Having friends cooking the contest will give you a nice home base. If they give you a team wristband, then you can be there on Wednesday for family night. That's the team party night. Thursday night is the public party and then Friday night starts to settle down as teams get ready for Saturday judging. It just boils down to what you want to do. The whole thing is a blast. Check the website to determine any public activities you want to partake in. The teams will be cooking ancillary contests on Thursday and Friday. There's tours you can sign up for. Plus the teams have plenty of work to do, so I'm sure your buddies could put you to work doing something if you find yourself bored.
There's various hotels in downtown Memphis that are walking distance from the park. A quick google search will plenty of results. We like to stay across the river in West Memphis, AR. The places aren't as nice as downtown and the area is more industrial (and along a noisy highway), but it's quite a bit cheaper. We're only in the room to shower and snooze so it works for us. Downtown hotels will have more creature comforts. We also like to leave vehicles at the hotel and Uber to the festival. The driver will just drop you right at the front gate. It sure beats trying to find parking downtown and then walking to the park.
