It appears that the drought we experienced this year in Georgia, continually has more and more interesting ways of affecting us; apparently, the city of Atlanta has said NO to having festivals in Piedmont Park this year. This means that there will be no Dogwood Festival, no Peachtree Road race, and no Pride festival, in Piedmont Park in 2008. Also, unless they can find somewhere else to hold these events, they won’t be happening this year at all.
While I understand that the city is concerned about how the park looks, and the aesthetic of having grass and vegetation, I have to wonder, is it worth losing the revenue that each of those festivals bring to the area? I mean, Pride and the Dogwood Festival alone have to be huge money makers for the city, because they literally attract hundreds of thousands of people each. Additionally, the businesses around the park benefit from those festivals; I know that Grady High school gets a major boost of funds by being able to charge for parking, which goes directly to student programs.
Additionally, I wonder about the potential impact of losing the “biggest Pride festival in the south”? How will this impact the gay population in Atlanta, and how will it impact the gay presence in midtown? If Pride is canceled this year, who’s to say they won’t cancel it in the future? It also makes you wonder, if they were looking for a viable excuse to get rid of the festival in the first place, and the drought made for the perfect scapegoat? It just seems a little extreme to cancel all of those festivals over the worry for preserving grass.
How do you feel about the cancellation of these events? I know that I personally am sad to know that something that is as huge as Pride may not happen this year; all because of “new” city ordinances on grass. I know that I, for one, am curious to see how the Atlanta Pride committee will try and make up for this blow to the fate of the festival; I just can’t imagine not having Pride in Atlanta.
Again, it just seems kind of extreme to cancel these festivals because of worry over the growth of grass. After all, what is the point of having a park in the middle of the city if you can’t use it? I for one hope that they can come to some sort of consensus between the city and the festival organizers, because it will be a really dull if Pride doesn’t happen this year. Pride is definitely something I look forward to, and definitely something that I would miss if it doesn’t happen; and even if it happens somewhere else, what will it be like? One thing is for sure, the fate of the festival rests with this decision, and I for one hope that something can be done to save each of these Atlanta institutions.
The cancellations suck, but what else can be done? Fast-forward to the summer, assuming that we keep the same low-rain conditions we have now and that the watering bans remain. Piedmont is not going to be just brown, but brittle and more than a little dusty. The grass will still be there, but dormant and waiting.
Pile several thousand feet across that park and you’re going to lose whatever dormant grass you have. After a weekend of activity, the Park will be dirt, dirt and nothing but dirt, possibly beyond recovery.
Watering the grass doesn’t just keep it green. It keeps it resilient and tolerant of use. Until Piedmont Park can be maintained like it ought to be, it won’t be able to handle any major events at all.
(Is the drought a scapegoat to get rid of Pride? I doubt it. Surely even the most Bible-bound pillars of Atlanta government recognize the epic buying power of thousands of Pride-goers.)
Reaching a bit? There are at least 4 more venues they’re considering for ALL those festivals – even the non-gay ones. No conspiracies, yet
For what it’s worth, there have been a lot of ordinances passed over the past few years to protect the turf at Piedmont long before the drought happened. After the last multimillion dollar renovation of the park, they banned festivals from placing booths/walkways on the grass, which is why all of the Pride booths were spread out over the paths this year. They banned any structures (tents/etc) with stakes.
They also strongly discouraged the stages on the turf, which is why the WaMu stage was on concrete this year and not on the fields.
Piedmont is one of the last few greenspaces in Atlanta. If they don’t protect the grass, it will turn into a solid hardpacked dirt field. If the grass goes, the topsoil goes. If that happens, it will cost tens of millions of dollars to resod the park, and will result in the entire park being closed for those renovations.
A few years ago, everyone *swore* they were closing sections of the park “to be mean to the gays”. No, they were just resodding it. That cost the city around $20M, and I’m sure they don’t want to spend it again.
Anyway, the Pride Festival has openly said they support the city closing the parks.
The only thing different will be the festival will be at the Civic Center (either July 4th weekend or August 1st weekend) and the Parade will be different — starting at Atlantic Station or the Park and ending at the Civic Center.
This isn’t some huge conspiracy.
One last thing — the reason Pride is earlier this year (the second to last weekend instead of the last) is because of the park. The city was very concerned because of the turf damage that happened after Screen on the Green and Pride last year, and moved the festival up a week because they wanted the park to recover for one more week before the Peachtree Road Race.
The Pride Committee has been working on moving the festival since late November; the city approached them way back then to tell them this was a possibility.
Coca-Cola, Delta, and other Georgia companies pour far too much money into the festival to let it “not happen”, and with the tremendous amount of money coming from political parties and candidates (for parade floats, etc), you can be guaranteed the festival will happen, no matter what, no matter where.
Thomas and Lori, don’t worry, I wasn’t insinuating that it was BECAUSE of wanting to cancel Pride, I was just wondering out loud. If they really wanted to stop it, they just would. Thankfully, I’m not that much of a conspiracy theorist!
JC, I totally see what you mean; I was just wondering out loud. I do see the point of protecting the grass, but when they don’t fully explain things that they do (like they did in this case), it leads people to wonder, which is what I was doing. I seriously doubt that there would be any conspiracy to end Pride, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t cross my mind when there seem to be potential problems with having it, you know? I have read that it may be at the Civic Center instead, and I know that I would go even if it were there instead. It will just be interesting to see how the festival will evolve, now that Piedmont Park is out of the picture.
I think moving it to the Civic Center will be a good thing. It’s time for a change. The festival has been at the park for thirty-something years, and it has become stagnant according to most people.
They’re planning on using both indoor and outdoor space at the Civic Center, which means air conditioning and public restrooms with running water for the first time (which I think most people won’t mind too much).
It will be a huge change, but I think it will be a positive one, that will help redefine Pride from a “let’s go take our shirts off and sun in the park and show off” to a different kind of event, with broader and stronger social implications.
JC, you are beginning to convince me! AC at Pride?? YES! It is ALWAYS too hot!!
I wonder how the “God Hates Fags” people feel about this. Pride is their biggest day of the year. If Pride got canceled, I guess they could just go back to hating Jews for a year, and with any luck they can hate fags again in 2009.
(…or canvassing for Huckabee).
I don’t believe it’s going to happen. The rain is going to pour down all spring and summer, the park will be green and lush and Pride will have the biggest turnout in history.
By the time all of that rain happens they will have already committed to another locale.