Freaknek.......what was it about?

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

I think with the logistics of Freaknik in its last few years, it was too much for almost any city. Cities generally welcome visitors, but not when they intentionally shut down the city by creating massive traffic tie ups with the rolling parties and parking anywhere and everywhere. I lived in Midtown for those last couple of out-of-control Freakniks...we went out of town for the weekend to avoid it. Restaurants, stores and bars in Midtown, Downtown and Buckhead closed for the weekend because employees and customers couldn't get to them.

The main problem was that 100,000 to 200,000 out-of-towners wanted to cruise around in their cars, but the rest of us lived here and our lives continued - Freaknik or no Freaknik - and we weren't on spring break. Atlanta hosts trade shows and conventions drawing 100,000+, but they don't stop the flow of traffic.

I never knew if this sort of event was 'tried' in other cities. A city just doesn't seem to be the right place for 'Spring Break'.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by TakeAhike

I never knew if this sort of event was 'tried' in other cities. A city just doesn't seem to be the right place for 'Spring Break'.

Definitely not the right place for the type of spring break where the students end up crippling the city for a weekend. I guess a resort city like Daytona or Ft. Lauderdale is more conducive to wild drunken college students cruising around in their cars.

[tbtb45]

What part of South GA are you referring to?

Originally Posted by gaflsc

Freaknek is held in South GA.

[1st_time_Relocator]

I am in my 40s, but in the early to mid 90'sI remember people varying in age ranges of 18-30 BACK THEN coming to Freaknik. I attended in 1993 and almost got into a fight because I was touched inappropriately by several guys...I didn't go back... And in 95 I saw video of people openly having sex, and girls in fishnet dresses with no undergarments shaking it for cash. It was debauchery at its finest, taken by guys who attended and were in their late 20's. So even though it was considered a Spring Break event, many black people I knew (I am from Louisville, KY and Atlanta is a only about 5 1/2 hours away) came for the party, sex, and drugs... and they weren't in college. A simliar thing occurred in Louisville during the Kentucky Derby, folks began to cruise and cause gridlock in the predominantly black neighborhoods, and it was event touted by visitors as the replacement for Freaknik, because I saw naked girls riding on the back of motorcycles, car shows, garbage, drugs, and lewd behavior. They closed it down because of a murder, because the city was generating a lot of revenue from those visitors, but after the murder they shut all of it down. Bottom line is folks were just looking for a party, a place to get buck wild. Not making excuses or saying its right, but thats what its really all about. You find what you are looking for.

[GatorsZ71]

Originally Posted by That_guy

Um, are you serious?

After several years of rapes, fights, killings, stabbings, robberies, and countless drug busts I guess the city had finally had enough of it.

Because it was a black event....Give me a friggin break

It was a black event, and the Buckhead party scene got shut down the same way Freaknik did, cause it was a major troubled crowd, I remember because I had a friend who was a manager at a highend store at Lenox, and they would literally close early to avoid thefts, fights, women getting acosted, and so on.. Freaknik was about nothing but trouble, and I am glad it is long gone! Sad though to see the Buckhead party scene torn down, cause it was all a good time and fun until the wrong element decided to crash the party. Bummer man!

[grindin]

By the time I was old enough to go to college, Freaknik was long gone. It was definitely an event that got totally out of hand. Didn't the original founders eventually denounce what it became?

I remember when they had "Black Spring Break" in Biloxi, of all places. Most of the kids were too young to go to the casinos, and anyone with sense does NOT swim in the Mississippi Sound, so basically, you had lots of people wandering around, cruising, extensive traffic. The city wasn't prepared for the event at all. So of course, the next year, they compensated by overpreparing by arresting or towing anyone who got out of line. I hated the event anyhow, so I wasn't exactly sad to see it go.

For a Spring Break, give me Cancun or a service project any day...

[Dytdude]

Originally Posted by coolyfett

I was too young to know about it anyway, Im not from Georgia, by the time they killed it I was in the 10th grade trying to get my drivers license.

Dude get out of here....LOL ur a troll (or non-black)...I cant believe you have never "heard" of Freaknik...I was younger than you and In Ohio and heard of it...

[MissingATLinFL]

I lived downtown durning the wilder days of Atlanta. Girls Gone Wild and Mardi Gras is pretty much what it was, but fun times and great memories. I think it started around 82ish and ends around 1999ish.