Each April in Atlanta, 100s of 1000s of families look forward to getting out and enjoying the warm southern spring, the blooming flowers, and Piedmont Park at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. This festival has been ‘in business’ for 72 years – it’s a staple in our city calendar. It’s a wonderful festival . . . one that boosts the city moral and makes you feel great about living in Atlanta.
What a bummer that this year they did not host the festival at our beautiful downtown Piedmont Park . . . but instead in a mall parking lot.
You know what else takes place in mall parking lots? Carnie festivals . . . traveling Midways that attract only the upper echelon of our community (I hope you’re picking up on my sarcasm). Poor Dogwood . . . so many people loved that festival and looked forward to it all winter. But, in a mall parking lot, it just wasn’t the same.
I had to blog about this because it was such a disappointment for Jim and I. We went with the best of intentions . . . hoping to enjoy the festival once again, even at it’s new (and HOPEFULLY temporary) location.
Let me give you some history . . .
When Jim was in college, his fraternity at Georgia Tech was incredibly active in the running of the Dogwood Festival. The guys would donate their entire WEEK to the set up, maintenance, and take-down of any and every aspect of the festival. It was their ‘philanthropy’ for the spring . . . the festival is a totally FREE, not-for-profit event that fits with the fraternities goals for volunteer projects. And there were perks . . . free food, free beer, and a lot of fun at each and every festival for all the Beta guys.
Jim, the overachiever that he is, was the head of his fraternity volunteer clan when he was in college. His success in this role prompted the Directors of the festival to offer him a seat on the Board after graduation. Jim was young – much younger than the other Board members – but intelligent, helpful, and quite a resource for their cause. And he loved it. Jim really and truly enjoyed volunteering and working for the festival.
Of course, this roped me into the festival . . . being the doe-eyed, I’d-love-to-volenteer-for-YOU girlfriend that I was back when we started dating. Jim and I became so close with the festival coordinators and volunteers . . . we are still great friends with the former Event Coordinator and her husband. It was great . . . everyone knew us, and we knew everyone. Dogwood was a really fun event for us every April.
As life got busier and we started doing more things . . . like having kids . . . Jim’s commitment to Dogwood took a bit of a backseat. And there was a lot of ‘politicking’ going on amongst the Board of Directors, eventually resulting in the departure of our dear friend, the Event Coordinator. When all of this happened, Jim (with a little nudge from me, I’ll admit) decided to let his term on the Board expire and not run for office again. He was going to say good-bye to his active involvement in the Dogwood Festival.
So, this year was the very first year that Jim did not spend 4 or 5 days working at the Festival. He wasn’t involved at all, which I know was hard for him.
It was also the first year (maybe in event history – not 100% sure) that the Festival was moved from its home sweet home in Piedmont Park. The Piedmont Park Conservancy . . . which has ALWAYS had issues with Dogwood because it is a large event that damages the park . . . was able to convince the city of Atlanta to deny the Atlanta Dogwood Festival the permit they needed to hold their event in a city park. The drought was the reason sited . . . with no extra water available in our area to repair the park following this event, it was just not feasible to host the huge Dogwood Festival at Piedmont. (Other LARGE landmark Piedmont Park events for 2008 have been moved – including Gay Pride and the annual Peachtree Road Race).
I think Jim is relieved that he does not have to shoulder any of the stress or burden of this year’s Dogwood Festival. We went today – to the new location in the Lenox Mall parking lot – and it was really a flop. The PARK is such a part of the festival . . . you roam, people watch, listen to live music on several stages, watch the Purina Frisbee-Dog Competition (dogs catching Frisbees – a very fun site!), each ‘fair food’ and ENJOY being outside. At the event today, there was no place to sit and eat – no green grass to spread out on, no trees to lean against. There was one stage with really lame music (seriously people, grown men and women dressed as pirates and playing renaissance festival tunes). No dogs at all . . . the Frisbee championship was moved to an entirely different event on a different weekend at a totally different location.
When we got in the car, I think the exact words my husband said were, “Well, that was lame.”
Oh, what a bummer. I just hope that the city of Atlanta realizes what a big deal the Festival is to the members of the Atlanta community. I hope it moves back to Piedmont Park next year. Above all, I just hope that this year does not damage the Festival in such a way that it goes ‘belly up’ and does not return for a 73rd year. That would be a real, true shame. A serious loss to Atlanta.
The one good thing I managed to get out of our barely-two-hour experience was some fun photos of . . . you guessed it . . . Meg. :)
What a bummer that this year they did not host the festival at our beautiful downtown Piedmont Park . . . but instead in a mall parking lot.
You know what else takes place in mall parking lots? Carnie festivals . . . traveling Midways that attract only the upper echelon of our community (I hope you’re picking up on my sarcasm). Poor Dogwood . . . so many people loved that festival and looked forward to it all winter. But, in a mall parking lot, it just wasn’t the same.
I had to blog about this because it was such a disappointment for Jim and I. We went with the best of intentions . . . hoping to enjoy the festival once again, even at it’s new (and HOPEFULLY temporary) location.
Let me give you some history . . .
When Jim was in college, his fraternity at Georgia Tech was incredibly active in the running of the Dogwood Festival. The guys would donate their entire WEEK to the set up, maintenance, and take-down of any and every aspect of the festival. It was their ‘philanthropy’ for the spring . . . the festival is a totally FREE, not-for-profit event that fits with the fraternities goals for volunteer projects. And there were perks . . . free food, free beer, and a lot of fun at each and every festival for all the Beta guys.
Jim, the overachiever that he is, was the head of his fraternity volunteer clan when he was in college. His success in this role prompted the Directors of the festival to offer him a seat on the Board after graduation. Jim was young – much younger than the other Board members – but intelligent, helpful, and quite a resource for their cause. And he loved it. Jim really and truly enjoyed volunteering and working for the festival.
Of course, this roped me into the festival . . . being the doe-eyed, I’d-love-to-volenteer-for-YOU girlfriend that I was back when we started dating. Jim and I became so close with the festival coordinators and volunteers . . . we are still great friends with the former Event Coordinator and her husband. It was great . . . everyone knew us, and we knew everyone. Dogwood was a really fun event for us every April.
As life got busier and we started doing more things . . . like having kids . . . Jim’s commitment to Dogwood took a bit of a backseat. And there was a lot of ‘politicking’ going on amongst the Board of Directors, eventually resulting in the departure of our dear friend, the Event Coordinator. When all of this happened, Jim (with a little nudge from me, I’ll admit) decided to let his term on the Board expire and not run for office again. He was going to say good-bye to his active involvement in the Dogwood Festival.
So, this year was the very first year that Jim did not spend 4 or 5 days working at the Festival. He wasn’t involved at all, which I know was hard for him.
It was also the first year (maybe in event history – not 100% sure) that the Festival was moved from its home sweet home in Piedmont Park. The Piedmont Park Conservancy . . . which has ALWAYS had issues with Dogwood because it is a large event that damages the park . . . was able to convince the city of Atlanta to deny the Atlanta Dogwood Festival the permit they needed to hold their event in a city park. The drought was the reason sited . . . with no extra water available in our area to repair the park following this event, it was just not feasible to host the huge Dogwood Festival at Piedmont. (Other LARGE landmark Piedmont Park events for 2008 have been moved – including Gay Pride and the annual Peachtree Road Race).
I think Jim is relieved that he does not have to shoulder any of the stress or burden of this year’s Dogwood Festival. We went today – to the new location in the Lenox Mall parking lot – and it was really a flop. The PARK is such a part of the festival . . . you roam, people watch, listen to live music on several stages, watch the Purina Frisbee-Dog Competition (dogs catching Frisbees – a very fun site!), each ‘fair food’ and ENJOY being outside. At the event today, there was no place to sit and eat – no green grass to spread out on, no trees to lean against. There was one stage with really lame music (seriously people, grown men and women dressed as pirates and playing renaissance festival tunes). No dogs at all . . . the Frisbee championship was moved to an entirely different event on a different weekend at a totally different location.
When we got in the car, I think the exact words my husband said were, “Well, that was lame.”
Oh, what a bummer. I just hope that the city of Atlanta realizes what a big deal the Festival is to the members of the Atlanta community. I hope it moves back to Piedmont Park next year. Above all, I just hope that this year does not damage the Festival in such a way that it goes ‘belly up’ and does not return for a 73rd year. That would be a real, true shame. A serious loss to Atlanta.
The one good thing I managed to get out of our barely-two-hour experience was some fun photos of . . . you guessed it . . . Meg. :)
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