The Mighty Lights of the Memphis Bridges
The “New Bridge”
You can’t deny it….Memphis may not have mountain views or desert vistas but we have a pretty great skyline. Headed home from anywhere out West, you’ll come up over that last hill in West Memphis and see our city stretch out before you in all its glory. There it sets: a large swath of River City, lit up from within, developed yet friendly, modern yet old, growing yet constant. Memphis is a welcome metropolis between Little Rock and Nashville as the bird flies down I40.
If you’re like me, you’ve referred to the Hernando Desoto Bridge as the “M” bridge or even the “New Bridge” your entire life. I don’t know when bridges lose their distinction of “new”, but perhaps some of us lifelong Memphians will always refer to it as the more modern structure. It’s one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks, greeting travelers and home-comers alike with our first initial and literally reaching out towards Arkansas as our lifeline to whatever lies West beyond the Mighty Mississippi. The Hernando Desoto is our way home and our way out to explore. And now, it puts on a great show.
The nightly light show attracts hundreds of thousands of viewers by the river each year.
River City Sparkle
The Mississippi River sets us apart. Quite literally. From the very beginning of our founding, Andrew Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester knew that the Mississippi would be the pulse of our city. Trade would flourish here because of waterway transportation and Memphis would create an avenue directly West for further exploration of the continent. The city was built flush up against the River and carried itself East, ever-expanding via suburbs and annexations. But the heart of Memphis was always the River. In recent years, local government has sought to bring back the vibrancy of our River existence, seeking to clean up downtown Memphis, fight blight, reinvest in downtown properties, attract new businesses, and develop downtown life. The pursuits have been well received. Modern skyscrapers, fine dining establishments, the FedEx Forum, and the rehabilitation of several old structures have given a fresh wind to what was once a crumbling community downtown. Memphis is becoming something new these days; something we can celebrate.
A Celebration of Lights
The Mighty Lights displays on both the Hernando Desoto Bridge and Big River Crossing are the perfect examples of our city growing and developing to offer an attraction for residents and visitors to simply enjoy. Every night from sunset to 10:30 pm, our beloved “M Bridge” lights up with nearly 10,000 lights that are individually controlled to either static or animated designs. For 10 minutes at the top and every half hour, the light show illuminates both the bridge and the river below with a colorful show. Since 2018, the lights have attracted over 300,000 visitors a year to the edge of downtown…either from the parking lots on Riverside Drive, the top of the Bass Pro Shop at the Pyramid, or from the perfect view on the Halohan Bridge just South on the Mississippi River. The colors may reflect important holidays or events and can even be dedicated to honor or memorialize individuals. Whatever the occasion, they remind us that Memphis can be and is a city of light.