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It’s Official: Atlanta Pride Moves South

Southern Voice reports that Atlanta Pride has a final decision on the location of the 2008 LGBT festival. Although Executive Director Donna Narducci indicated the new location will cost the Pride Committee significantly more, the Civic Center location is only a few blocks south from Atlanta Pride’s traditional home in Piedmont Park. The serious drought in Georgia prompted the City of Atlanta to kick all major festivals out of the park out of concern for the health of the grass and trees.

The dates of the festival have also moved out. No longer on the traditional Stonewall weekend at the the end of June, this year’s Pride will be held on an all-American holiday: the 4th of July.  Thinking through the pro’s and con’s of the changes to Atlanta Pride, a few issues come to mind.

Pros:  The parade route will essentially be reversed, rather than rebuilt. This will minimize confusion for participants and watchers. The July 4 weekend dates will maintain some symbolic significance, although more mainstream than the traditional Stonewall Riot anniversary. The Civic Center will provide the Pride Committee with both indoor and outdoor festivities, eliminating the threat of a total washout from violent Atlanta summer storms. And the Civic Center keeps the festival close to Atlanta’s largest gay neighborhood, Midtown, while actually improving the accessibility via public transportation.

Cons: Outdoor activities will presumably be held in a parking lot. If you’ve never experienced being baked alive on concrete, this gives you a chance to raise your body temperature in the height of an Atlanta summer. On the bright side, you’ll be able to cook your own meal on the pavement right where you stand. Parking around the Civic Center is significantly more limited than the minimal parking around Piedmont Park. With the festival itself taking up parking spaces, driving to Pride will be significantly more difficult. The Independence Day date will cause Pride to compete with the Peachtree Road Race, fireworks displays and other July4 festivities for access to hotels, restaurants and event facilities. Ultimately, the biggest risk in this move of dates and location will likely be the confusion it will create for festival goers. Many of my fellow Atlanta queers have expressed concern that Pride may be a bust this year.

All the changes interject a lot of unknowns into one of the nation’s largest Gay Pride events. We’ll watch and wait to see how the Atlanta Pride Committee steps up to the plate to minimize the negatives and promote the positives.

Atlanta Pride Pushed out of Piedmont Park

It won’t be raining men, or women, in Piedmont Park this June. Southern Voice reports that Atlanta Pride will not be held at the Midtown Atlanta greenspace that has been the festival’s home for three decades. What’s more, a new Atlanta Pride location has not been selected, nor is a date yet known.  Pride is being pushed out of the  because of concern for the condition of the 100+ acre park after 2007’s severe drought.

Pride Executive Director Donna Narducci told Southern Voice that no major events will be held in Piedmont in 2008 due to damage already inflicted by the drought.  It will be interesting to see if the City of Atlanta does indeed bar all events from the park, including the world-famous Peachtree Road Race, which brings thousands of runners pounding through the park every July 4, just days after the traditional Pride weekend.

A date for Atlanta Pride 2008 will not be set until a new venue is chosen.  Narducci indicated that the Atlanta Civic Center is one possibility.  If the Civic Center is chosen, the parade route to end where it traditionally starts. The festival itself would then be held inside and around the Civic Center.  The Pride Committee is also reportedly reviewing Atlantic Station as another possibility.

It’s somewhat ironic that Atlanta Pride, which regularly is deluged with heavy rain, will be moved because of a lack of water.  It would seem that scheduling pride is as good as a rain dance (or Gov. Perdue’s prayers) at inducing downpours.   Of course, a single rain event, or even continuous drought-busting showers, would not likely revive the park in time.

Atlanta Pride has always been a sprawling, outdoor test of individual heat tolerance.  It would seem somewhat odd to have it become an indoor “trade show.”  Not undoable, but decidedly different.  On the other hand, perhaps there are other, less abused park spaces that could accomodate the festival.  Freedom Park, which separates toney Virginia-Highlands from punky Little Five Points, comes to mind.  It is aptly named, with the Carter Presidential Library at its heart.  There are parking lots, street parking and reasonably easy access from MARTA.  Or Grant Park, which hosts the annual Pride Run, offers pavilions and multiple spaces for stages and exhibits.  There are three parking lots (if you count the zoo lots), as well as street parking.

Whatever the Pride Committee choice, Atlanta’s annual LGBT festival will certainly feel different this year.  It is hard to believe it is leaving it’s heart:  the heart of Midtown Atlanta.