The annual Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes started in 1972 as a way to attract attention to the gentrification efforts that sought to revitalize the area. Over the previous decades, Inman Park had fallen victim to neglect and disrepair and then to redlining. That’s when a small group of Inman Park homeowners came together to plan the first festival. Their goal was simple – to raise awareness of efforts to save and restore the historic homes that make up the heart of the neighborhood. Over the years, Inman Park Festival has evolved from a single afternoon with 3,000 guests to a three-day festival that attracts over 45,000 people.

The Inman Park Festival takes months of planning, over 700 volunteers, and thousands of hours of hard work. It is completely run by volunteers, making it one of the largest volunteer-run festivals in the Southeast. Proceeds from the festival fund projects like historic preservation, sidewalk restoration, neighborhood beautification, education, and other projects that benefit Inman Park and the surrounding communities.

Each year, the days and weeks leading up to the festival are full of anticipation as signs of preparation appear around the neighborhood. Temporary power poles go up, and American flags are installed along the streets. There are volunteer events to clean up the neighborhood parks, and people tidy their own yards and plant flowers. The City of Atlanta street sweepers come through the day before, and the whole neighborhood is gussied up and ready for a party. In anticipation of the festival, here is what happens in the neighborhood.

About 6 weeks before the event, the temporary power poles are installed. These are used by the music stages and some of the food vendors. 

Signs go up advertising the festival and asking for volunteers to sign up.

Tickets for the Tour of Homes go on sale. Inman Park residents get a discount.

Two weeks before the event, the flags show up. I saw these flags around the neighborhood this week. Now I know we’re getting close to Festival!

During the week before the festival, we start to see No Parking signs and street barricades delivered. During the event, several neighborhood streets are blocked off to create a pedestrian zone. The streets are lined with booths for the arts and crafts fair and the street market, and there is no room for cars. If you live on one of these streets, you have to either put your car in your driveway and leave it there all weekend or move your car to another part of the neighborhood if you plan on driving somewhere during the weekend.

A couple of days before Festival, the golf carts are delivered. Since the area becomes a car-free zone during the festival, golf carts are used by the staff and volunteers to deliver ice, to take away trash, and to run other errands.

Port-o-potties are also delivered, because, well you know…

On the Thursday before festival, the local preschool organizes hay rides for the kids, and a couple of older neighbors drive groups around the neighborhood. What I can’t figure out is where these guys store the tractors during the rest of the year. It’s not like we have farms and barns around here.

On the Friday of Festival weekend, the music tents go up, stages for the musicians are erected, and chairs for the audience are set up. Bike racks are arranged at the bike valet stations for guests who arrive on bicycle. Directional signposts are also staged around the neighborhood. The food vendors set up their tents and park their food trucks.

At 6 am on Saturday morning, the vendors start to arrive and set up their booths.

By 11 am when the festival begins and people start streaming into the neighborhood, I am positively vibrating with excitement about the weekend ahead…

The Freedom Farmers Market is a year-round market held in the parking lot of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center. The Carter Center is in our neighborhood, a 25-minute walk or a short drive away, and we generally go every Saturday morning. We go at 8:30 am because it can get really crowded, especially in the spring and summer when the weather is nice and the produce is abundant.

It’s a large market with a wide variety of vendors – fruit and vegetables, mushrooms, bread and pastries, shrimp, beef, chicken, eggs, and cheese as well as a couple of breakfast stalls and booths selling packaged goods like jams, kimchi, honey, and cured meats. In our early days in the neighborhood, the market was smaller during the winter, but now there are plenty of vendors during the colder months to make the weekly trip worthwhile.

The food costs more than the offerings at the grocery store, but we’re okay with that. It’s all organic and, because it’s local and in season and just picked, it tastes so much better. Plus, we like to support small, local farms and businesses. We visit the farmers market on Saturday morning, and based on what we buy, we then plan our meals and grocery shopping for the upcoming week. We eat what’s in season, and the result is a varied menu throughout the year. 

We’re fortunate to have such a great resource within walking distance of our house. In addition to providing healthy food choices, it’s a fun part of our weekly routine and it offers creative culinary inspiration throughout the year.

When we moved into our house, our front yard was mostly pine straw and our side yard was all turf grass. Over the years, Chad has spent a lot of time and effort turning our yard into a beautiful garden where it’s a pleasant place to spend time when the weather is nice. The thoughtful selection of plants ensures that there is always something green or flowering or both throughout the year. As you might guess, springtime is my favorite season, and there is a lot happening in the garden right now.

Finally, the oak-leaf hydrangea is just sending out buds, and I can’t wait for these to bloom over the next couple of weeks.

Happy Spring!

Another round of flowers are blooming.

Azaleas are in full bloom, and it seems  like they’re everywhere.

Trees are also blooming and filling out.

Of course, along with all of this growth comes the pollen which is terrible in Georgia. There is green powder on everything. Even though I’m not allergic to anything, all of the particulate matter in the air bothers my eyes and makes me cough. It’s pretty bad.

Finally, I saw the sunlight coming through these stained-glass windows on Palm Sunday morning, and it reminded me again of all of the colors that show up during springtime.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is having its annual Spring Blooms event. At the end of winter, gardeners plant spring bulbs around the property, and, over the course of the spring, thousands of flowers appear. 

The primary focus is on tulips, and this year, 200,000 tulip bulbs were planted. Tulips come in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes, and there are many varieties growing in the garden right now. Colors range from whites and yellows to pinks and reds to deep purples. Some flowers are a single solid color, and some are striped. Some tulips have just a few petals, and some have a cluster of two or three dozen. Some petals have smooth edges, and some are frilly.

The garden staff does a great job of creating a variety of color palettes throughout the garden. Tulips are mixed with daffodils, hyacinths, jonquils and other flowers to provide a multi-colored tapestry with a variety of heights, shapes, and textures. Overall, the Spring Blooms event is always impressive.

Another springtime garden event is Orchid Daze. The garden has a premier orchid collection as well as programs focused on orchid research and conservation around the world. While the Orchid Daze lasts for a few weeks in the spring and features some special events like Vanilla Sunday (natural vanilla comes from the cured seed pod of the Vanilla planifolia orchid plant), the Orchid Display House is open year-round and focuses on orchids that grow in tropical regions from sea level to 4,000 feet elevation. 

Just like tulips, orchids come in all kinds of shapes, colors, and sizes. Some grow harmlessly on other plants, some grow on rocks, and some grow in soil. It’s always fun to wander through the orchid house and take in the variety of plants.

Stay tuned for another post later this year where I’ll dive into more about the features of the Atlanta Botanical Garden.