BVO welcomes 10,000 visitors in first three months, proving Memphis can build its own destinations
Locally created River of Time draws visitors from 46 states, brings new momentum to Mud Island
Three months after opening its doors on Mud Island, Baron Von Opperbean and the River of Time (BVO) has produced measurable evidence that settles a long-running debate: Memphis does not need to look outside itself to create extraordinary destinations, reactivate public spaces, or attract visitors from across the country.
Memphians did this.
Built by a local team of artists, technologists, fabricators, storytellers, contractors and operators, BVO has welcomed more than 10,000 visitors from 46 states since opening May 1 inside the former site of Mud Island’s Mississippi River Museum. During that time, the immersive cinematic experience has created 10 full-time jobs, engaged 15 local contractors and creatives, and helped increase traffic to Mud Island by 418%.
“For years, people have talked about what Mud Island used to be, what it could become or who might come fix it,” said BVO CEO Jee Vahn Knight. “We did not wait for an outside company to arrive with the answer. Memphians imagined this, financed it, designed it, built it and opened the doors. Now more than 10,000 visitors from across the country have come to experience what they created here.”
BVO was founded around a simple proposition: give people a compelling reason to return to Mud Island, and they will rediscover the island around it.
Guests routinely explore the River Walk, the Memphis sign and other public amenities before and after visiting the experience, extending BVO’s impact beyond its own doors.
“The real success story is not simply that 10,000 people came to BVO,” Vahn Knight said. “It is that they came back to Mud Island. We built a reason to come to the island—and, increasingly, a reason to stay.”
That renewed activity has already prompted the company to expand beyond its original footprint. BVO recently opened Mane Citi Market inside the museum’s former gift shop, creating a new place for BVO guests and other island visitors to purchase refreshments, merchandise and essentials.
During its first three months, the attraction has also become part of the everyday life of Memphis families, hosting field trips, birthday parties, community and corporate gatherings, and even a marriage proposal.
To date, the project represents more than $1.7 million in combined investment and earned revenue, supported through private capital and local partnerships.
That momentum has been strengthened by $100,000 in sponsorship support from Memphis Tourism, $60,000 in grants from the Downtown Memphis Commission, and material contributions from organizations and individuals throughout the community.
BVO has also worked in partnership with the City of Memphis and Memphis River Parks to reactivate the former museum and create a new destination on the riverfront. As part of that partnership, the City recently completed major roof repairs, protecting the building and helping secure its future as an active public asset.
“This did not happen because a national developer or entertainment conglomerate arrived with a rescue plan,” Vahn Knight said. “It happened because local people believed this city was capable of building something original, ambitious and nationally compelling. The support mattered. The partnerships mattered. But the vision, labor and determination came from here.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young said BVO demonstrates how local creativity and adaptive reuse can strengthen Downtown while generating economic opportunity.
“This is the kind of investment we want to see more of: projects that celebrate our culture, support local jobs and create destinations people want to visit again and again,” Young said. “BVO is showing what is possible when Memphis entrepreneurs and creatives bring new life to existing public spaces. In just three months, thousands of people have returned to Mud Island, explored our riverfront and experienced another side of Memphis.”
BVO currently occupies approximately 8,000 square feet of the former museum. The company plans to expand into an additional 10,000 square feet by early next year before completing its full 33,000-square-foot vision in 2028.
“Three months ago, the full vision sounded ambitious,” Vahn Knight said. “Today, it has receipts. Memphis built Phase 1. Memphis proved the model. And Memphis has the talent, imagination and grit to finish what we started.”
To support that growth, BVO recently hired immersive experience veteran Somisawhel Mathis, former operations director of Meow Wolf’s original House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mathis brings extensive experience operating large-scale immersive environments and building the teams, systems and guest-service standards required to support sustained growth.
“Somisawhel brings world-class operating experience to a local team that has already proven what it can do,” Vahn Knight said. “She fell in love with the people building this, the ambition behind it, and the possibilities she saw in Memphis. Her experience makes us stronger and better equipped to deliver the full vision.”
BVO’s River of Time builds on the success of the company’s earlier immersive production, Quadrant 360, which sold out its two-month run in two days in 2020 and helped establish the foundation for BVO’s permanent installation on Mud Island.
“Memphis has changed the way people experience the world before, from rock ’n’ roll and soul music to overnight shipping and the modern supermarket,” Vahn Knight said. “We have never needed permission to invent what comes next. BVO is proof that the imagination, nerve and raw creative power that built this city never left and is still capable of surprising the world.”
BVO co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Christopher Reyes said seeing visitors embrace both the experience and the island has reinforced the team’s original vision.
“When people walk through these doors, they’re stepping into something we were told was too ambitious, too strange or too hard to build,” Reyes said. “So we built it. We figured it out piece by piece, with our own hands and with a lot of talented people who refused to settle for the easy version. The best part is watching visitors stop thinking about how it works and just disappear into the world for a while. Then they walk back outside and realize this was made here, on Mud Island, by people who believed it could exist before there was any proof.”
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| Contact:
Marvin Stockwell (901) 734-8766 |
About BVO
Baron Von Opperbean and the River of Time (BVO) is an immersive adventure experience that unfolds like an open-world game inside a real-world environment. Visitors navigate a labyrinth of rooms, corridors and portals that merge physical sets, interactive worlds, projection mapping and game-engine technology to create a living story they can explore, play and shape.
Built inside the 33,000-square-foot former Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island in Downtown Memphis, the River of Time transforms the building’s historic architecture—including two full-sized boats—into a network of interconnected worlds. When complete, BVO will be the first immersive attraction of its scale in the Mid-South, inviting guests of all ages to experience a continuously evolving blend of art, technology and imagination.
