Tag: holidays

For one weekend this month, Atlanta, like Chicago, will flood with green. But lacking a river as we do, it’s Peachtree Street that will run emerald when the Irish and their friends march in celebration of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. This year marks the 141st St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Atlanta, making it one of the longest continuously running parades in the city.

Once the fog of childhood nostalgia lifts, many Atlantans are prone to admit that one of the city’s oldest holiday traditions—the riding of Rich’s department store’s famed Pink Pig—was also pretty damn terrifying.

“I’m sorry for the mess,” Ben Armstrong says to me, stepping over a zombie head and vampire dress that still need gluing. We’re walking through one of this season’s attractions, Wake the Dead, where apocalyptic warriors must seal the Netherworld from element-stealing ghosts. Netherworld’s haunts change each year, building on decades of proprietary lore.

Woodstock is known for its charming downtown, outlet shops, and proximity to Lake Allatoona, but if Robert Morris has his way, it won’t be long before it’s also known as the home of Scavenged Souls. “I want people to say, ‘That’s the place with the crazy people running that great haunted house!’” he says.

Fireworks, food, music, and Braves baseball—here are 10 fun events happening this Fourth of July in metro Atlanta.

New Year’s parties are all about popping that special bottle of bubbly. Whether it’s champagne, cava, or a pet nat sparkler from Portugal, the sound of the bottle go pop! is an unmatched, ceremonious welcome to the year ahead. But it doesn’t need to be limited to alcohol. The N.A. sparkling wines I sampled at Soberish were still accompanied by that joyous cork pop.

After 34 years of staging A Christmas Carol, Alliance Theatre’s production department has the show down to a science. “It’s like the train that we always know where it’s going,” says Laury Conley, director of costumes and wardrobe. “If it ever goes off the tracks, we know how to get right back.”

Whether kid-friendly, pet-friendly, or strictly for adults, Atlanta’s holiday season has something for everyone. To help to make the most of this year’s festive fun, we’ve rounded up just a few of the metro's great events, from live entertainment to Santa meet-and-greets to festive markets to pop-up holiday bars.

When Susie Grant went to the National Christmas Tree Association convention in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1986, she was one of the few female farmers there. She ran a small farm in Mississippi at the time. In the exhibit hall, she met a father and son from Stockbridge, who were demonstrating a revolutionary tree trimmer they had invented. “I just walked by and started talking about the trimmer,” says Susie. She and the son, Allen Grant, have been together ever since. Today they own Yule Forest in Stockbridge, and Christmas trees remain an inextricable part of their lives.