by NILES REDDICK
Revitalizing efforts in downtown Jackson, Tennessee began after tornados devastated the area several years ago. While multiple opportunities have populated downtown, its newest claim to fame in redevelopment efforts in Carl Perkins’ hometown is Doe’s Eat Place, a Top 100 place you should eat before you die, as recognized by Garden and Gun.
Doe’s Eat Place has set up shop in the iconic Greyhound Bus Station building, a halfway station between Memphis and Nashville in its heyday, transforming it into a fine dining experience without losing its historical ambiance.
Hub City Brewing, another star among the revitalization efforts, is Jackson’s original brewery, where folks can eat, bowl, and listen to fine music from its many acts including Jacksonian “Lolo”, singer/songwriter Lauren Pritchard whose number No. 1 hit with Panic at Disco “High Hopes” is recognized the world over.
Jackson’s own ComeUnity Café, a unique dining opportunity that offers delicious and custom foods at lunch, some locally grown, and where you pay what you can, and if you can’t, you contribute somehow – wash the dishes, sweep the floor, or take out the trash – is a shining example of creativity combined with the redevelopment of an old building to advance social justice efforts and help “the least of these.”
Nestled downtown is also the Farmer’s Market, The Amphitheater, and the Dog Park.
The forthcoming addition of a new Great Wolf Lodge Resort in Jackson, combined with a new recreation area that offers biking, walking, running trails, fishing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing opportunities in Northwest Madison County, makes for a bright future for this unofficial capital of West Tennessee.
And with the sixth largest not-for-profit, community-owned health system in the country, plus the landing of Ford Motor Company’s newest $5.6 billion plant for electric trucks that will bring 6,000 jobs, no state income tax, and its “gig” city status, people are “Going to Jackson.”
Ford’s BlueOval City will be adjacent to Jackson in Haywood County and will impact the home of Carl Perkins for many years to come. I know he’d be proud and likely sing his famed verse, “Go, cat, go.”
