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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10 Things I Learned in NYC this Pride 2007
1. Even if I wait a day or so, I can't even possibly out-cum pixiesticks.org fanboy Paul. Christ, you know you could put an eye out with that stuff? Do animators from Japan come stay with you to get ideas on how to make their scenes so squishy? Labels: boys, clubbing, epic, Heretic, new york city, personal, pride
2. Churches are killing Gay Pride Parades. I think it's really awesome that you churches are open and accepting. But when there are that many of you, a part of me thinks you're seripticiously just trying to sneak in and destroy us from the inside. So be open and accepting like what Jesus would do, but stop marching in the parade. You're making the drag queens nervous and taking away the attention from the important issues that are covered during the parade like HIV, Transgender equality, YouthPride, and so many more...
3. The Stanton Island Ferry is free and the best touristy thing you can possibly do. You'll get a great sweeping view of the city, the Statue of Liberty, and all that. Plus you'll wanna do it again right away, since there isn't much to enjoy on the island. Oppositely, Times Square sucks cocks.
4. The Web, a gay Asian nightclub, is simply heaven on earth for someone like me. I got there around 9 to make sure to capture at least two of the "two for one happy hour" drink specials. And it just slowly but surely started filling up more and more and more with happy go lucky Asian boys. So fucking hot. So mercilessly fucking hot. In fact, to return after having a smoke break took twenty minutes due to the completely packing in of hot Asian boys. And they were so friendly. Not stuck up or anything. Maybe it's because I was in a major major minority. I'd say only 3% or so of the crowd were white.
5. The art of bartering is still alive and well. I was wearing my 300 The Movie shirt to The Web, and one of the boys asked about it. I ended up trading it to him for some seriously delightful making out. Fortunately, he gave me his white tank top so I didn't have to go home topless.
6. Take advantage of Go-Go Boys. I know this may seem like a DUH type situation, but I don't really associate with Go-Go Boys on a regular basis. Heretic had some for a while, but RJ (another hot Asian boy) has moved on to other things and so the whole project dissolved. Back in The Web, I met up with one who had blond streaked hair, loved to braid mine, and he had such a young look and braces. I couldn't believe he was even 18, he was so bishounen. So I definately tipped him quite a bit, but unlike Paul over at Porkys "Hot Mess" later in the week, I really didn't sexually capitalize on the fact I was forking over money to a sweet thing who was working it for the money.
7. Drunk and blind (due to your glasses being in your pocket) is no way to leave a club at 4am. Especially if you miss your subway transfers and end up lost. Wandering the streets of Manhattan as the sun is starting to come up. It's just not pretty.
8. Hail cab. Get inside. THEN tell them where you're going. That way when you're drunk and blind (due to your glasses being in your pocket) he'll be forced to actually take you to your destination instead of just muttering sorry and driving off.
9. Chinatown is fucking awesome. While there was the obligatory Pocky purchases, there isn't that much fake-like about this little piece of Manhattan. I thought it'd be trying to cater to the tourists just like so much of the city, but no no, it was authentic for the most part. It's also where I'd like to live if I ever moved to NYC.
10. However, since I was just visiting, after several days, it was definately time to come home. I love New York City. I could become a New York City boy, even with my wide-eyed youthful additude -- they couldn't make a cynic out of me!! -- but going away from Atlanta for a while always makes me return with a big smile. Because Atlanta is my home and I love it first.
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Almost out the door.
I have one more day of work before I head up to New York City early Wednesday morning. I know you'll all miss me. Right? Well, anyway... Labels: new york city, personal, pixiesticks, pride, yaoi
I won't be able to rid the shout-box of the bots, so either the two mods Dennis and Neil will have to zap them, or you'll just have to deal.
I also won't be able to approve any of the post comments that you make while I'm gone. (Not that we get that many of those.)
And email will go unanswered for the time I'm gone as well.
But hey, there are archives and archives of posts in both the blog and yaoi section that I'm sure you haven't read or fapped to, so you really should have plenty to do while I'm having a good time.
And, now that I think about it, why aren't you going to have a good time yourself? It may not be officially pride weekend where you live, but that's not really a good excuse. Have your own private pride weekend!
See you tomorrow with one last blast of yaoi before I pack and go.
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Pixie's going to New York City
I just booked a flight for a June 20th - June 25th visit with long time pixiesticks.org fan Paul up in New York City! This is pride weekend, so that should be alot of fun. The last time I was in NYC was back in 1999. I'm really looking forward to this vacation/adventure!! Labels: new york city, personal, pride
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