Atlanta
Times to Visit
2008 10Best Bet - Award Winners
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MIDTOWN. The annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival attracts visitors from all over the state and beyond with beauty and special events. Dogwood blooms herald the arrival of spring, which also means the weather is unusually beautiful at this time of year. A good mood spreads to everyone, and attractions include live music, an artists' market, mouthwatering foods, and festival parties.
MIDTOWN. The Atlanta Film Festival attracts a variety of people, and film aficionados take the celluloid celebration as seriously as any Cannes or Sundance event. Movies run the gamut from independent films and edgy, big studio experiments to amateur filmmakers' first efforts. Throughout the week-long festival, buffs can view films, attend workshops, listen to guest speakers, and sign up for seminars – all dealing with film and the cottage industries that support it. Films are shown at Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 16 and The Fox Theatre in addition to the main venue at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
SMYRNA. The Atlanta Home Show occurs twice a year, in the spring and fall, so there are plenty of chances for people to see the ever-changing world of products designed specifically for the home. Touted as the largest consumer home show in the Southeast, Atlanta's version attracts between 30,000 and 40,000 attendees and puts buyers directly in contact with vendors, construction companies, and manufacturers of products like faucets, lighting fixtures, appliances, furniture, and cabinets. You can even review the latest in roofing materials and methods at this all-encompassing event.
DOWNTOWN. The Chick-fil-A Bowl game and parade are a centerpiece for collegiate football fans in Atlanta, even if a hometown team isn't participating. For some fans, the game is a last hurrah for the college football season. For businesses, the game represents a chance to woo visitors back to the Peach City. Events "kick off" with the parade, which starts at Peachtree Street and Ralph McGill Boulevard and ends at the Georgia World Congress Center. The midday parade begins the festivities and is immediately followed by FanFest, a family-friendly pep rally that gets folks fired up for the game.
BUCKHEAD. Nothing says summer in Atlanta like this concert series. The intimate amphitheater is lined with outdoor tables and chairs, and all you have to do (depending on where you choose to sit) is show up with your tablecloth, cooler, and picnic basket to enjoy dinner and a show underneath the stars. If you get a location close-in, you can even be face to face with headlining performers. The 2007 calendar included Hootie and the Blowfish, Macy Gray, The Beach Boys, John Legend, Van Morrison, Reba McEntire, Tony Bennett, and BB King.
AIRPORT AREA. Georgia Renaissance Festival celebrates not only the most weather-friendly months of the year but something unique for the region – 16th-century European culture. With more than 1000 authentically dressed characters roaming the grounds, the festival provides a lively atmosphere worthy of any dukedom. A permanent display of Tudor homes provides the setting, and 10 performance stages, lots of food and drink, and shopping tents keep crowds happy.
INMAN PARK. It has witnessed Civil War skirmishes, extreme poverty, and the birthing struggles of Atlanta's public railways at its doorstep, yet Inman Park lives on, outshining all these events. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the neighborhood spices things up with an annual festival, which lays claim to being Atlanta's largest street market. Visitors can tour early 20th-century Victorian homes, enjoy live entertainment, watch ballet and modern dance performances, stroll through arts and crafts booths, dine on festival food, and watch a parade that's as emblematic of small-town life as anything out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
DOWNTOWN. Even before spring blows away the winter chill, flowers are in bloom in Atlanta. Much-anticipated every year since 1988, the Southeastern Flower Show features nearly 100 vendors who display both a variety of blooms and landscaping wonders intended to raise horticultural awareness. Attractions include Discovery, Landscape, and Legacy Gardens, as well as guest speakers, seminars, and an opening night party.
DOWNTOWN. Irish eyes are smiling, and Irish pride runs high during Atlanta's St. Patrick's Day Celebration. The event, one of the nation's oldest, enjoys its 158th year in 2008, offering a full weekend of revelry, family festivals, and live Irish music. The parade kicks off on Saturday near Underground Atlanta in Midtown, but the fun only gets started there. Visit the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales at the Atlanta Zoo, or stick around for Sunday's ShamRock 'N Roll Road Race at Atlantic Station (Guinness optional for lightweights).
SWEET AUBURN. The Sweet Auburn neighborhood attracts visitors year-round with its shops, but this popular celebration makes a special trip to the area well worth the effort. An estimated half a million people enjoy attractions like a classic car and bike show, an arts and literature market, a family fun zone, and 10 stages that showcase live performances throughout the day. Schedule your visit in early May to partake of the good times on what's promoted as the "Greatest Street on the Planet." Oftentimes, you can't choose when you'll visit, but when you do have the option, why not let it coincide with a prominent event? Find out when the city is bursting with blooms, when holiday decorations are at their most enticing, or when a fabulously fun festival is being held. Discover, too, if there's a milestone that's being celebrated or if there's a small occasion that coincides with your own special interest. We'll spread the news and let you know when it's high time to visit the city.
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Oftentimes, you can't choose when you'll visit, but when you do have the option, why not let it coincide with a prominent event? Find out when the city is bursting with blooms, when holiday decorations are at their most enticing, or when a fabulously fun festival is being held. Discover, too, if there's a milestone that's being celebrated or if there's a small occasion that coincides with your own special interest. We'll spread the news and let you know when it's high time to visit the city. 
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