Parched Piedmont Park forces changes to huge events, including Pride Weekend
Rain-starved Piedmont Park is off-limits this spring and summer for some of Atlanta's biggest annual events, the city announced Friday morning. Labels: gay news, local news, pride, weather
The Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Pride Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Peachtree Road Race will not be staged on the 185-acre Midtown park's grounds, the toll the grounds would take and the city's outdoor watering ban.
Said Greg Pridgeon, chief of staff for Mayor Shirley Franklin's office, "I know that it is uncomfortable for our festivals and the people who like to attend them, but we don't have another alternative other than to allow the parks to be damaged severely."
The announcement impacts festivals that draw as many as 300,000 visitors all the way down to gatherings of just 75 people.
The decision has left event organizers scrambling for alternatives and new dates:
Atlanta Pride executive director Donna Narducci said her organization hopes to move its three-day event to the Atlanta Civic Center. The date would be moved from June to July 4, Narducci said Friday.
Atlanta Track Club executive director Tracey Russell, organizer of the 38-year-old Peachtree Road Race, said the world's largest 10-kilometer road race will "look a little different" this year but "the race will still go on."
Brian Hill, executive director of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, said this is only the second time the event will take place away from Piedmont park since it started 72 years ago. That was when it was cancelled during World War II.
Hill said the city informed him Wednesday the event, set for April 4-6, would likely have to be moved out of the park. Festival organizers quickly submitted plans for a scaled-down version that would be held only on the park's hard scape mainly sidewalks and parking areas. The city denied the new plan and said the event would not be held in the park.
The festival will go on at another location. Hill said "a handful" of alternate sites were being considered, but would not name them.
The festival, one of Atlanta's oldest, attracts tens of thousands of people to the park each spring to take in hundreds of booths featuring art, food, music and of course dogwood trees.
"We think we can pull this off," Hill said shortly after Friday morning's announcement. "After all, they went around the world in 80 days and that's exactly how long we have."
Sarah Schmitz, a spokeswoman for Turner Classic Movies, sponsor of the popular film series, said in an e-mail that, "We are aware of the announcement and are evaluating options for SOTG (Screen on The Green)."
Organizers for the Jazz Festival, which is operated by the city, could not be reached immediately.
The city itself provided organizers of the four major events with a list of options, including the Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta Underground, HiFi Buys Amphitheatre and Turner Field, among others.
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