Atlanta Pride Festival to return to Piedmont Park

Pride organizers held last year's festival at the center and said crowds and revenues were significantly less than in past years when it was held at Piedmont Park.

"We didn't think that if we went back to the Civic Center that we would have a sound festival and we would be out of business," said Atlanta Pride board chair Deirdre Heffernan.

The city has been reluctant to allow many large events in Piedmont Park since late 2007, when state officials announced drought restrictions. Atlanta officials have said they are worried it will take longer for the park's grass to properly recover from major events during the drought.

In October, the city announced the Atlanta Dogwood Festival would be the only so-called "Class A" festival held at the park. The city helped find other sites for the Atlanta Pride Festival, Screen On The Green, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race.

Shortly afterward, Pride organizers told city officials they were worried they could not pay for any damages that might occur using the baseball fields at Central Park. Baseball fields, the commissioner said, are more expensive to maintain than the rolling grass at Piedmont Park.

Heffernan said Pride organizers met with Atlanta Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director Dianne Harnell Cohen and City Council President Lisa Borders to come up with another solution.

The commissioner and her staff looked at moving the festival to the fall, thinking that would be enough time for the grounds to recover.

Heffernan said she is confident the festival will draw similar crowds to past years when it was held at Piedmont Park, despite the later date. She said the festival has had crowds estimated at about 250,000 during past parades.

Pride organizers will work with others to put together events in June to celebrate the region's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, Heffernan said.