By Brandon Dill
Join us for the annual Evolve Bank & Trust Cooper-Young Festival on Saturday, September 15 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. When you make your way to the corner of Cooper and Young in Midtown Memphis, you’ll have arrived at a place both traditional and trendy, cosmopolitan and casual. It’s where art, culture, cuisine and commerce intersect in a fabric that weaves its way throughout this historic neighborhood to create a lifestyle district all its own. What better day to visit than during the Cooper-Young Festival? On this day, annually, we kick it up a notch with a free, family-friendly, music, arts and crafts street festival. It’s the biggest party of the summer.
The Cooper-Young Business Association one-and-only fundraiser, the festival is also a calling card for the resurgent district, known locally and nationally as a draw for homeowners and merchants into this vibrant, one-of-a-kind neighborhood. The proceeds from the Festival are redistributed back into the infrastructure of the neighborhood, business websites, and community non-profit organizations. Home to over 187 independently-owned businesses, Cooper-Young is home grown, locally led, and community raised.
Pre-Festival Events
Each year the festival is preceded by pre-festival events. The Art Invitational will be Thursday, September 13 at EpiCenter Memphis located at 902 South Cooper Street. The Art Invitational is a festival tradition dating back to 1988 and highlights the talent of local CY artists. This event is free to the public; please join us for wine/cheese, beer bar, and music by local blues artists Shayla and Frank Shaw from 6-9 p.m.
Then on Friday, September 14, the Festival 4-Miler is scheduled to begin at Midtown Autowerks at 795 South Cooper at 7 p.m. A fundraiser of the nonprofit Cooper-Young Community Association, this event annually draws more than 2,000 competitors for a race that winds through the quaint, tree-lined streets of the neighborhood. And it’s not just fun for the runners as residents come out at wild-and-colorful Light the Way parties along the route to spur on the racers.
Getting Around
Shuttle services and parking are being offered by our partners Premier Transportation and Christian Brothers University. Park your car in the CBU parking lot entering off Central Avenue and catch the shuttle over to the entrance of the Festival. Handicap parking is available. Shuttle services will run from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Perhaps the best way to get to the festival might be on two wheels, whether its utilizing new public transportation services like Explore Bike Share and Bird scooters or jumping on your own bicycle. Innovate Memphis encourages you to ride your bike and park it in their “Bike Corral” hosted by Bluff City Sports just on the right as you enter the Festival site at Central Avenue. Volunteers will be on-hand to make sure your bike stays safe and is waiting on you when you get ready to leave. But bikes, scooters, or any motorized vehicles are not allowed in the Festival site.
Family Fun
The Cooper-Young Festival is all about unique finds. With 425 vendors at this year’s festival, you are bound to find whatever you need or didn’t know you needed, from original art works in every medium to jewelry, clothing, pottery, and collectibles. Our vendors also include a number of businesses and local organizations with important community information and, of course, the delicious food and drink vendors.
Before checking out the stalls, be sure to pack up the kids and strollers and head over for some fun in the Sprouts Farmers Market Kid Zone. The kid zone is hosted annually by volunteers with service organization Civitian International. The area will offer an assortment of hands-on art projects, games and prizes. All proceeds from the kid zone goes toward helping children in our community with developmental disabilities.
And then there is the music for which not only the city of Memphis but Cooper-Young and its festival are so well known. With seventeen musical acts on three stages, there is something for everyone!
