First! The first blog entry on my explorations. Thanks to my friendweasel Joy for inviting me to the annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival! Its festival season in Atlanta and the Dogwood Festival has been festival-ing since 1936.
I'm not really big on festivals because
- I don't like crowds
- I don't have money to buy art
- Rarely find anything I would want to spend money on anyways
All those reasons aside, it was a picture perfect beautiful day in Atlanta and what better place to be than Piedmont Park. I almost never go there, but it really is a super classy park and an Atlanta treasure. Wide open well-manicured lawns, skyscrapers hovering on the outskirts, fenced in by mature shade trees - what any park should be.
I'd heard on the radio on my way that parking was a nightmare. Fortunately Joy lives only 5 minutes away from the park, so it was easy to park at her house and walk down to the park. If you don't have a buddy in Midtown, I'd recommend taking Marta.
There was plenty to see. Over 250 artists, plus a ferris wheel and live music. And of course the people watching. There was a variety of art, but the photography stuck out to me the most. Lots of nature photographs. A high quality photo of a stand of birch trees during autumn, blown up on a large canvas, will always be beautiful and massively appealing. Next time around I'll be more of a supporter and post about the artists I liked, because I do want to support them. But in truth, I didn't really see a lot that blew me away.
We arrived hungry, and unfortunately festival food means you are spending $8 on any given item. I went for stir-fry being cooked up in a giant wok. Joy went old-school with a nice bratwurst. We passed a frozen margarita stand - and overheard one guy at a lemonade cart asking if they had cranberry and vodka on hand as well. Dude, this is a public park, not a bar. Bring your own mixers.
The highlight for me (given what I've already said about art) was the Frisbee dog competition. It was mostly border collies, though I did spot and chat with one Aussie owner. These dogs were awesome. Besides catching Frisbees on a very windy day (you know how difficult that can be) their humans did all kinds of showy tricks with them like high fives and various acrobatics that involved jumping on, over, through the human's legs, etc. I wish Pascal (my Aussie) could have come and been inspired by the other dogs interest in Frisbees, because he did not inherit that interest himself.
That is one of the biggest complaints of the festival - no dogs allowed. A few snuck in I noticed. Its a risk, given that a dog would eat anything it found on the ground and people can be very irresponsible with discarding chicken bones - very dangerous for doggies.
Overall rating - Go
If the weather is nice, you'll have a good time. How much money you spend is completely up to you.
