One major event can return to Piedmont Park in '09

The good news: One of Atlanta's largest festivals will be allowed to return to Piedmont Park next year.

The bad news: Nobody knows which one.

The city will allow one Class A Festival — an event that attracts 50,000 people or more — back to the city's premier park in 2009, Atlanta's commissioner of parks, recreation and cultural affairs confirmed Wednesday. The other four will each get a home in another city park.

But it's not clear how it will work. The festivals either can decide among themselves, or the city might do it for them.

Commissioner Diane Harnel Cohen said each of the city's five largest festivals will be allowed into one of the city's more than 300 parks. It's up to them to decide who gets which park — particularly Piedmont, the city's largest and most sought-after festival venue. The city will meet with festival organizers again Oct. 3.

At a meeting Tuesday, Cohen said the four festivals who aren't going to Piedmont will be allowed to use another city park. She suggested Grant, Mozely, Woodruff and Central, near the Atlanta Civic Center.

Festival organizers were disappointed with the solution. They had been hoping the city would allow all — or at least most — festivals back to Piedmont after disappointing results this year in alternate locations.

"It's rather unfortunate that we have a 20 percent chance of returning to Piedmont Park," said Brian Hill, executive director of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, one of the largest of the city's festivals displaced by Georgia's drought.

Hill said city officials mentioned the possibility of a lottery system to decide who gets to use Piedmont Park in 2009.

"I hate for the life of a 73-year-old festival to be dependent on a mega-ball lottery, but that's the way it's looking," Hill said. "Somebody's going to be very happy. It's just not clear yet who that will be."

Cohen would not comment on the possibility of a lottery, saying, "We want to be as flexible as possible and see what they can work out among themselves."

In January, the city announced it was moving Class A festivals out of the park because of their crowds' adverse affects on the drought-stricken lawn.

The Atlanta Dogwood Festival moved to Lenox Square and saw a huge drop in attendance and revenue. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race ended on Juniper Street at Ponce de Leon Avenue instead of at Piedmont. A scaled down Atlanta Jazz Festival was held in downtown's Woodruff Park.

The Atlanta Pride Festival moved to the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center and also saw big dips in finance and attendance numbers.

Going into Tuesday's meeting, officials with Pride and Dogwood, the city's largest festivals, had worked out a compromise: Dogwood would be held in April at Piedmont; Pride would be held there in October, giving the park six months between large festivals.

The Peachtree Road Race would end on 10th Street and not disturb the park's lawn. The city-run Jazz Festival could return to its original home, Grant Park.

At the last minute, Hill said, the city announced it was throwing a fifth festival — the weekly movie series Screen on the Green — into the mix. The event attracts several thousand visitors once a week beginning each June. Cohen said it attracts a total of 50,000 people over five weeks, making it a Class A event.

"It's tough because we thought we were working with the four festivals," Hill said. "Suddenly it's five."

Screen on the Green was held at state-run Centennial Olympic Park this year.

Pride officials could not be reached for comment.

Tracy Russell, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club, which organizes the road race, said she was talking to her board of directors and hadn't decided what to do next.

"We're still sorting through all the different options," said Russell, who hopes to end the race at Piedmont Park in 2009.