show up. Still decide to stay.
So walk through a garden. Go see the ballet. Show up to Trolley Night and wander South Main with no agenda. Support a local business. And keep coming back to Choose901. We'll keep bringing you the guides, the stories, and the reasons to believe this city is worth showing up for.
Spring is the reminder that starts don't have to be grand. They just have to be starts.
So let this be yours.
