Businesses along the Walker and Highland strip are gearing up for MemFix on April 13. 

The plan for the businesses participating in the event is to support the neighborhood efforts to revitalize the strip and also generate customers to their businesses.  Places like Headnapper’s Barbershop at 3566 Walker Ave, Juicy Jim’s Pizzeria at 551 S. Highland St., Mr.P’s Wings at 546 S. Highland Ave., and Lenny’s Sub Shop at 521 S. Highland St. are just a few places that will participate.

Lenny’s parking lot will hold games and activities like Plinko, the most celebrated and enjoyed pricing game ever played on The Price is Right.  Contestants will have an opportunity to win prizes such as free food and drinks, courtesy of Lenny’s. 

Christian Owen, UDistrict Memphis Editor, says the upcoming Walker-Highland development in the UDistrict has been building over the past few years.  The University Neighborhoods Development Corporation board led the efforts with support from the University of Memphis and grass-roots efforts by neighborhood leaders. 

An event set for April 13 is designed to help residents of the University District envision what the future of the intersection of Highland and Walker could look like.

The University Neighborhoods Development Corporation along with the University District Business Association, the University District Incorporated and the Mayor’s Innovation Team will host a MemFix event. The one-day event will last from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

MemFix events encourage new ways to think about streetscapes, activate vacant spaces in neighborhoods and encourage neighborhood growth.  At this year’s event there will be some crosswalks temporarily installed at the Highland/Walker cross-section to make it more pedestrian friendly.  Pop-up businesses will fill vacant storefronts. Music and activities for people of all ages will take place on the sidewalks of the University District.

The Eckles-Madison Family Cemetery is a small cemetery located 50 feet south of Carnes Street, directly across the street from a duplex numbered 3764-3766 Carnes.  The vacant lot is in the middle of the Normal Station neighborhood near the University of Memphis and is heavily overgrown with only a few headstones remaining. 

Jodie Davis, a resident in the Normal Station area, said that the cemetery has been abandoned for quite some time and feels that nobody has any respect for the graves on the land. 

“Kids hang out over here and people let their dogs use the bathroom in the lot,” Davis said.  “I think its disrespect to those that are buried there to have it looking it like that and not keeping it up.” 

The Southern Meat Market at 3507 Southern Avenue plans to relocate due to the redevelopment of the Highland Strip.

The owner, Randy Stockard, is moving to a new location on Park Avenue, but he does not know when.  His business is among others like Yum’s Chinese Sub Shop and Whatever’s that are also being forced to move because of development of the property at Highland Street and Southern Avenue.

What makes the Southern Meat Market different is that the butchers cut the meat by hand.  Most grocery stores have their own deli department equipped with a slicer, which is how most people today get their meat.