Best Festivals
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Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
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Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2012 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
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Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
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Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
The Inman Park Festival parade is best-known as home turf for the incredibly entertaining Kelly’s Seed and Feed Marching Abominable Band. The quirky Pride Parade in Midtown is Atlanta’s most honest celebration of freedom. We love them both. But Atlanta’s most original, entertaining and downright bizarre street march is the LITTLE FIVE POINTS HALLOWEEN PARADE. Where else does a 7-foot-penis swagger by a wholesome family in broad daylight, or a snarling, bare-chested madman gnaw on his bone and lunge at the crowd only to have his collar jerked by his masterful mistress?
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Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Whether seen as a defiant indulgence, kitschy novelty or unexpected projectile, it’s hard to deny the mysterious allure of the corn dog. No wonder David Railey has spent so much energy nurturing Atlanta’s CORNDOGORAMA. The indie-fried omnifest rocked through its 11th year in July, despite a somewhat sour relocation from the Earl to Lenny’s, and seems poised to keep growing in its new home. The 2007 edition was headlined by Atlanta metal rockers Mastodon, and featured local up-and-comers the Coathangers, the Selmanaires and Snowden. As with any festival that really cares about its congregation, there are gimmicks and games aplenty, including motorcycle stunts, a corn-dog-eating contest, the Queen Corndog pageant, a heavy-metal petting zoo and 40-yard flip-flop race.
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Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2006 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Held the last weekend in April, the INMAN PARK FESTIVAL has all the offerings you’d expect from a such an event: a goofy parade, a street market, live music, and a tour of the neighborhood’s Victorian homes. But what sets the three-day festival apart is the people. Everyone, from everywhere in town, goes. The festival marks one of the rare occasions when stroller-pushing Virginia-Highlanders and well-heeled Ansley Parkers brush shoulders with Little Five Points bohos and south-of-Ponce hipsters. One bit of advice: Parking can be an exercise in futility. Take MARTA.
www.inmanpark.org/festival.php.
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Make sure you show up hungry to the GEORGIA APPLE FESTIVAL just outside Ellijay, the state’s apple capital. The annual event, now in its 34th year, spans two weekends at the height of October’s harvest season. In addition to the obligatory regional dishes — apple pie, apple butter, apple dumplings, and fried dill pickles — there are more than 300 vendors offering such mountain handicrafts as log furniture, birdhouses, blown glass and quilts your memaw would kill for. You’ll typically find local musicians a-pickin’ and a-grinnin’, and you might even find a peach, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Oct. 8-9, 15-16. Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds. 706-636-4500. www.georgiaapplefestival.org.
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Screw the face-painting and arts and crafts booths. Each summer, the Earl’s CORNDOGORAMA mixes hot bands and white trash for the perfect indie-rocker brouhaha. During Corndogorama, which celebrated its 11th anniversary this year, the club’s sidewalk and parking lot are literally flooded from the afternoon to the wee hours of the morning with gawkers and participants partaking in such distinguished events as corndog-eating contests. Inside, nearly 40 bands, most of them local, perform over four days. Yuppies, be warned: Festival-goers have been known to strip to their skivvies and ride a stationary four-wheeler like a mechanical bull.
488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
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