VOL. 126 | NO. 175 | Thursday, September 8, 2011

Cruise by Sun Studio any day of the week and you’ll see tourists from every corner of the globe taking photographs of its famous brown brick façade and queuing up for a ticket to the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.

And if you’ve lived in Memphis all your life and still have yet to step foot inside the legendary recording studio at 706 Union Ave., you’re not alone.

The Bluff City annually attracts more than 10 million visitors, according to the Greater Memphis Chamber, and those visitors generate the bulk of admissions revenue for local museums and attractions.

Sun Studio public relations director Jayne White said the national historic landmark receives only a small but growing number of hometown tourists.

“It’s taken Memphis a while to come around, but it seems like we’re getting more and more local people for sure, which is really a great thing,” White said. “I love it when I see people who are from Memphis on the tour because you know they’re going to tell everybody they know that they’re glad they came, and hopefully it will spawn more business locally.”

Sun Studio is one of 11 museums and attractions hoping to lure locals with free or half-priced admission, unique programming and special tours during the city’s first Downtown Museum Day, an all-day event scheduled to take place Saturday, Sept. 10.

Other participants are the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art; The Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange; Elmwood Cemetery; Fire Museum of Memphis; Jimmy Ogle Tours; Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island Park; National Civil Rights Museum; Metal Museum; Stax Museum of American Soul Music; and the Woodruff-Fontaine House.

The event is unrelated to the Smithsonian magazine’s National Museum Day Sept. 24. Although some museums participating in Downtown Museum Day will also participate in that event, the timing is coincidental.

The local event is being hosted and organized by Discover Memphis, a newly created collective of Downtown museums and attractions that hopes to encourage residents to take advantage of their hometown culture and bolster awareness of the role of museums in Memphis.

Discover Memphis emerged in late spring after a group of executive directors from local museums and attractions gathered to brainstorm opportunities for collaboration.

“After meeting a few times, we decided that the most logical first step would be to have a day like Downtown Museum Day,” said Anna Mullins, executive director of The Cotton Museum at 65 Union Ave., which markets itself as the nation’s most important national museum devoted to cotton. “We wanted to find more ways to connect with our local community rather than just focus on tourism. The stories told by each of our museums really overlap and complement one another, and we wanted to find a way to show that to people who are here in Memphis and enjoy this heritage and this culture.”

Although the Cotton Museum tells the story of the crop that helped shape the Memphis community, Mullins said the majority of its visitors seem to be from outside the United States.

“It’s fantastic, and we love to have them here,” she said. “They’re so fascinated with the story, and it’s a great introduction to the city. But it’s also a wonderful story if you’re from Memphis to really understand the city you live in.”

Elmwood Cemetery, the 160-year-old final resting place of some of Memphis’ most famous, infamous and influential citizens, also receives much of its foot traffic from tourists.

Longtime executive director Kimberly McCollum would like to see more Memphians exploring the cemetery’s serene 80 acres, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She hopes Downtown Museum Day visitors will kick off their whirlwind tour by learning about the governors, blues singers, suffragists, martyrs, generals, outlaws, disaster victims and veterans of every American war interred at Elmwood.

“I want to share with everybody the rich history of this cemetery,” McCollum said. “The history of Memphis can be found at Elmwood, and if you want to know more about your city – the history of the Civil War, yellow fever, Victorian culture, politics in this region, the different ethnic groups who’ve lived in Memphis – this is the place to start. You can learn how all of this is connected.”

McCollum, who has visited every participating museum and attraction, said each and every site is “fantastic. We have a wonderful museum structure in Memphis and a lot of people don’t take advantage of it.”

Organizers hope local residents will take advantage of Downtown Museum Day as a unique, affordable opportunity to visit multiple locations in a single day.

White said she hopes it will remind people of how much Downtown Memphis has to offer.

“We have a really cool Downtown, and we’re starting to take the initiative to celebrate it and bring more business down here,” she said.

PARTICIPATING MUSEUMS

Discounts are available to all Tennessee residents.

Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art:

Half-price general admission, film screenings and 10 percent off gift shop sales.

www.belzmuseum.org

Cotton Museum

Half-price general admission, guided tours, hands-on demonstrations, storytellers, afternoon party featuring live music and classic cocktails.

www.memphiscottonmuseum.org

Elmwood Cemetery

Free 10:30 a.m. guided tour and free self-guided audio tours from 8 a.m. to noon.

www.elmwoodcemetery.org

Fire Museum of Memphis

Buy one admission and receive one of equal or lesser value free.

www.firemuseum.com

Jimmy Ogle Tours

Free tours, starting with 10 a.m. Union Avenue Manhole Cover & History Tour departing from the Cotton Museum, followed by 11:30 a.m. Cotton Row Tour departing from Cotton Museum, 1 p.m. Mississippi River Tour starting at Confederate Park, and 3 p.m. Court Square Tour.

www.jimmyogle.com

Metal Museum

Free admission and blacksmith demonstrations throughout the day.

www.metalmuseum.org.

Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island River Park

Buy one admission and get one of equal or lesser value free. Sixty-minute guided Riverwalk Model Tours at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., and Hattiloo Theatre performances from noon to 3 p.m.

www.mudisland.com

National Civil Rights Museum

Buy one admission, get one free.

www.civilrightsmuseum.org

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

Buy one admission, get one free.

www.staxmuseum.org

Sun Studio

Free admission and tours

www.sunstudio.com

Woodruff-Fontaine House

Buy one general admission and tour and get the second half-price.

www.woodruff-fontaine.com/tours