Parking is limited and officials advise using alternative transportation
The annual Atlanta BeltLine Lantern Parade, created and hosted by Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons and sponsored by Atlanta Medical Center, will mark the opening of the sixth year of Art on the Atlanta BeltLine on Saturday, September 12. Parade-goers are encouraged to gather at 7:15 p.m. with their lanterns at the southern end of the Eastside Trail along Irwin Street / Lake Avenue. The parade will begin at 8:15 p.m. and move from Irwin Street north to Piedmont Park. After walking the 2-mile Eastside Trail, the parade will guide into the green at Piedmont Park, ending two miles from the starting point. The event is the finale to the weekend-long Old Fourth Ward Fall Festival, celebrating the opening of the Art on the Atlanta BeltLine exhibition.
The interim hiking trail south of Irwin Street will be open for staging for the five marching bands and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, the parade leaders. The ramp from the Edgewood Avenue Bridge will be open for use and participants may join the line-up from Edgewood Avenue, or may walk up Airline Street from DeKalb Avenue. After step-off, the parade will also be accessible from any access point on the Atlanta BeltLine, including the Eastside Trail Gateway from Historic Fourth Ward Park. See beltline.org/explore/maps/ or download our mobile app for Android and Apple phones for a map of the Eastside Trail and all access points.
Parking is extremely limited, so alternative transportation to the parade is strongly encouraged. Many MARTA stations in the metro area offer free parking to transit riders. The Inman Park/Reynoldstown and King Memorial MARTA train stations are a few blocks away from the start of the event. The Midtown MARTA station is six blocks from the endpoint of the parade. For more information on MARTA train and bus schedules, please visit www.itsmarta.com.
Paid parking is available in the Piedmont Park Parking Deck. Additional parking is available along neighborhood streets, including Edgewood Avenue at the beginning of the parade and 10th Street at the end of the parade.
Taking a cab, carpooling, and biking are also encouraged, though bicyclists will need to dismount and walk their bikes during the parade. Pets are welcome and must be kept on a six-foot leash.
Several EMTs and officers from the Atlanta Police Department’s Path Force Unit will be present at the parade. Portable restrooms and trash cans will be available. NO fire is permitted at the event – all lanterns must be lit by LED. Atlanta BeltLine lanterns will be available for sale at the beginning of the event. For more information, visit art.beltline.org/lantern-parade/.
Media contact:
Ericka Brown Davis
(404) 477-3660, edavis@atlbeltline.org
