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Riverfront partnership reports 2.1 million visits in 2024; council presses for shared plan on subcontracting and management agreements
Summary
Memphis River Parks Partnership told the council it drew about 2.1 million visits across the five-mile riverfront in 2024 and runs hundreds of free public programs. Council members asked for a strategic, city-aligned plan and clearer management and subcontracting agreements to protect the public character and brand of the riverfront.
The interim CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership told a City Council committee on April 8 that riverfront programming and hosted events drew about 2.1 million visits in 2024 and reach thousands of local schoolchildren, but council members pressed the partnership to provide a shared, citywide strategic plan and clearer rules for subcontracting or subleasing riverfront spaces.
Art Davis told the committee the partnership’s free programming served thousands of youths in 2024 and included school field trips, poetry and spoken-word contests, and a science play project in partnership with the University of Memphis. “Each year, the partnership reaches thousands of young people across the city,” Davis said; he added that the partnership had more than 130 free programs planned over seven months and had hosted dozens of ticketed or hosted events.
Davis said the partnership is negotiating with the owners of Mahogany River Terrace on Mud Island to add parking-lot lighting through a FY 2026 capital request and is supporting an immersive project on Mud Island that could bring additional visitors.
Councilwoman Tedra Logan repeatedly pressed the partnership on its authority to subcontract or sublease riverfront spaces and asked how the partnership’s leasing choices would align with the city’s wider riverfront branding. Logan said that without shared guidance, separate agreements could fragment the riverfront’s public identity.
Antonio Adams, the city’s chief operating officer, and Davis said a task force and review of management agreements is under way. Adams said the administration wants a consultant and a coordinated plan to guide decisions about fixed assets, amphitheater siting and broader riverfront activation. Davis and Adams said Parks retains review and veto authority for activities and that the partnership is working with city staff to align contracts and task-force work.
No formal vote or appropriation was taken at the briefing. Council members asked staff and the partnership to continue developing a coordinated plan, to document subcontracting authority and to return with options that align the partnership’s activities with the city’s master plan.
