While Memphis has struggled, West Memphis has been making a considerable amount of progress under the leadership of its young mayor Marco McClendon. Every year in May, the city sponsors a month of Thursday night blues concerts, but the first one this year was moved from the Eugene Woods Civic Center to the new Hightower Park at Broadway and 14th Street in the eastern side of the city. This was an opportunity to show off the redesigned park, with its beautiful outdoor stage.
Because there had been some rain about, the crowd that showed up was relatively small, but there were a lot of kids in the playground, and several food trucks along the edge of the park. The night’s entertainment was primarily a tribute to the late Tina Turner. The new Hightower Park makes a nice addition to a city that seems to be on a rebound.