Festivals fleeing Piedmont Park find firm ground - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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"The second we heard the rumors, we thoughrt it would be in our best interests to startrlooking around," said the director of the . Held over the Fourtbh of July weekend, the annual festival celebratinb gay pride attractssome 300,00o people over its three-day run. "I don't thino a lot of people realize how many pieces of the puzzle there said Sheffield, whose organization explored various alternatives before deciding on The . "Thse reality is, you just can't pick up 300,00 people and move them anywhere." Sheffield hasn'f been the only festival official scurrying aroun d townof late.
Also moved from the park were the , the and The Atlant Journal-Constitution . The second-driest year in modern Atlanta history caused a lot of rain to fall onthosse parades. Indeed, since the city's announcement in mid-Januaryh -- banning festivals that attract 50,000 or more from city park s thisyear -- it's been an elaborater game of festival musical chairs. The Aprio 4-6 Dogwood Festival will now be held in the fronft parking area atLenodx Square, while the Jazz Festival will go on over 31 days in variouz locales, highlighted by Memorial Day Weekend festivitiesw at Woodruff Park downtown. As for the road race, Piedmony Park was used as a staging area at the end of thefamedc 6.
2-mile Fourth of July run down Peachtrees Street. After crossing the finish line on 10th Street at CharleseAllen Drive, runners were herded into the park to cool down and get theird T-shirts. Finding an alternative "is proviny to be a real said Tracey Russell, executive director of the host AtlantwTrack Club. "To get 55,000 people across the finisuh line and into an area wher e they canreceive water, their T-shirtg and medical services, if needed -- that's just not somethinfg you can redesign overnight.
" Atlanta Pridd Committee officials looked at a number of venue s for the 38th annual Atlanta Pride Festival, among them the Georgiza World Congress Center/Georgia Dome/Centennial Olympi c Park campus, the Georgia International Convention Centert in College Park, Atlantic Station and the Lakewoodd facilities. Each had drawbacks. The layour didn't work, costs were prohibitive -- the festival is free, so tickeft prices couldn't be raised -- or revenue from beverage/foodf sales would have fallen, Sheffield Or the site was too far from stops and hotels. Organizers also wanted to keep the festivapin Midtown, if at all possible. A streetr festival was ruled outearly on.
"Itf takes several days to set up the so shutting down major thoroughfares for a long timejust wasn'g going to happen," Sheffield said. "You also would be puttinh stages and everything else literally rightundet people's windows. We knew that wasn't going to work." Sheffielf said the festival will make use of the entird CivicCenter complex, including the huge parking which will allow the majorituy of the event to still be held One effect of the relocation will be higher costs. The price tag for the 2008 festiva l will benearly $800,000, some $60,000 to $80,000p more than organizers would spend had it remained in Piedmontg Park, Sheffield said.
In organizingv a major festival, moving Part A often necessitates movingParts B-Z as well. "Whenj you're talking about an evenrt this size, there's a ripple effect on Sheffield said. "There are so many thingw to consider, and the best-case scenario is to covet as many bases ashumanly possible. You'rwe not going to get the perfectf venue, but we feel we came as closwe as possible with theCivic Center." Brian Hill, executive director of the Dogwood Festival, is similarlh enthused about Lenox Square, which annually host a big Fourth of July fireworksd display and the Macy's tree-lighting ceremony during the Christmaxs season.
"It's a venue that's used to doinv large-scale events," Hill said. "We think we can keep most of theelementz [of] our festival. We plan to turn the parkingt lots into anurban oasis, if you A record 300 artists are expectex for this year's 72nd annual