Christmas is coming back to downtown Atlanta this holiday season, and the plan is to bring 150,000-plus visitors with it.
The owners of the former Macy's building, now known as 200 Peachtree, are planning "Christmas on Peachtree," a festival covering 70,000 square feet of the facility with holiday trees, a Christmas light show set to music, seasonal window displays and a children's adventure area where kids can sit on Santa's lap and get their photo made.
Running from the day after Thanksgiving to the end of the year, the event will also include 12 retailers set up inside the building, food stations and art. Organizers, who think the festival will attract 150,000 people from as far away as Birmingham and Greenville, S.C., also promise a train twice as big as the Pink Pig, a big holiday draw for kids at Lenox Square mall.
"The whole idea is to bring the magic of the holidays back downtown," said Mark Pettit, a spokesman for the event.
Robert Patterson, president of 200 Peachtree, said he sees "Christmas on Peachtree" as a way to capture visitors who come downtown during Christmas, especially those in town for sports activities such as the Chick-fil-A Bowl and the SEC championship.
The flight of retail out of downtown over the past 20 years has left an opening for holiday business, especially as the city's heart has transitioned into more of a tourism and convention hot spot.
"Downtown used to be the center of Christmas because it was the center of retail," Patterson said. "Now I think downtown Atlanta is becoming a southern version of the Washington Mall, with lots of tourist attractions like Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium and CNN Center."
City tourism leaders said "Christmas on Peachtree" has the potential to increase Atlanta's destination appeal.
“Over the holidays, 200 Peachtree will transform into another exciting venue for shopping and fun, creating a buzz of activity along Peachtree Street,” said Andrew Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of Atlanta.net, a website of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. "‘Christmas on Peachtree' rounds out downtown Atlanta’s holiday celebration and will be the perfect complement to our annual holiday marketing campaign.”
