Midtown Festivals Galore This Weekend

Summer may be done, but festival season in Midtown certainly isn’t.

Music Midtown rocks Midtown a week from tonight, but fans of live music will have plenty opportunities this weekend to get their fill of. Not to mention the food, art, crafts and so much more at a quartet of local festivals.

It begins Friday with the two-day Atlanta BBQ Festival at 20th Street and Fowler Street in Atlantic Station. The 4th Annual Atlanta BBQ Festival is a celebration of America’s biggest backyard pastime and will showcase the world of BBQ with its many flavors, styles and cooking techniques.

Whether you enjoy Georgia chicken, Texas brisket, Memphis ribs or Carolina pulled pork, the Atlanta BBQ Festival has it all as more than 50 BBQ teams from across the country will gather to cook up their best “Q” and compete for cash prizes, highly coveted trophies and the ultimate reward ‐ bragging rights.

Participating teams will be selling sample sized portions of their championship styled BBQ while supplies last for $1 per sample.

The Atlanta BBQ Festival will be on Friday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. Tickets are $6 in advance and $10 day of the event and kids ages 12 and under receive free admission when accompanied by an adult. See here to purchase tickets and for more information, click here.

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On Saturday, a trio of festivals are highlighted by the Atlanta Arts Festival's return to Piedmont Park for its sixth year. Staged on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., this free event will allow festival-goers to enjoy a weekend of exceptional art, live music, the L’il Artist Alley for kids, live artist demos in the Creation Station and delicious festival food. And, don’t miss the live cooking demos on the Art of Cooking Stage.

The Atlanta Arts Festival brings to the drawing board 200 local and nationally recognized artists from an eclectic mix of 12 mediums, including jewelry, painting, photography, ceramics and sculpture, leather and metal, glassblowing and more.
 
Yacht Rock Schooner performs live on Saturday and more information, visit www.AtlantaArtsFestival.com.

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Not far away, the Fall Festival on Ponce is also a free, two-day fest that will host up to 175 (mostly) local artists and crafters in the chain of parks along Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Located near 1451 Ponce de Leon Ave., this is the second year the famed Olmsted parks will be feted with art. Visitors can expect to enjoy fine art and crafts, a children’s area, live acoustic music, street market and local food and beverage concessions including “gourmet” food trucks.

The Fall Festival on Ponce will take place on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. See www.festivalonponce.com for more information.

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And finally, Saturday’s 1st annual Taste of the Trucks at 8th and Spring streets in Midtown is designed to celebrate the nation's growing food truck movement. 

Taste of the Trucks will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with more than 20 gourmet food trucks attending and live entertainment from Abby Wren and saxophonist Dwan Bosman. Georgia Tech football fans attending Saturday afternoon’s Tech-Virginia game might want to make plans to stop by and a portion of the total proceeds from the event will benefit Metro Atlanta's Children's Restoration Network to support homeless children and mothers in the area. 

Admission is $10, or if you pay using Taste of the Trucks' sponsor LevelUp, the free app that lets you pay with your phone, your admission is free. With admission, you'll receive three taste tickets to use at any food truck from New Orleans po'boys at Just Loaf'n to Sweet Auburn BBQ. 

See here for more information.