A fitting film reference sets the tone for festival goers walking to the nearby Cooper-Young Festival on Aug. 14, 2013.
Next time you take a drink of Memphis tap water, remember that you are taking a drink of history.
“Most people don’t realize that the water MLGW pumps out of the ground in Midtown started off as a rain drop in Fayette County 300 years ago,” Stewart Austin told a group of onlookers at the Cooper-Young Festival.
The Cooper-Young Festival started out as a small arts festival, but has grown into the largest single day event in the city. While the focus is still on local artisans selling pricy slices of Americana, many other companies, clubs and associations also purchase booths in order to peddle information.
For instance, two enviromental themed groups, The Wolf River Conservancy and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, manned booths with diagrams, volunteers and pamphlets outlining their causes and highlighting their upcoming events.
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park traces its roots back to the 1960s when the group was formed to block the construction of Interstate 40 through Overton Park. They gained national notoriety by taking the case against the Department of Transportation to the Supreme Court--and winning.
Now the group’s main focus is alleviating the parking situation in the park.
“It’s time to get creative with a solution, and stop just parking cars in the grass,”said CPOP volunteer Naomi Van Tol. “The zoo doesn’t want to do it, they need an alternative.”
Alternatives in the works include a new parking lot inside the zoo’s property and possible shuttles that run from Overton Square to the park courtesy of Bob Loeb.
The group also hosts nature hikes along the park's Old Forest Trail on the second Saturday and last Sunday of every month.
“Most people don’t realize that the water MLGW pumps out of the ground in Midtown started off as a rain drop in Fayette County 300 years ago,” Stewart Austin told a group of onlookers at the Cooper-Young Festival.
The Cooper-Young Festival started out as a small arts festival, but has grown into the largest single day event in the city. While the focus is still on local artisans selling pricy slices of Americana, many other companies, clubs and associations also purchase booths in order to peddle information.
For instance, two enviromental themed groups, The Wolf River Conservancy and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, manned booths with diagrams, volunteers and pamphlets outlining their causes and highlighting their upcoming events.
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park traces its roots back to the 1960s when the group was formed to block the construction of Interstate 40 through Overton Park. They gained national notoriety by taking the case against the Department of Transportation to the Supreme Court--and winning.
Now the group’s main focus is alleviating the parking situation in the park.
“It’s time to get creative with a solution, and stop just parking cars in the grass,”said CPOP volunteer Naomi Van Tol. “The zoo doesn’t want to do it, they need an alternative.”
Alternatives in the works include a new parking lot inside the zoo’s property and possible shuttles that run from Overton Square to the park courtesy of Bob Loeb.
The group also hosts nature hikes along the park's Old Forest Trail on the second Saturday and last Sunday of every month.
The Wolf River Conservancy is a non-profit land trust working to maintain the Wolf River watershed as a sustainable natural resource.
While most Memphians may only be familiar with the section of the river that runs through the Interstate 240 loop, The Wolf River watershed actually covers 522,000 acres and stretches from downtown Memphis to Michigan City, Miss.
“We do three things: conservation, recreation and education,” said Stewart Austin, board president for the WRC.
Conservation involves protecting the land and the river, recreation refers to the canoe trips, bike rides and nature hikes they sponsor and education pertains to programs designed to use to the river as a teaching tool in the communities and schools.
However, the events are available to members only, because the fees make up a large portionof the WRC’s funding.
“By joining you are helping us to protect the watershed and the aquifers that supply the city’s drinking water,” said land protection associate Ryan Hall.
While most Memphians may only be familiar with the section of the river that runs through the Interstate 240 loop, The Wolf River watershed actually covers 522,000 acres and stretches from downtown Memphis to Michigan City, Miss.
“We do three things: conservation, recreation and education,” said Stewart Austin, board president for the WRC.
Conservation involves protecting the land and the river, recreation refers to the canoe trips, bike rides and nature hikes they sponsor and education pertains to programs designed to use to the river as a teaching tool in the communities and schools.
However, the events are available to members only, because the fees make up a large portionof the WRC’s funding.
“By joining you are helping us to protect the watershed and the aquifers that supply the city’s drinking water,” said land protection associate Ryan Hall.
An aerial view of the Wolf River Watershed. The area in blue designates the area in which rainwater drains into the river, which is known as its watershed.
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