Metro Atlanta revelers: Good riddance to 2008

A long roar of cheers erupted as the 800-pound Georgia Peach descended from a tower of lights, marking the end of a tough 2008 and the beginning of a new year and hopefully brighter days for many people.

For many, 2009 just has to be better.

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LOUIE FAVORITE / lfavorite@ajc.com

Anabelle Ingersoll, 7, takes part in the Burning Bowl service at Unity North Atlanta Church in Marietta. She was watching her mom, Deborah, drop the ceremonial paper into the bowl.

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“2008 was terrible. The economy. The Bush administration. I think things will get a lot better with the new president,” said April Jones, a 26-year-old Atlantan who works in a call center.

Many others at Underground Atlanta also pinned their hopes to a new president moving the economy in a new and upward direction.

The largest party in the state, this year’s Peach Drop marked the 20th anniversary of the peach falling at Underground Atlanta. An estimated 100,000 people turned out for the bash that ended in a bang of fireworks at midnight and a dash indoors for warmth.

But bundling up to see the fiberglass-and-foam peach was just one of many ways to ring in the new year. In Lawrenceville, families gathered and awaited midnight fireworks, while in Cobb County a church hosted a ceremony to set fire to bad old ‘08.

At Unity North Atlanta Church in Cobb County, about 400 people gathered shortly before 7 p.m. for an annual Burning Bowl celebration. They wrote things they wanted to forget from 2008 on small sheets of onionskin paper, then set them afire and dropped them into an urn in front of the pulpit.

There were a few informal rules: Don’t bring your 48-page divorce degree, dunning notices, federal indictments or anything that appeared to be drawn up by a lawyer or insurance examiner, or written on a yellow legal pad.

“Somebody tried that one year,” said the Rev. Nancy Worth. “But the fumes from that yellow paper are really toxic, so we discourage that.”

Worth gave tips to first-time burning bowlers: Make their thought succinct — “just a few words or phrases” — and spare the details, because, she said, “God already knows.”

But many knew the drill — all too well.

“I burned a man 10 years in a row before I got rid of him finally,” said Sylvia Hopper, 67, who has been attending and taking part in burning bowl ceremonies since 1961. “I married the right one. He’s sitting right down there.”

Tonight, she said, she would write the words “disease” on the page and burn it in the hope of surmounting medical problems that surfaced in 2008.

While the congregants formed a line and one by one burned their demons and lit fire to the dreams, a three-piece combo played a slow-beat jazzy melody as a singer crooned, “We are hoping, we are hoping, our heart is ready to receive.”

Developer Fred Hightower drew up a list of five items — “relationships that are no longer serving me” — and set it aflame. But what he really hoped to torch for good was a cancer he said he “miraculously” overcame in 2008.

He wrote and burned these words: “I am releasing my cancer, and I am welcoming perfect health.”

Honey Rubin, a writer who said she has attended about 30 of the ceremonies, said she wasn’t sure exactly what she would write, but would probably ask for “the release of harshness and fear” in her life.

The mood may have been more playful in Lawrenceville where the fifth annual New Year’s celebration, Lawrenceville Rings, drew an estimated 8,000 people. It offered an atmosphere akin to a summer carnival, with smells of grilled turkey legs and Polish sausage, live music and children bouncing in inflatable houses.

Except it was cold, with temperatures in the 40s heading down to a predicted overnight low in the 20s.

“I think it’s a good way to get your kids sick,” Lawrenceville resident Janice Elder said of bringing children out on the frosty night.

The kids didn’t seem to mind.

Ted Wengert, also of the Gwinnett community, and his 9-year-old daughter Abbey was among dozens of parents and children standing in line for pony rides on Crogan Street.

“I’m not worried about the cold,” Wengert said. “Cold’s good for you. It kills germs.”

Wengert said he was happy to have a place to go with his child on New Year’s Eve. “With kids, you don’t have a lot of options,” he said.

But complaints seemed few as many seemed giddy about the turning of the calendar.

Stepahanie Savage of Lilburn said she was thankful for what she had at the close of 2008 — even if it fell short of the ideal.

“I feel blessed that I have a great job and a little apartment,” said Savage who hopes to change careers in 2009 and become a professional photographer. “And I can’t wait for 2009.”

Sheila Dodd, of Lawrenceville, said she lives five minutes from the town square and has lived in the area for 25 years, but this is her first year at the “Rings.”

“We won’t be staying for the fireworks. We can watch that from home,” Dodd said. Asked what she was looking forward to in the New Year, she replied between puffs on a cigarette, “I hope to quit smoking.”