Avoid the crowds, go downtown and celebrate

For those who are hesitant to walk into retail stores and shopping centers on Black Friday, there is another option.

People partaking in the downtown holiday celebration can enjoy food, festivities, shopping and more this Friday starting with the Memphis Holiday parade. The parade, produced by the Center City Commission, will begin at 5 p.m. on South Main Street, the first time the parade has been in the South Main Arts District. It is also the first time the parade will make its way down Main Street in more than a decade. In previous years, it has been held on Beale Street.

"Everyone knows about Beale, and it's fun, but South Main is a place people may not be familiar with," said Stephanie Bennett, marketing and communications specialist for Center City Commission. "The parade on Friday is our final event, and there will be lots of activities," Bennett said. "All the different retail business will have lots of things going on. We have a wide array of things going on."

The Downtown Holiday Celebration kicked off with the Holiday Winter Lights Flip-The-Switch Ceremony last Friday at the Court Square. Preparation for the event started months ago.

"Everyone in the office has a different role in this," Bennett said. "The lighting committee has been meeting since March. There is a lot of community involvement in this. We started with a limited budget, so we had to get support to make this happen. And we have received an outrageous amount of support. Everyone is just excited to participate."

And there are many participants. Over 100 organizations walking in the parade including local high school bands, dance groups, Memphis Roller Derby Girls, ballerinas, motorcycles, girl scouts, floats and horses. Leading the parade are U.S. service veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Urban Art Commission has a project planned, if the weather permits. A "cloud" of 1,000 white balloons onto which short film pieces and pictures would be projected.

"The weather report is rainy and windy, which if that's the case, we won't be able to do it," said John Weeden, executive director of UrbanArt Commission. "If the weather is bad...the balloons are affected and not steady enough if they are blowing around wildly."

Weeden said they don't have anything planned to replace it if they are unable to create the cloud.

"My goal is that the projects look as good as possible," he said. "If we are putting effort forth, we want it to look its best. If it doesn't happen this Friday, it will happen on South Main at some point. We want people to enjoy it at its best."

Urban Art Commission is a company that creates large-scale public art and specializes in "whimsical, temporary" projects like the cloud.

In addition to events like UrbanArt's, all local businesses in the area will start hosting in-store activities for kids and families before the parade.

Linn Sitler, Memphis and Shelby County Film and TV Commissioner, said the parade is a good way to get a sense of community and marketing, since her company's marketing is usually out of state.

"It provides an opportunity to do something fun and free and that markets the film and tv community to the public," Sitler said. "A lot of our filming locations are on South Main. This just fits in with what we do."

Memphis and Shelby County Film Commission's float will have trees decorated with film-strip garland donated by Malco Theaters.

From 2 p.m. until after the parade, FM100 and WRVR 104.5 will host a Make-A-Wish fundraiser in the lot next to Earnestine and Hazel's.

Also on Friday is South Main Jolly Trolley Night, and since the Trolley will be closed during the parade, spectators are encouraged to take a 25-cent MATA shuttle to the parade. Shuttles will start picking up riders at 3 p.m. at Main near Peabody Place. They drop shuttle-goers at Main and Talbot. The 25-cent rides end at 7 p.m..

The event is free and open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.

"We want to bring business to the area, especially since it will be the day after Thanksgiving, and what better place to shop than places that have gifts you might want to buy?" Bennett said.