By Andy Ashby
The Cooper-Young Regional Beer Festival will be held from 1-5pm on Saturday, October 9, in the parking lot south of LifeLink Memphis at the corner of Cooper and Walker. Tickets are on sale and are only available online at the Cooper-Young Community Association website, cooperyoung.org. Tickets are $25 for CYCA members and $30 for non-members. All proceeds go to support the work of the CYCA.
More than 10 breweries and homebrew clubs will be pouring at this event, several of which aren’t available regularly in the Memphis market. These breweries are all within a one-day’s drive of Memphis, proving that you don’t have to drive to Colorado or Oregon to get a great craft beer.
Memphis’ numerous farmers markets are based on the idea that fresh, local produce and meat are better than mass-produced food. The same principal applies to beer. Why drink a flavorless lager manufactured miles away when you can have a flavorful ale made down the street?
I toured the Budweiser brewery in St. Louis, and it reminded me of the human-harvesting fields from the Matrix with endless rows of brewing tanks extending as far as the eye could see. It’s a very different experience from the Saturday brew tour at Ghost River Brewing Co. where Chuck Skypeck or Jimmy Randall, the guys who actually make the beer, might be giving the tour.
There are only 400 tickets available for the Beer Festival in order to allow attendees time and space to talk with the brewers and learn about what they are drinking. There will also be an education tent, where people can learn about beer and brewing from the brewers themselves.
Local sponsors include Au Fond Farmtable and Celtic Crossing, who will be providing dinners for brewers and volunteers. Chef Ben Vaughn and Au Fond Farmtable will also be selling food at the event. Music for the festival will be provided by The Visible School, a music college currently operating at LifeLink Memphis.
Many volunteers have put in hours of work organizing this festival. A big thanks goes out to Josh Spickler, Mark Morrison, Toby Sells, Nathan Coppedge, Trevor Kearney, and Edmund Mackey for serving on the Beer Festival committee. The Cooper-Young Community Association board, especially volunteer coordinator Beth Pulliam, have also put time and effort into this event, as well as community director Maggie Cardwell. Local artist Adam Schellabarger has dedicated his talent by designing the Beer Festival’s logo and poster.
If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please contact Trevor Kearney at cybeerfest@gmail.com. Please let him know if you have Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission training. For all other inquiries, please contact Andy Ashby at cybeerfest@gmail.com or call (901)691-2396.

By Maury Tower
While Memphis Animal Clinic works year-round with area rescue groups to encourage the adoption of dogs and cats, this summer it supported the adoption of children. As an outreach to the community, Memphis Animal Clinic participated in the Daniel Law Firm’s Worry Free Summer Camp by adopting 3 campers. The kids attended camp near Cooper-Young at the Orange Mound Community Center.
They went to camp each weekday for eight weeks from 8:30am-5pm absolutely free. The campers spent their summer days in a secure environment, making friends, stretching their creativity, and engaging in healthy activities. They also got a nutritious lunch and snack each day, provided by Memphis City Schools.
Last year Ben and Elizabeth Daniel wanted to show their support for the community by sending needy children to summer camp. The Daniel Law Firm partnered with Memphis Park Services, which offers wonderful summer day camps for kids ages 5 to 15 at its community centers throughout the city. The full fee is $162 per child for the entire 8 weeks and $81 for families on government assistance. While affordable, the cost of the summer camp program is beyond the reach of many families.
This summer the Daniel Law Firm received over 700 applications from families in the community who needed their support. Each applicant included a paragraph on how summer camp would help their family. The stories were heart-wrenching, thus, the selection process was a major challenge for Ben and Elizabeth. The Daniel Law Firm donated over $4,000 toward enrollment fees, and then launched a campaign to recruit adopters to underwrite the fees for other campers. Thanks to family, friends, and business associates a total of 69 kids attended camp. Parents rested easy knowing their children were enjoying a summer of fun learning experiences in a safe environment.
The Daniel Law Firm has already started recruiting adopters for next year. Camp is an ideal way for any child to spend the summer and a great way for companies like Memphis Animal Clinic to offer support to needy families and the community.
For information on adopting a camper for the 2011 Summer Camp Program, contact Elizabeth Daniel at Elizabeth@daniellawfirm.com or call (901) 525-5555.

By Barb Elder
Those of us who are relatively new to Cooper-Young may not understand the amazing comeback story that is our neighborhood’s history. We take for granted the safe, tight knit community that we are a part of. We don’t think twice about having active community organizations like the CYCA to advocate for our wellbeing. We enjoy restaurants and businesses that we can walk to and our newfound friendships down the street, thinking that life in Cooper-Young has always been this way. But we are a part of a much larger story whether we realize it or not. It is a story full of unsung heroes, successes and failures, and it is our story as well. It is this story, this history, that has been recorded by authors Lisa Lumb and Jim Kovarik in the newly published book, Cooper-Young: A Community that Works.
Below you will find a reprint of the books preface to pique your interest. I know it’s hard to wait for something this good, but it won’t be much longer. On Tuesday, September 14, from 5:30-6:30pm you can walk on down to Burkes’ Books, at 936 S. Cooper St., and procure your autographed copy. The book will sell for $25, and the accompanying neighborhood map, created by Paula Kovarik, is $10. You can purchase both the book and map together for a discounted $30. All proceeds go to support our CY Community Association. Enjoy!
Preface from Cooper-Young: A Community that Works
In 1977, Peggy Jemison and Virginia Dunaway took on the task of writing the history of this neighborhood. Armed with tape recorders and searching for stories, they ventured into Clark’s Barber Shop, a well-known local hangout, near the corner of Cooper and Young. Jemison recalls, “The barber ( J. W. Clark) took one look at us and said, ‘Ladies, you’re too late. The neighborhood is gone.’”
Fast forward three decades: it’s a sunny spring Thursday in the early evening. The barber shop has been transformed into a bustling Mexican restaurant. Couples belly up to the bar for margaritas, and a salsa band sets up out on the outdoor patio. The intersection brims with restaurants serving seafood, sushi, and French country cooking. It’s CY Night Out—party night in Cooper-Young powered by a business association and grateful vendors up and down the street. Merchants pull out racks with their wares: lingerie, stained glass, chocolate, $100 blue jeans and $2 used books. Eateries move their tables to the sidewalk. Another band sets up by the gazebo to offer free music, which mixes with the noise of the night.
Down Oliver Avenue, past an Irish pub where the Waterboys blast their music and Guinness fans nurse their pints, sits Edna. Holding court from her front porch rocking chair, this spry lady of 90 spreads wisdom and gossip as she has done for over half a century. Monte and Jon, walking their new springer spaniel puppy, saunter over and sit a spell. Edna’s neighbor brings her a plate for supper, and the older lady gives her the third degree about the whereabouts of her three boys, whom she has watched grow up. Samantha and Jeremy next door bring over their new baby girl, Gabriella, for inspection. A cluster of kids hoot and holler on the Peabody School playground next to her house. A multiracial mix of teenagers jostles round a basketball hoop at the end of the block for a rowdy game of street ball.
Parking spots along the street fill quickly as folks pour in for the night’s festivities; locals follow on foot. Young artists transplanted from New York parade by with their toddlers in a psychedelically painted Radio Flyer wagon. A teenager in black with mohawk, nose-ring, and tribal tattoos crawling up both arms gives the group on the porch a furtive nod as he slinks by. Two young women cruising tandem on a bike stream past, their vintage petticoats billowing behind them like parachutes on their rusty retro Schwinn. It’s a walking, wonderful mix of a night in CY. Everyone and their mama is in motion. The block is rocking, as is most of the neighborhood these days.
For more than a century, the fortunes and fables of the area have ebbed and flowed with growth and contraction. From an area in freefall during the 70s, the Cooper-Young neighborhood has come back. Empty lots and houses are now filled and rebuilt. Property values have skyrocketed. Businesses vie for space along Cooper Street and Young Avenue. A neighborhood of aging residents has in stages become a Bohemian enclave, a flipper’s paradise, and lately a trendy haven for young professionals ripe with children. Through it all, it retains its status as a good place to live in the city of Memphis.
Its edges have changed over the years, but the Cooper-Young neighborhood (CY) is roughly bound by Central Avenue on the north, East Parkway on the east, Southern Avenue on the south, and McLean on the west. In the summer of 2010, there are about 1700 households and 5000 residents. It’s a tiny slice of a larger metropolitan Memphis of about one million people.
Here in 2010, life is good for those who live in CY. Peabody Elementary School has survived since 1910 and blossomed 100 years later. The area’s largest church—First Congregational—is alive with inspiration and opportunity. Specialty retail and restaurants dot the commercial corridor. The neighborhood remains a madhouse of renovation, and it’s rare to come across a non-renovated house in the neighborhood. CY retains a reputation for tolerance and diversity, welcoming all types and shapes and sorts of people.
A generous helping of public and private resources has led to the rebound of business and housing here. Public dollars have fueled big changes; private sweat has built great value. All of this has been elevated by the work of the three neighborhood groups: The Cooper-Young Community Association (CYCA), the CY Business Association (CYBA), and the CY Development Corporation (CYDC). Once again, as it was deemed to be in the first few decades of the last century, CY is seen as a good place to live, to play, to open a business, or to raise a family.
This book is a history of CY in two parts. The first part was commissioned by the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) in the 1970s and written by Peggy Jemison and Virginia Dunaway. A copy published in 1980 is reprinted in its entirety here with three additions: headings to assist readers, photos to illuminate text, and essays—by decade— for historical context.
This original (MIFA) history covers the founding of the neighborhood up to the early 70s as the area teetered on the edge of ruin. As the largest social service organization in the entire region, MIFA was attempting to document and revive neighborhood development in Memphis. The original history laid out many of the reasons for CY’s initial boom, its subsequent decline, and tiny new signs of life.
The second part of this book is the next chapter in the history of CY written by Lisa Lumb and Jim Kovarik. It starts where the MIFA history stops in the 1970s and continues to 2010. This story starts with a neighborhood in decline and ends with a neighborhood on the rise and in full blossom with business booming and housing more valuable than ever in 2010.
This updated history was originally commissioned by Memphis Heritage and eventually published by the CYCA in 2010. Paula Kovarik at Shades of Gray, Inc. designed and produced the document (and the neighborhood map that accompanies this book). The entire project has been guided by the steadfast and shepherding hand of Emily Bishop, one of the stellar examples of an individual investor, talented volunteer, and dedicated resident whose stories are told in this book.
The story itself is the compilation of thousands of residents, owners, stakeholders, and strangers that have had their small role in the history of Cooper-Young. It is through the lives and stories of these folks that the history of Cooper-Young came to life and continues today.
Happily, the man in the barbershop who warned the original historians turned out to be wrong.

By Sarah Frierson

Cooper-Young is a close-knit community, and the board of the CYCA has realized that when and if a disaster ever strikes we will turn to each other for help. The recent floods in Millington and Nashville were a reminder that it is important to plan for the unexpected. Cooper-Young has always been at the forefront when it comes to community organization, and we’d like to set a precedent for other neighborhoods, once again, by putting together a Cooper-Young Emergency Response (CYER) plan.

Local and state governments have emergency plans in place, and first responders will act as quickly as possible to assist us. Nevertheless, in an emergency situation we also need to be ready to take care of our families and our neighbors for the first 7-10 days, if necessary. Our goal is to create a comprehensive disaster plan for the neighborhood and to provide training for CY residents so that we may effectively support one another and efficiently communicate the needs of our community to emergency personnel.

An immediate priority is to create a Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Cooper-Young. CERT training is free and open to any city resident. There are 15 training spots available for Cooper-Young neighbors on Saturday, August 21 and 28 from 8am-4:30pm.

The CERT program offers hands-on training in basic disaster relief skills that can be used to assist neighbors in a variety of emergency situations like earthquakes, floods, tornados, or fires. Light search and rescue techniques (such as how to safely lift a wall off of someone who is trapped), fire safety (including how to turn off electricity and gas lines), and disaster medical operations will be covered in the two-day training. All participants will receive a CERT kit.

Please join us for the next meeting of CYER, on Monday, August 9, 6:30pm at Fork it Over, across the street from the CYCA office at 2299 Young Avenue. Refreshments will be provided courtesy of Fork it Over. Cheryl Yarbro, Manager of Operations and Training with the Shelby County Office of Preparedness HLS/EMA/UASI, will discuss CERT training, as well as the resources and plans that are already in place for our city. A CERT kit will also be on hand, so that you can see what you get if you decide to become a community CERT volunteer. Everyone is welcome and no special skills are required.

For further information about disaster preparedness, please visit readyshelby.org.

By Ginger Spickler

Picture a hundred-year-old elementary school building in the heart of an eclectic, artistic, urban neighborhood. It looks a little shabby on the outside, but, on the inside, students are learning about their world through a special-focus international studies program. Test scores are not great but have shown improvements in recent years.

Despite the fact that it sits in the midst of a predominantly white, middle-class neighborhood, the school’s student body is made up almost entirely of low-income minorities. One of those white, middle-class moms wonders why and goes inside to check it out. She finds a principal who has already started making positive changes and is looking for the surrounding community to invest its resources – and its kids – in her school.

This scenario may sound very familiar, especially if you just read Mandy Grisham’s article about her experiences with Peabody Elementary. But, in fact, this is a description of The Nettlehorst School in Chicago’s East Lakeview neighborhood – the school featured in How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance by Jacqueline Edelberg (the mom) and Susan Kurland (the principal).

However, Mandy is no copycat. This book came to her, and consequently to me and other neighborhood moms, only recently. We were shocked to discover the parallels to our own story of wanting to see our neighborhood school become not only the kind of place where we want to send our own kids but the crown jewel of our beloved community.

In many ways Peabody was already so much further along when we started considering it than Nettlehorst was the day that Chicago mom first stepped through its doors. Unlike Nettlehorst, whose population consisted largely of students bussed in from other over-crowded schools, Peabody is already a school of choice for many Memphis families. Half of its students choose to transfer in, seeking the small-school atmosphere, the stable team of experienced teachers, and the incredible array of extra-curricular activities that Peabody has offered for years.

And yet, one look at the playground during recess will tell you that the residents of Cooper-Young are overwhelmingly choosing to educate their children elsewhere. There are certainly valid reasons for that decision – one that I know is intensely personal for each family. Nevertheless, for many, Peabody was never even a consideration and I believe it doesn’t have to be that way. I believe that Peabody Elementary has the potential to be a school of choice not just for the rest of the city but for the families who could actually walk their children there.

Those of us in the neighborhood who have decided to send our kindergarteners there this year recognize that we are new to this and probably a little naive. We’ve not yet had our first run-in with Memphis City Schools’ red tape. Our 5-year-old has not yet asked us why most of his classmates do not look like him. We know the road will not always be smooth. It’s possible we’ll have to eat our words.

But, as Mandy said, we are hopeful. We’re hopeful that our kids will be able to get an excellent, free education in a setting that echoes the diversity of the city we live in and love. We’re hopeful that, just as Nettlehorst has since become, Peabody will become one of the best schools in the city.

We believe that Peabody has something going for it that no other school in Memphis can boast — it is at the center of a neighborhood that values community above almost anything else. Even if your kid doesn’t go to Peabody, you want to see it succeed, just because you value it as part of our community.

There are many residents and business owners who have already shown their support of Peabody over the years through their donations of money, goods, and services. They know, like we do, that a strong neighborhood school benefits, not only the students that attend it, but everyone else in the area as well in the form of higher property values, increased support of local businesses, and generally a more positive neighborhood atmosphere.

So, we thank our neighbors for what they have already done for the little elementary school on Young Avenue. We especially thank the neighborhood parents, few and far between though they may be, who have gone before us and have assured us that their kids are indeed thriving there. However, if Peabody Elementary is truly to become Cooper-Young’s school of choice — one realtors will name as a selling point on their listings — we’re going to need even more help, and we’re going to be asking for yours, so get ready.

Ginger Spickler is a Nelson Avenue resident, a CYCA board member, and the mother of Walt – 
a member of the 2010 kindergarten class of Peabody Elementary.

By John Kinsey

The Cooper-Young Community Association (CYCA) is not going bankrupt! I make this announcement because it has come to my attention that rumors to the contrary are beginning to surface. However, nothing could be further from the truth. We are led by a strong, dedicated board of directors, and our financial records and meeting minutes are open to the public for viewing. Our events continue to attract attendees and raise much of the money needed for our operations. Our newspaper, the LampLighter, continues to deliver news and ads monthly to over 3,000 households and businesses. We are a model for community associations nationwide.

Unfortunately, not all organizations promoting Cooper-Young can claim a healthy financial outlook. Due to economic setbacks the Cooper-Young Development Corporation (CYDC) is operating without paid staff and has limited operations at this time.

How do the CYCA, the CYBA, and the CYDC differ?

I know it can be confusing when all three community organizations use “Cooper-Young” in their names. Let me try to clarify.

The Cooper-Young Community Association (CYCA) is an alliance of residents and interested parties who work together to make our diverse and historic neighborhood a desirable and safe place to live, worship, work, and play. Our big events include the Art for Art’s Sake Auction, the Friday Festival 4 Miler, and the new, upcoming Regional Beer Festival.

The mission of the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA) is to reclaim the buildings, streetscapes, and businesses of the district in an effort to promote a better business climate and to promote the neighborhood as a desirable place to live, work, and patronize. Their big events include the CY Festival in September and CY Night Out on the first Thursday of each month.

The Cooper-Young Development Corporation (CYDC) is dedicated to sustaining and growing our neighborhood by actively building and advocating for a vibrant, affordable, and beautiful community environment. Their recent big project is housing on Seattle Street.

The CYCA is a stand-alone entity and is not part of the CYBA or the CYDC. We maintain separate mission statements, boards of directors, and office space. At one time we did share the 2298 Young Avenue location with the others, but since April we have owned the building and have been the only one of the three organizations housed there.

The CYCA is a robust organization and it will remain viable and strong into the future. Questions regarding the future of the CYDC can be addressed to the CYDC Board President, Reb Haizlip at reb@haizlipstudio.com.

By Edward Greene

Not much surprises me in Cooper-Young anymore. Nevertheless, I was a bit startled to see two zombies in my front yard one Saturday morning. After stashing the family pets, further inquiry revealed what only true boredom can accomplish. Alden Woodard and Tyler Hurt of Evelyn Avenue, along with their fathers, Adam Woodard and Justin Hurt, have formed Wood Hurts Productions and are ready to “taste” all Cooper-Young has to offer. In case you missed the links on the CYCA home page, the LampLighter online, YouTube, and Facebook, on May 9th, Episode 1 of Dead News Live with the Zombie Boys was posted covering the CY Farmer’s Market. This was a follow-up to a short film released a week earlier called Doommate. I was lucky enough to sit down with my zombie neighbors (without being eaten) and their fathers to ask a few questions.

Q. Adam, who’s idea was this project?

A. The idea was a group effort.  Alden and Tyler were spending a Saturday at my house and decided that they were “totally bored.” I asked them what they wanted to do, and, after a little brainstorming, they decided that they wanted to make a movie. I asked them what kind of movie and they decided that a zombie film would be the best choice. So we put together a really simple, short zombie film called, Doommate. The boys wrote it and story-boarded it with my help. Then we made Alden into a zombie and shot the film on my iPhone. I edited and posted it on YouTube and the boys were thrilled with the results.

The next day, Tyler’s dad, Justin, called me, and told me that he had seen Doommate. He loved it, and wanted to do another film in which he could be involved. Coincidentally, Justin had some makeup experience and had also worked on a zombie film! That same week, I watched an old home movie that my cousin, Sean Faust, and I had done when we were kids.  We had done a spoof newscast in the vein of the old HBO show Not Necessarily the News. I put two and two together, and thought that would make a good genre for our budding zombies.  First of all, I thought it would be even more fun for the kids to be zombies in public. Secondly, I thought it would put the kids more firmly in the driver’s seat of the creativity and the production. And so Dead News Live was born (or unborn, or dead, or whatever it is).

Q. Adam, how were you able to put these videos together?

A. My background is in advertising but I began branching out into television and film production about a year ago. I’m a Mac nerd and everything was put together at home on my Mac. I also produce music and headaches.

Q. Alden, how does it feel to be the most popular dead journalist in Cooper-Young?

A. I have to answer this? Wait! Don’t put that! Dad! Don’t put that! Wait let me see! What did you put? OK, fine! It feels really cool and I’ve never been so popular. I feel more alive than dead.

Q. Adam, after seeing Doommate, are we to assume that Alden turned Tyler into a zombie?

A. Roommates always tend to give each other their illnesses. Tyler should have taken his Emergen-C^®.

Q. So, Tyler, how did you enjoy the Farmers Market experience?

A. Groooaaan…cough, cough, hack, spit…Wow, never thought I’d get that bone out of my throat! Actually, I enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot, but truthfully, there were too many veggies and not enough flesh.

Q. What’s next for The Zombie Boys

A. Today Cooper-Young — tomorrow the world.  We plan to make an appearance at the CYCA meeting on July 13th to find out what everyone is doing to save energy for the Smallest User competition and to save their mortal souls!

Online Extra:

Become a Facebook fan of Zombie News!  Check out their FB page here and check out their original production, Doommate below!

By Lurene Kelley

If you’ve walked past it on your way to Au Fond or parked in front of it to meet friends at Café Ole – you may have noticed the beautiful architecture of the 100-year-old Peabody school. Chances are, though, you didn’t notice the landscaping.

That’s all about to change, possibly with your help. The newly formed Friends of Peabody Elementary is planning a “Flip this Schoolyard” event! The hope is that many hands will transform the nondescript entrance of Peabody into a showcase for the entire Cooper-Young neighborhood.

Just like those popular home improvement shows, organizers plan to work some magic in just two Saturdays in July. The first Saturday volunteers will uproot old foliage and prepare the grounds; the second Saturday, new trees, bushes, and flowers will be planted.

Midtown Nursery is donating greenery for the event and organizers anticipate more Midtown businesses will contribute.

The work dates are set for July 24th and July 31st from 7-10 am. No sign up is necessary, just show up for one or both days! Volunteers are asked to bring their own rakes and/or shovels. Breakfast, coffee and lots of ice water will be provided.

Remember, you don’t have to be a Peabody parent or even a resident of Cooper-Young to get involved. In fact, the only qualification to join is the desire to make CY look even better. So, ask your friends to help and check out the Friends of Peabody Elementary fan page on Facebook.

Lurene Kelley is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis.

By Christie Gilmer

When Lori Greene, her sister Sue Easley, and their friend Robin Rodriguez first came up with the idea for the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market last fall, their plans were ambitious. Not only did they want to start a new farmers market in Midtown, but they also wanted to make sure their venture had a mission of bringing together different parts of Memphis and of reaching out to nearby neighborhoods that don’t have much access to fresh, healthy, locally grown, and affordable food.

“The word community is in our name for a reason,” says Lori Greene, a farmer herself, “because in addition to giving shoppers access to the best that local farmers and artisans have to offer, we also want to provide a meeting ground for people to come together on a Saturday morning and talk about anything. From recipes to ideas for creating more good things in Memphis. We want to foster community.”

First Congregational Church was their first choice for location. “We saw First Congo as the natural place to have the market, because of their dedication to social justice,” says Greene, who used to live in Cooper-Young and has an alter ego as the punk rock singer Lorette Velvette. “Also, First Congo has that large parking lot in the heart of Cooper-Young, and we knew they would probably be open to what we wanted to do. We also saw they had partners inside the building that fit perfectly with our approach, including the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center and Grow Memphis.”

The three were soon joined by a team of more than 40 volunteers, including board members, committee chairs, and professionals providing pro bono services. After months of planning and negotiating city permits and health department regulations, the market was ready for its debut on Saturday, May 1.

The night before, however, historic rains flooded homes and roads all over the city and the surrounding countryside. Still, at 7 am on that stormy Saturday morning, a dedicated group of volunteers and intrepid farmers showed up at the First Congo parking lot and set up for business.

“People had emailed me and called,” says Greene, when they heard about the bad weather coming and asked if the first market was still on, “and I said we would be there, even if it was pouring down rain. I told them if a tornado was coming right toward us, we would be there, but we might be inside the church hunkered down.” That kind of spirit is what it takes to get a farmers market up and running.

It also takes shoppers who are hungry for their locally grown food the market offers. Despite the bad weather on that first day, almost all of the customers who had signed up for Greene’s Community Supported Agriculture program came to collect the weekly supply of produce from her farm in Olive Hill, Tennessee. “When I saw my CSA customers come to pick up their bags even in that terrible weather, I knew we had a dedicated customer base. I was so happy to see that it wasn’t just the vendors and volunteers who were committed to this market succeeding, shoppers were also dedicated to supporting it.

“It takes all three to create a thriving farmers market. “It’s a dance between the farmer growing the food, the market selling it, and the person buying it,” says Greene. “The customer is an equal partner in the growing cycle.” So, customers who want to eat the freshest possible food, that is locally grown, have to get used to the idea that certain foods are available only at certain times of the year, unlike in the grocery where we can buy berries in winter that are grown in Argentina and shipped to Memphis. “There is an ebb and flow,” says Greene.

After a startup month to get their feet wet (literally, on that first day), market organizers have designated June 5 as the market’s opening celebration. On that day, and for the rest of the season, all the market stalls will be full with local farmers and urban gardeners (including community gardeners from Grow Memphis) selling fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, and prepared food, as well as artisans selling their wares and community groups raising awareness of their causes. There will be special music, performances, kids activities, coffee from Otherlands, and cooking and growing demonstrations. The market also boasts Memphis’ only Dog Valet dog sitting service (started with help from Dogs Rule).

Greene says the market has a perfect synergy with Cooper-Young. “We are encouraging people to walk or bike to the market and then to go over and get lunch at the great nearby restaurants, go get books at Burke’s, or visit other shops along Cooper.” She says not only are there great chefs in Cooper-Young who will shop at the market, but the neighborhood’s attitude and diversity is what attracted many of the farmers and food producers. “A lot of farmers and urban gardeners are very interested in food justice issues and also they like the laid-back, low-key feeling of Cooper-Young. We hope the market can become a place that brings everyone together. We want people to come out, meet their neighbors, get to know people around them and not just be isolated in their houses.”

The Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market runs every Saturday from 8 am–1 pm through October 30th. You can get more information about the market on their Facebook page, Twitter and website www.cycfarmersmarket.org.

By Andy Ashby

Jordan Danelz, Madelyn Altman, Rodney Nash, Beth Cooper, Sydney Ashby, Debbie Sowell, Chris McHaney, Sharron Johnson, and Kristan Huntley participated in the Cooper-Young Community Association’s “Gazebo to Gateways” clean-up on March 27th.

It was truly a team effort.

Jordan, Rodney, Sharron, and Kristan picked up trash along Cooper Street, Young Avenue, Central Avenue, and East Parkway. They filled more than a dozen large bags of trash and recyclable items, which they took the time to separate. They even picked up hubcaps, discarded timber, and parts of car bumpers along East Parkway.

Madelyn, Beth, Sydney, Debbie, and Chris weeded the garden areas around the gazebo, which included pulling up wild onions and other invasive plants. They also divided irises and replanted them in other parts of the garden, which promotes flowering.

Bryant Cummins, a Cooper-Young resident and owner of Bryant Lawn & Landscape, donated some tools and came by to supervise and help out.

Ben Vaughn and his staff at Grace Restaurant and Au Fond Farmtable also got into the spirit, letting us use their dumpster for the all the collected trash. Ben was also gracious enough to give the volunteers 50 percent off of their lunches at Au Fond. It turned out to be a great way to end a beautiful spring morning.

Andy Ashby is the chairman of the CYCA beautification committee, which meets the first Tuesday of every month at 2298 Young Avenue. He can be reached via e-mail at ashby129@hotmail.com.