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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.