The bluff came first. Everything else followed.
Access Memphis Editorial Team 
What are Tennessee’s alcohol laws, in practice? Tennessee splits alcohol sales into three separate systems, each with its own rules on where, when and by whom something can be sold: grocery and convenience stores, licensed retail package stores, and on-premise bars and restaurants. In Memphis, all three operate, but what’s allowed shifts by container type, … Read more
Tipping in Memphis follows the same broad American convention as the rest of Tennessee: tips are expected in restaurants, bars and for many personal services, and they are not optional add-ons but a structural part of how service workers are paid. This is true for visitors and residents alike, and it holds whether the setting … Read more
The Beale Street Music Festival is a multi-day, multi-stage music festival held each spring as the opening weekend of Memphis in May, the city’s month-long international festival. Despite the name, it does not take place on Beale Street. It is staged on the Mississippi River bluff downtown, historically at Tom Lee Park, and draws touring … Read more
Elvis Week is Graceland’s annual commemoration of Elvis Presley, held around the anniversary of his death on August 16, 1977. It is organized by Elvis Presley Enterprises, the company that operates Graceland, and its central event is the Candlelight Vigil at the Meditation Garden where Presley is buried. Exact dates shift slightly each year, and … Read more
The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is a multi-day pork barbecue competition held each May in Memphis, organized by the nonprofit Memphis in May International Festival as one of the festival’s three signature events. Teams from across the country and abroad cook whole hog, shoulder and ribs under a formal judging system, competing for trophies … Read more
Memphis in May is the name of a nonprofit organization, Memphis in May International Festival, and of the month-long calendar of events it runs each spring. The best-known pieces are the Beale Street Music Festival and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, both usually staged on or near the riverfront downtown, drawing large crowds, road … Read more
Memphis has a genuine tornado season, running roughly from late winter into early summer, with a secondary risk window in autumn. The National Weather Service forecast office that covers the city, based in Memphis and known as NWS Memphis (weather.gov/meg), issues watches and warnings for Shelby County the same way it does for the rest … Read more
A Memphis winter is short, mild on most days, and punctuated by sharp cold snaps rather than a sustained freeze. Snow falls most years but rarely amounts to much and usually melts within a day or two. The bigger disruption, when it comes, is ice — not snow depth. How cold does it actually get … Read more
A Memphis summer is hot, humid, and long — running roughly from late May through September, with July and August the peak. The National Weather Service’s Memphis/Mid-South office records average July highs in the mid-90s Fahrenheit, and the humidity off the Mississippi River makes the heat index feel higher than the thermometer reading most afternoons. … Read more
Late March through May, and again October into early November, are the two windows when Memphis’s weather cooperates and its calendar is busiest. Summers are long, hot and humid; winters are short and mild but not snow-free. There is no single “right” month — it depends on whether the reader wants festival crowds or an … Read more
About what you read here. Everything on Access Memphis is general information and our own editorial opinion. We research carefully and we say when the evidence is unclear, but we can be wrong, things change, and no article can know your particular situation. Please do your own research and make your own judgement rather than treating anything here as the final word. Prices, products and specifications around the topics we cover change constantly, and what suits one person will not suit another. Check current details yourself, and where a decision involves real money, safety or something you cannot undo, it is worth confirming with a qualified professional before you act.
We do not book anything. Access Memphis is a guide. It sells nothing, takes no bookings or reservations, handles no payments, and holds no tickets, rooms or seats. Some links here lead to travel companies, and some of those are affiliate links that may earn this site a commission at no extra cost to you. Any booking you make is a contract between you and that company, under its own terms, prices and cancellation rules. We are not a party to it and have no responsibility for it — including availability, prices, changes, cancellations, refunds or anything that goes wrong on the trip. Check the details with the company before you pay.