Atlanta’s first Fall Halal festival fills Grant Park

The Atlanta Halal Fall Festival opened at noon Saturday and Sunday under a bright clear sky in Grant Park near downtown Atlanta in what organizers hope will become a city tradition.

A brisk crowd sampled pastries, meat sandwiches, coffees and desserts from Muslim traditions across the globe, and shopped for jewelry and crafts.

Families laid out picnic blankets on the sloping grass and listened to music from a soundstage, while kids climbed inside giant inflated plastic globes and rolled around.

Attendees ranged from people in full long dresses and veils to others in jeans and T-shirts.

Newlyweds Layan Awad, left, and Othman Awad, right, came to the Atlanta Halal Fall Festival on November 23, 2025 and are seen here enjoying their coffee drinks from Bearly Awake Coffee. Photo by Ariel Hart ahart@ajc.com

Othman and Layan Awad, newlyweds who heard about the festival on Instagram, said they were looking forward to freely choosing from vendors because all were following the Muslim culinary protocols for food preparation.

“Halal” for Muslims means something that’s permitted, and is strongly associated with ways of preparing food. The opposite of halal is “haram,” or forbidden.

At the Halal Fall Festival, there’s no alcohol or pork, and the meat should be raised and slaughtered in ethical ways.

Layan Awad cooks and says she could tell the vendors had skills.

“From the smell I can tell we’re definitely going to enjoy it,” she said.

The Awads were holding a cinnamon graham iced latte and an “oh so chocolatte” from another of the vendors.

Vendors came mostly from the Atlanta suburbs but also as far away as Chicago. Their food traditions originated in countries across the globe, everywhere from the Middle East to India to Vietnam and South Korea.

The new festival gave an opportunity to Ekhlass Gzar, who fled Iraq in 2008 after the U.S. invasion and now lives in Clarkston. It’s her dream to open a restaurant.

When they heard about the festival, she and her children jumped by buying coffee urns at Goodwill and on Amazon and by thrifting a pastry display and other needs for a vending tent.

Ekhlass Gzar, whose dream is to open a restaurant, heard about the Atlanta Halal Fall Festivall and decided to give it a try. Working with her children, including a medical student and a Georgia State University student, they bought equipment from Goodwill and Amazon and opened "Al Halawani" -- hanging a wooden sign the girls carved from an old coffee table. Photo of Gzar frying pastries akin to funnel cakes at their stall. Photo by Ariel Hart ahart@ajccom on November 23, 2025.

“My sister and I made the sign two weeks ago from an old coffee table!” said her daughter, Luma Younis, grinning and pointing to the charming “Al Halawani” sign hanging from the tent.

In this photo, Ekhlass Gzar poses with her family at a desserts stall her family set up for the first time to try out her dream of owning a restaurant. Gzar's daughters just made the stall's sign themselves (they call the business Al Halawani) from an old coffee table. The Atlanta Halal Fall Festival opened at noon Saturday and Sunday under a bright blue sky in Grant Park near downtown Atlanta, in what organizers hope will become a city tradition. A brisk crowd sampled pastries, meat sandwiches, coffees, and desserts from Muslim traditions across the globe, and shopped for jewelry and crafts. Photos show the festival on Sunday, November 23, 2025 in Grant Park in Atlanta. Photo by Ariel Hart ahart@ajc.com.

Younis is in medical school to become a pediatric emergency physician, and her sister is studying computers at Georgia State University.

In this photo, Luma Younis pours tea at a desserts stall her family set up for the first time to try out her mother's dream of owning a restaurant. Younis and her sister just made the stall's sign themselves (they call the business Al Halawani) from an old coffee table. The Atlanta Halal Fall Festival opened at noon Saturday and Sunday under a bright blue sky in Grant Park near downtown Atlanta, in what organizers hope will become a city tradition. A brisk crowd sampled pastries, meat sandwiches, coffees, and desserts from Muslim traditions across the globe, and shopped for jewelry and crafts. Photos show the festival on Sunday, November 23, 2025 in Grant Park in Atlanta. Photo by Ariel Hart ahart@ajc.com.

The festival was scheduled to go from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Hasnain Lakhani founded the festival this year, starting with a summer event in a parking lot. He said he was traveling from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, surrounded by halal food and Muslim culture, when he called his friend and said Atlanta should have a festival where people can get some of that at home, and also mix with the broader community. As soon as they got started on the idea, sites and vendors came out of the woodwork.

There were some charity tents, too, including one where 50% of revenues would go for aid to Gaza. There was also a booth selling merchandise that said, “Free Palestine.”

“We wanted to curate an inclusive space,” Lakhani said.

Atlanta is late to the game, he said, following festivals that have been set up in Los Angeles, New York, Texas and Michigan.

Many religious traditions have dietary rules, either all the time or during certain parts of the religious year. Christian Orthodox followers right now may be following a fast before Christmas where they don’t eat meat, fish or dairy, but can eat shellfish. Followers of Jewish kosher rules in general do not eat shellfish or pork. Many Hindus do not eat beef.

Matt Mastin, who lives in Grant Park and ran into the festival Saturday with his sons Arthur, 3, and Oscar, 7, returned with them Sunday for a repeat.

Arthur and Oscar ate shaved lime ice from Siddiq’s ices and a combination fruit and punch drink that at first looked blue but was red when it poured out, Arthur said.