Memphis hospitality, live at the garden
I’d been warned about the big bad city of Memphis from outsiders. So, as a recent graduate of Ole Miss, I moved to the safety of Southaven, knowing I would be working in Memphis.
I took a position as an account executive for WLMT-TV CW30. I’ve watched local news enough to learn about all the crime that happens in Memphis, which left me feeling uneasy and wondering if this city is lacking in good nature, if crime overrules Southern hospitality.
But last weekend, I experienced something different at a sold-out concert at the Memphis Botanic Garden.
I reached out to Sherry May, the Garden’s co-director of Live at the Garden. I told her I wanted to come take photographs of the concert and post them on my social media account. I received a quick and generous response.
When I arrived, there were all different types of people headed into the Garden; couples, teenagers with their parents, retired members of the community, groups of friends, a mix of all ages. Everyone was in good spirits. Everyone I met on the way in was eager to tell me all the venue offered.
Kevin, one of the Garden’s staff members, told me that he’d been coming to concerts for 16 years and the crowds were always friendly and fun.
I had no chair and brought nothing other than my purse. As I began to take photographs, a family saw that I was without a seat and offered me one. Soon they’d spread food and beverages on a table. As friends and family gathered, they introduced themselves and offered me everything they had.
I was hesitant to eat or drink or even take someone else’s seat, but they insisted. The generosity of the crowd was beyond anything I could have imagined.
By the end of the concert, I was full, perhaps slightly tipsy and very nostalgic for what I had thought was smalltown Southern hospitality and social togetherness. It’s here in the big city, too.
Memphis is not a city marinated in crime, rooted in racism, and full of hatred and harmful people. It’s a culturally and historically rich city where community still gathers to share and enjoy the magical things only Memphis can offer.
I am so very thankful for everyone I met there that night and the meaningful lesson that has forever changed the way I see the city where I work. Memphis people are good people, and their southern hospitality is very much alive.
Jamie Bodiford is an account executive for WLMT-TV CW30.