Festivals in Atlanta
Atlanta's mild climate and plentiful trees allow for festivals and events to take place in the city year-round. One of the city's most popular events is the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, an arts and crafts festival held in Piedmont Park each spring, when the native dogwoods are in bloom. Atlanta Streets Alive, inspired by the ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, closes city streets to car traffic to allow people to participate in health and community-oriented, such as bicycling, strolling, skating, people-watching, tango, yoga, hula hooping, and break dancing.
Neighborhood
Inman Park Festival, held in the spring in one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods, offers an artist market, live entertainment, and a wide variety of food vendors. Kirkwood Spring Fling is held in eastside neighborhood of Kirkwood each May. The festival is centered around Bessie Branham Park and features a 5K run in the morning, artist market, live music, Tour of Homes, and a variety of local food trucks and restaurants. Little Five Points Halloween Festival, winner of the 2003 Best Festival award by the International Festival and Events Association, takes place the weekend before Halloween in Atlanta's bohemian district, involving a parade and costume contest. The Virginia Highland neighborhood holds both an annual Virginia-Highland Summerfest festival, focusing on art but also featuring the dave fm music stage; as well as the Virginia-Highland Tour of Homes each December.
Ethnic
Atlanta's large Hispanic community is represented in Festival Peachtree Latino, the largest multicultural festival in the Southeast, which is held annually at Piedmont Park. Other ethnic celebrations include the National Black Arts Festival, the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival, St. Patrick's Day parade, the Atlanta Greek Festival, the Atlanta Turkish Festival, Festival of India, JapanFest, and Korean Festival.[1]
LGBT
Atlanta is home to one of the nation's largest gay pride festivals, Atlanta Pride, as well as what is billed as the world's largest black gay pride celebration, Atlanta Black Pride.
Film
Atlanta is the host of the Atlanta Film Festival, an Academy Award qualifying, international film festival held every April and showcasing a diverse range of independent films, including genre films such as horror and sci-fi. Other film festivals include the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, the Atlanta Asian Film Festival, the Out on Film gay film festival, Independent Film Month, Atlanta Film Festival 365, Atlanta Underground Film Festival, Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, and the Buried Alive horror film fest.
Music
Atlanta's main music festival is Music Midtown, which was revived in 2011 after a six-year hiatus. The festival, which is held in Piedmont Park, hosts major bands like Coldplay and The Black Keys. Peachtree Music Festival is a one-day, two-stage outdoor music festival held at the corner of 8th Street and Spring Street in the city's Midtown district. The festival blends indie rock bands with electronica DJs.[2] Atlanta also hosts several annual events that include live music, including the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Montreux Festival, and On the Bricks. Corndogorama is a yearly music festival, founded in 1996 by Dave Railey, which features performances from local bands including Indie rock, Hip hop, Metal, and Electronic groups.[3]
Conventions
Dragon Con is a yearly multigenre convention with an associated parade. Dragon Con's 2014 attendance was 63,000. [4]
Races
Atlanta hosts dozens of yearly races including the Peachtree Road Race.
List of festivals and events
References
- ↑ http://www.atlanta.net/pressroom/pressReleases/Atlanta%20Festivals.pdf
- ↑ http://www.peachtreemusicfest.com/index.php
- ↑ AccessAtlanta article from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- ↑ "Dragon Con 2014 draws record attendance". Exhibit City News.
- ↑ JapanFest Atlanta
- ↑ L5P Halloween Festival
- ↑ http://www.outlantacon.org
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