Liberty Park draws more than 127,000 visitors in May. Tuesday, June 16, 2026. Memphis in May, the Nike EYBL and the Bluff City Fair fueled a landmark month at the Memphis sports, entertainment, and events campus, with a full summer slate ahead MEMPHIS, Tenn. (June 16, 2026) - Liberty Park, the Memphis sports, entertainment, and events campus managed by Oak View Group (OVG) in partnership with the City of Memphis and anchored by Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, drew more than 127,000 visitors in May, according to location-analytics platform Placer.ai. The activity came from an estimated 86,900 unique visitors and represented a 36.5% increase over the same month last year, underscoring Liberty Park's growing role as one of the region's busiest gathering places and a premier destination for festivals, sports and community events. May's record turnout was driven by three signature events. Memphis in May, one of the city's largest and longest-running festivals, anchored the month with the 48th annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) brought the nation's top-ranked recruits - along with college coaches including Arkansas' John Calipari, UConn's Dan Hurley and Duke's Jon Scheyer - to the Memphis Sports & Events Center, and the Bluff City Fair rounded out the slate at Tiger Lane with rides, food and family entertainment. Beyond the headline count, the data points to deepening engagement. May visits were up 36.5% year over year - and 47% compared with three years ago - while guests stayed an average of more than two hours per visit. Placer.ai also ranked Liberty Park among the top destinations of its kind in Tennessee for the period. "More than 127,000 visits in a single month shows what Liberty Park has become for Memphis - a destination where the community comes together for the events that matter most to them. From Memphis in May to the Nike EYBL and the Bluff City Fair, the energy across the park in May was incredible, and we are just getting started," said Brian Hoffman, General Manager, Oak View Group, Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium & Liberty Park. "We're excited to see more and more people choosing Liberty Park as a place to gather, celebrate, and make memories. With upcoming events like Liberty For All in July and the Southern Heritage Classic in September, we look forward to welcoming visitors from across Memphis and beyond and continuing to build on the momentum," said Justice Bolden, Director of Memphis Parks. The momentum continues into the summer. Upcoming events at Liberty Park include a packed June 20-21 weekend featuring the Southern Flea Market at Tiger Lane and a Memphis Roller Derby bout at the Pipkin Building, followed by the City of Memphis' Liberty For All Independence Day celebration (July 2) and the Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival (August 8). About Liberty Park Liberty Park is a sports, entertainment, and events campus in Memphis, Tennessee, anchored by Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, the Memphis Sports & Events Center, and Tiger Lane. The campus hosts year-round sports, entertainment, civic, cultural, and community events and is managed by Oak View Group (OVG) in partnership with City of Memphis. Visit libertyparkmemphis.com. About Oak View Group (OVG) Oak View Group (OVG) is the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services, with a platform spanning venue development and end-to-end capabilities across venue management, hospitality, and sponsorship sales. Founded in 2015, the company serves a collection of seven world-class owned venues and a client roster of the most iconic arenas, stadiums, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions, spanning four continents. Please visit OakViewGroup.com, and follow OVG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

Smokey City Market is under construction. Here's what's coming to Jackson Avenue! The corner of Jackson Avenue and Decatur Street is about to look a lot different. Construction has officially begun on Smokey City Market, a mixed-use development that Smokey City residents and community advocates have been working toward since 2018, when the Uptown Community Plan first put it on paper. The City of Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) announced the project start alongside developers AEQUO Fund and The Works, Inc., two organizations with track records of building for the people who actually live in the communities they develop. What Phase 1 Looks Like The first phase begins with demolition of the former Gordin's Butcher Shoppe at 999 Jackson Avenue. On the south side of the site, 20 townhomes will be built for moderate-income buyers, offering real ownership opportunities in a neighborhood that deserves them. The north side will have affordable rental units inside a new mixed-use building. Across Jackson Avenue, adjacent to Memphis Toast, a temporary beer garden will go up at 962 Jackson Ave. AEQUO Fund and The Works are utilizing their own funds to handle demolition and cleanup at 999 Jackson, construct the beer garden, and complete pre-development for the housing piece. They plan to finance the completion of the townhomes and will pursue federal housing tax credits for the remaining part of Phase 1. The full phase is targeted for completion by June 2028. "Today begins the implementation of a dream the Smokey City Neighborhood residents have had on paper since the adoption of the 2018 Uptown Community Plan. The CRA has been working on behalf of the neighborhood to acquire the blighted properties, clean them up, and engage a community-oriented developer who understands the value of creating generational wealth in the community," said CRA President Andrew Murray. The Full Vision Phase 2 brings CareHaus, an intergenerational care-based co-housing building, plus commercial space for dining, retail, and services on the northwest block of Jackson and Decatur. The final phase will create affordable apartments on the northeast block. Eleven parcels. Three phases. One neighborhood that's been holding the vision. For full project details, visit cramemphis.org/projects.

ACLU lawsuit: 'startling pattern' of First Amendment violations by Memphis Safe Task Force. Memphis Safe Task Force agents are engaging in a pattern of retaliation, intimidation, and harassment against civilians who record their activities, a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges. By: anita wadhwani - may 14, 2026 6:00 am. Tennessee National Guard patrol Memphis as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Memphis Safe Task Force agents are engaging in a "startling pattern of retaliation, intimidation, and harassment" against bystanders who record their activities, a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges. Filed Wednesday on behalf of four Memphis residents who have suffered pushback after observing and documenting the multi-agency law enforcement crackdown, the lawsuit seeks a ruling declaring the agents' actions violate the First Amendment. The lawsuit is also seeking an order barring Task Force agents from retaliating against people for gathering information or recording task force activities in the future. The suit also seeks a court order preventing agents from invoking a Tennessee statute giving law enforcement the authority to order observers to stand 25 feet away. The law is frequently used to prevent observers from documenting task force activities, it stated. "Recording publicly visible law enforcement activity is a core First Amendment right," said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. "Like folks in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere across the country, Memphis residents have picked up their phones and cameras to document the massive influx of law enforcement officers into their community. "In response, the Memphis Safe Task Force has relentlessly subjected these individuals to intimidation, harassment, and retaliation." A statement Wednesday from a Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency "will not tolerate any action that puts our law enforcement officers at risk." "We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and remain committed to fair, impartial, and professional law enforcement practices to keep Memphians and the American people safe," the statements said, citing more than 9,000 arrests, including 951 known gang members, by the Task Force as "drastically increasing public safety in the Memphis community." The Tennessee Highway Patrol, also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The task force was created by President Donald Trump in September to bring multiple agencies to combat violent crime in the city, which has seen high rates of crime in the past that had begun to decline before the president's action. By October, 2,000 agents from 31 federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marshal's Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol were patrolling the city in cooperation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Leaders of each of these agencies are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The Tennessee National Guard is also a Task Force member. The lawsuit chronicles alleged instances in which agents swerved their cars at observers, boxing them into confined areas, issued threats of arrest in response to being recorded and, in one instance, used excessive force against an observer, according to the plaintiffs. Agents have aimed bright lights at phones and cameras to try to obscure public filming, taunted observers by name when they arrived at the scene of traffic stops and other public enforcement actions, the lawsuit alleges. Agents have snapped photographs of observers' faces and license plates, according to the lawsuit. "Task Force agents are systematically retaliating against, intimidating, and harassing Plaintiffs and others lawfully engaged in these constitutionally protected information-gathering and recording activities," the lawsuit stated. Agents have made thousands of arrests, many of them during traffic stops involving a dozen or more agents driving in caravans. In response, Memphis residents have taken out their phones to record. Volunteer groups such as Vecindarios 901 have organized dispatch systems to quickly send observers to document arrests. The motivations of the volunteers, the lawsuit said, are "to understand what Task Force agents are doing and share that information with others in their community, to obtain information that will help detained individuals and their family members access support, and to document abuses and ensure future accountability." "Whatever their motivation, their activities are unequivocally protected by the First Amendment," the lawsuit stated. Agents have also routinely responded to bystander video recordings by invoking a 2025 Tennessee law - commonly referred to a "buffer zone" or "halo" law - that makes it a crime to be within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after being told to stay back. Hunter Demster, a Vecindarios co-founder and volunteer, and one of the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit who records task force actions, estimates agents have invoked the law against him on 40 to 50 occasions, preventing him from having a clear vantage point while threatening him with arrest should he disobey the orders, according to the lawsuit. The state law is being challenged in federal court by a coalition of Tennessee media organizations, including the Tennessee Lookout. The news groups have argued the law prevents or discourages reporters from documenting routine police actions, protests, festivals, and other newsworthy events for fear of arrest. They've appealed the case to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals after being denied a preliminary injunction. The appeals court has yet to rule. "Even though Plaintiffs' information gathering about and recording of Task Force agents in no way impedes, interferes with, or obstructs agents' execution of their duties - the Halo Law unconstitutionally burdens Plaintiffs' exercise of their First Amendment rights and undermines public oversight of the Task Force," the ACLU lawsuit alleges. Attorneys for the ACLU also accuse Trump administration officials overseeing the task force with adopting an explicit policy of intimidating observers in Tennessee and nationwide. Federal officials "expressly define gathering information about and recording immigration and law enforcement officers performing their duties in public, including Task Force agents, as threatening, criminal, and even terrorist behavior, warranting government action," the lawsuit stated.