The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association (ADNA) will present the 8TH annual Atlanta Downtown Festival, a showcase of downtown life on May 16 and 17, 2009 in Downtown Atlanta. This year the Festival Committee is partnering with downtown businesses and the Atlanta Preservation Center to create a scavenger hunt throughout the downtown area.  The purpose of the hunt is to focus on the wide range of amenities in our neighborhood like historical sites, parks, and restaurants and eateries.

The Downtown Festival is a resident-led event held on Broad Streets in the Fairlie Poplar District and includes live entertainment, an artist market, a beer garden and other activities designed to showcase the vibrancy of downtown living. Some of the Southeast’s finest visual artists will display their work at the Artists’ Market. Jazz musicians will perform live throughout the weekend.

Festival hours are 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Saturday ,and 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The Festival is produced and managed by Downtown residents who volunteer their time to the event. Through the years ADNA has been lucky enough to receive sponsorship from both large national companies as well as smaller local businesses.

The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association (ADNA) is a non-profit civic association representing several thousand households in Downtown Atlanta. ADNA is committed to helping develop a better quality of life for Downtown residents and businesses.

Quick Menu:

Artist’s Market | Entertainment | Scavenger Hunt | Event @ Georgia Aquarium
Photo Galleries | Maps & Directions | Street Closing Info
Sponsors | Festival History | Contact Information

Artist’s Market

Paintings, sculpture, mixed-media, collage, drawings, intricate handcrafts — the Downtown Festival Artist’s Market has it all.

Many of the artists appearing in the festival are professional, quite a few having appeared at other art shows and festivals. Some are coming from out of state. Many of the artists have their own credit card processing systems set up, especially if their pieces are in the more expensive range. A few artists may only accept cash or check.

Artist looking to participate?

See the Artist’s Market page, which includes show details, application and contact info.

More Information

Need to know more? Contact Anthony Stewart at anthony@anthonystewartfineart.com or call 404-918-8828.

Entertainment

As always, we bring you two days full of live entermain.

Announcing the entertainment roster for the 2009 Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Festival!

Pictures and band web sites — on the Entertainment page.

• Ahmad Hassan
• D-Soul
• Stacey Jaye
• Clark King
• Groov Project
• The Lockdown Band
• Mahogany Dust
• Soulhound
• Stoni Taylor
• A Sparkling Planet
• Water Seed

Welcome to both new and performing acts! Info below or email Earl at earldyrone@aol.com.

Scavenger Hunt!

The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association will host its 8th Annual Neighborhood Festival on May 16 – 17, 2009.  As part of the Festival this year, we are hosting a Downtown Scavenger Hunt. The scavenger hunt will be on Saturday, May 16 from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Team numbers and guidebooks will be picked-up at the Downtown Neighborhood Festival on Broad Street and Walton Street. Entry fees are $25 per person.

Wanna scavenge? Want details?

Go to the Scavenger Hunt page for details. And register using Active.com!

More Information

Email rsauerjr@comcast.net or call 404 272-1967 with any questions or if you want your business to sponsor the event.

The Festival on Facebook

If you’re on Facebook, RSVP for the festival, post pictures and spread the word! Check out the festival’s Facebook Event listing!

Kick-off Event @ Georgia Aquarium

The Atlanta Downtown Festival Committee has partnered with the Georgia Aquarium to offer our neighbors discount tickets for a special event  the night before the festival!

www.georgiaaquarium.org/atlantadna

Please use this link to kick off the festival on Friday, May 15, by joining your neighbors at the Georgia Aquarium’s Jazz Series.

Photo Galleries

Want a look at how the festival has grown over the years and all the fun that’s been had? Visit out photo galleries!

• Photos – 2002
• Photos – 2003
• Photos – 2004
• Photos – 2005
• Photos – 2006

Maps & Directions

The Atlanta Downtown Festival will take place in the historic Fairlie-Poplar district. It’s most easily accessible by MARTA (2 stations plus buses) but there’s also parking available and we welcome bikers and walkers!

For full directions, any way you’re going to travel, see our Maps & Directions page. You can also try out the interactive Google map linked below.
View Larger Map

Street Closing Info

From Friday, May 15th at 6 p.m. to Sunday, May 17th at 8 p.m., several sections of street in Downtown’s Fairlie-Poplar district will be closed to vehicular traffic. For details, see this page.

Sponsors

We are blessed with sponsors who are helping out in a tough time. See full list of sponsors!

Festival History

Following the demise of the Arts Festival of Atlanta in 1998, Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. (CAP) created a new arts festival for Downtown, called ArtScape. The first festival took place in October 1999 and included over 100 artists, live entertainment, children’s activities and food and beverage. ArtScape ran for three years; the last event occurred in October 2001. Following the 2001 event, CAP realized that they could no longer sponsor ArtScape and they began looking for a new owner of the festival. In March 2002, ADNA elected to produce the Atlanta Downtown Festival to celebrate their community in the spirit of past Downtown festivals. The Festival has been going strong ever since.

Contact Information for Festival

Most of our communication is done by email, so using this form is a great way to get in touch. You can also write downtownatl@hotmail.com.

To send us mail, our address is:

Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association
P.O. Box 57021
Atlanta GA 30343

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