Things to do this weekend (List for Apr. 16/17) (Atlanta, Smyrna: homes, purchase)

[atlantagreg30127]

Plessthan had already mentioned the Sweetwater 420 Festival at Candler Park in a previous post, but there are other things going on this weekend as well for those looking for stuff to do:

Atlanta Dogwood Festival: Probably the most popular. This is my 2nd favorite festival just under the Inman Park Festival. Good diverse selection of artists and good for people watching. Parking is a pain, though, as local residents pretty much stand on their front porches with mental shotguns aimed at you if you get within 150 feet of their homes. Think MARTA on this one.

Dahlonega's Bear on the Square festival is a nice one, too. Used to be a bit on the HeeHawish side years ago but in recent years they've diversified the artists and various tourists are starting to discover it, too. Worth the drive to North Georgia.

The Georgia Renaissance Festival opens this weekend for several weeks, south of the City. Sorta hokey-corny but if you're in the right mood can be fun.

Alpharetta has it's artist's street fest this weekend, as well, as does Jasper with it's, Jasper art fest.

The Feria Latina Festival (Sunday) at Atlantic Station is a newer one and I haven't hear much about it one way or the other. It's billed as a family-friendly Latin style festival.

The only event that I personally usually do NOT recommend but is advertised is the "Taste of West Cobb" event at the Avenue of West Cobb shopping center in West Cobb. It's not like a lot of other much larger "taste of" events that go on in the metro area this time of year, and instead is put on by a local school's band department. A small handful of vendors set up tents in the shopping center's parking lot, and traffic there is a nightmare and parking very unorganized as center rent-a-cops battle attendees with the regular shoppers as to where you can or can't park, etc. The even organizers in the past also required people to purchase "blocks" of $20 sets of tickets in order to get food samples. No less. Their web site says "ticket info coming soon" - two days before it starts this year. Again, it's just my personal opinion, but I pass on this one.

There are lots of other smaller festivals here and there, but these are my "picks" (and one not). You can check out the Georgia DOT page for a list of road construction areas as this can sometimes make or break a part of town you want to get into.

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We usually battle iffy weather this time of year as April is one of our more unpredictable months. You'll go to a festival and it's usually either 95 degrees already, or there are tornado warnings and rain/wind. It's not every year you get GOOD weather on this weekend where so many events are scheduled at the same time!

This weekend is supposed to be nicer temps, and after some possible showers EARLY on Saturday, the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday will be exceptionally nice. So get out and party at a festival.

[atlantagreg30127]

ADDED:

Someone DMed me about the Inman Park festival thinking it was this weekend. Remember, it's NOT this upcoming weekend. It's the last weekend in April - May 1. And I personally vote this as the # 1 arts festival in terms of diverse offerings in the metro area. imo.

Link: Inman Park Festival | Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes – April 30 – May 1, 2011

For those who can't make the trek intown, Smyrna's Spring Jonquil Festival is that same weekend.


I have also received an inquiry about Stone Mountain's "Yellow Daisy Festival". This is not a Spring festival - it's a Fall fest in September. LINK. . My rating of this one is mixed. On the good side there's a lot of artists (usually around 400 or so) so it's large. On the bad side, it's extremely "baby stroller oriented" and crowded, so my ankles usually get creamed by having strollers rammed into them multiple times. Not for the crowd-leery.


Also Added:

Downtown Kennesaw's Big Shanty Festival this weekend (16th/17th). Around 200 artists.

[ATLHRLGUY]

Dogwood was fun, traffic sucked as usual-what was going on at Grady high school next door yesterday afternoon, football scrimmage?

AnsleyPark, sorry I parked in your yard. j/k

Was thinking about checking out the Feria Latina Festival, but at the last minute didn't, anyone go?

[atlantagreg30127]

I decided not to risk the Dogwood festival due to all of the road construction projects going on. I didn't want to risk getting stuck and having to make it an all day event as I had things to do later.

As a substitute I went to the Kennesaw arts festival. Actually was halfway decent. The variety of artists and artwork isn't as good as the intown festivals, but it wasn't filled with those "down home country" wood things with hearts cut out in them an pink ribbons as in years past, either. LOL. LOTS of folks bringing their dogs to this one.

And remember folks, the last weekend in April is the Inman Park festival, too.