The fate of Atlanta's festivals should be known on Friday.
Organizers of Atlanta's five largest festivals will meet with city officials to work out a deal that would allow one event to return to Piedmont Park next year. The other four festivals will have to choose other city parks, allow the city to pick for them or go elsewhere.
That means six entities — the five festivals and the city — could be in for a long and perhaps contentious meeting. If they can't reach an agreement, the festivals could use a lottery system to decide who gets which park in 2009.
"I'm nervous," said Brian Hill, executive director of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. "I think anybody with a 20 percent chance of survival would be."
Dogwood officials floated an 11th-hour proposal Thursday. The plan calls for Dogwood and two other festivals to return to the park next year after being away this year because of the drought. The city has insisted only one large festival can return in 2009.
The Dogwood Festival plan calls for Atlanta Pride to be held at Central Park and the Atlanta Jazz Festival at Grant Park, its original home. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race and Screen on the Green would no longer be considered Class A Events — those that attract at least 50,000 people — and allowed back in Piedmont.
Atlanta Pride board Chairwoman Deirdre Heffernan hinted Thursday that Dogwood's plan might be a good compromise. Heffernan said that holding a lottery for Piedmont, which has been proposed, was a "scary" prospect. Diane Harnel Cohen, commissioner of Atlanta's department of parks, recreation and cultural affairs, would have to approve such a plan. She did not respond to interview requests Thursday.
This year, the city booted all five large events because of their effects on Piedmont's rain-starved lawn. The decision to allow one to return was based on input from Atlanta watershed management officials as well as recommendations by the National Park Service and University of Georgia park experts, City Council member Anne Fauver said last week.
The other parks on the table are: Mozely in southwest Atlanta and downtown Atlanta's Woodruff, where the Jazz Fest was held this spring. Cohen has said those parks were large enough to handle Class A events and were the most accessible to public transportation.
Friday's meeting is at 11 a.m. at City Hall. It is closed to the public and the media.
• Previously: In January, the city of Atlanta announced that no Class A festivals could be held in Piedmont Park in 2008 because of Georgia's drought. The five largest festivals were held at alternate locations this spring and summer, some with disappointing results.
• The latest: At a Sept. 23 meeting, the city said one Class A festival could return to Piedmont in 2009. The festivals were given until today to work out an agreement among themselves, or the city could do it for them.
• What's next: Festival organizers will meet at 11 a.m. Friday to hammer out an agreement. They could use a lottery system to determine which festival goes to which park.
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