The Riley's Memorial is an annual tournament held on the Martiny Chain of lakes. Headquarters for it is located on Boom Lake at what used to be called Riley's Resort, a smallish campground located on these lakes. It is a two day event always held on the weekend after Labor Day. I'm not sure how many years this thing has been going on, but I can remember fishing in it during the early 1980's when Russ Riley ran it. I've fished it through resort owners into the late 90's.
The current owners are Tom and Sue Shooltz, and the place is called Shoolt's Landing. Back in the day, they used to draw 30+ boats, but I've heard that the number is up pushing 70 lately.
The Martiny Chain? Imagine 8-9 small natural lakes connected by navigable channels due to the construction of a lowhead dam. The vast majority of the shoreline is undeveloped, with huge fields of lily pads, duck weeds, and other emergents. In these fields, you'll find a few deeper holes that shallow draft boats can sometimes sneak into. The lakes themselves have plenty of flats with good to sometimes heavy submergent weed cover, sunken islands, and dropoffs into 25+ feet of water. The water just screams LM Bass!
If the lake has any problem, it is that the vast majority of the bass will always be 1/8" short of legal size. I've been fishing this lake since the 1960's and through three size limit changes (10", 12" & now 14") it is always the same. I attribute this to the large number of bluegill fishermen who target this lake who consider a bass to simply be a bonus to be kept.
The tournament though.... I can't think of a much nicer bunch of guys. While I didn't always enjoy the weather, the fishing, or the results, I always had fun. You'll meet a number of good fishermen and good sportsmen there, including many of the guys from Mid-States.
And yes, I've fished a few of the tournaments that Mid-States has held back in my cast-for-cash days.