MEMPHIS, Tenn — The Beale Street Music Festival has been one of the most popular Memphis attractions for decades, but after two straight years of record losses, the 2024 festival has been suspended.
“We’re hopeful that our community is creative enough to find something that will fill the void,” said Mayor-elect and current Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Young. “We know that Memphis is a music town.”
Friday, the announcement came that Mempho Fest will be holding a new music festival in Tom Lee Park instead.
But can it truly replace the Beale Street festival?
“Typically, the Memphis in May music fest has been Memphis' number-one hotel room night demand generator for the last 30 years,” said Wayne Tabor, president of the Memphis Hotel Lodging Association.
He said this is a huge blow to the hospitality industry. Tabor predicts that the most significant impact will be on the Memphis hotel bed tax.
“The reduction of those taxes would definitely hurt the efforts to bring visitors to the convention center and Memphis tours and the ability to market the city,” he said.
Tabor said the 2023 Beale Street festival was one of the slowest Mays the hospitality industry has ever experienced, with hotel occupancy down nearly 30 percent.
It was also noticeable at restaurants like Bardog Tavern.
“I thought it was going to be a little bit more crowd heavy,” said employee Lana McLean. “But I think they made a rule where you could only leave the fairgrounds once. And so I think a lot of people just decided to stay there.”
Tabor said loss of revenue from that bed tax for just one year would not likely cause taxes to increase in other areas.
“If it was a prolonged several years, then that might be a different story,” he said. “There might be a different look at that revenue coming in.”