The Early Word: Dolly Parton owns Pancho’s; river parks may get a refresh
G’mornin’, Memphis! It’s Wednesday, March 26, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young is ready to take your burning questions at a One Memphis town hall meeting in Cordova tonight.
Also this evening, Memphis Area Transit Authority board members will vote on a resolution to supplement service on some of those missing bus routes that the old MATA leadership lied to the public about.
In an odd twist of fate, the Queen of County currently owns the land where the former West Memphis Pancho’s operated. (RIP, Pancho’s dressing.) But don’t get too excited: Dolly Parton isn’t planning to build a West Memphis Dollywood (which is, honestly, quite a shame because it would seem the perfect complement for the city’s coming-soon Buc-ee’s). No, it turns out the property was a gift to the Dollywood Foundation, and it won’t be in the foundation’s hands for long.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young is proposing big improvements to the city’s riverfront parks, ranging from a permanent cleanup of McKellar Lake in MLK/Riverside Park to the creation of a new lake on the Wolf River Harbor’s northern end. The plans also call for a possible makeover of Mud Island Amphitheater. The Memphis City Council got an overview of those plans Tuesday.
Plus, Memphis Animal Services will stay closed indefinitely, the City Council wants to clean up the Wolf River Bottoms and the Grizzlies wake up from a long hibernation.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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