Take your pick, Freaknic or iFreaknik?

In fact, his mom called and offered to pay for him to get out of town this weekend. Berry would have taken her up on it if he didn’t have a charity event to attend. Hoping to avoid getting trapped in his neighborhood, Berry has a contingency plan to stay with a friend.

“That is the problem,” Barry said. “It is not a defined event so there is no way to prepare for it. You don’t know if it is going to be 100 people or hundreds of thousands like it was before.”

Locals remember Freaknik ‘97, when by nightfall, Marietta Street was closed at Spring and again at Forsyth streets. Cars packed around Greenbriar Mall and West End Mall. But Freaknik ‘95 was the one that really hit shoppers hard. Rainy weather sent thousands into Lenox Square, forcing the mall to close early. In those days, the arrests were plenty, including everything from theft and disorderly conduct to possession of concealed weapons.

The promoters of each event this year said their version of Freaknik is more organized than the original, while still upholding the tradition of the long lost funfest. But so far, potential revelers are skeptical and confused.

"When I was growing up, it was a big street party," said Bneikia Hill, 29, of Decatur, who plans to visit Washington Park on Saturday but otherwise is taking a wait-and-see approach to the weekend's events. "These young people don't know how to act. They don't know the true meaning of Freaknik."

Hill recalled Freaknik ‘96 as the best. "We would stand outside the clubs and it was more crunk outside in the parking lot than it was inside. It was people getting together and having a good time, that's what made it so fun," she said. Then one year, she spotted a couple having sex near Greenbriar Mall and decided that Freaknik was on the decline. "My last year was 1998, and it was dead. I knew right then that there wasn't going to be no more Freaknik in Atlanta."

Sharon Toomer, 45, an organizer of the original Freaknik, said she stopped attending after she graduated from college in 1987. Toomer said she became disenchanted with Freaknik because of violence, the disrespect of women and the city’s “police state” response. “If it’s coming back to what it ended [as], that’s not what the founders intended,” she said.

But Davinci Barcelo said he has a new approach. iFreaknik, he said, is Freaknik for a new generation. "My target is college students," said Barcelo, 26, who toured local campuses to drum up support for the event. Barcelo also claims to have worked closely with local authorities to prevent the traffic jams, loud music and rump shaking on car roofs. A carcade on Friday will be an organized effort with a police escort, he said. The convoy is expected to end at Figure 8, a nightclub in Southwest Atlanta. "I built the event backward and made sure I had the nightlife activities taken care of first so from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. there is no reason for people to be cruising the street," Barcelo said.

Other iFreaknik events include a food drive and a pool party at the Atrium in Stone Mountain, where oddly, Freaknic Atlanta also seems to be hosting several events.

Freaknic Atlanta founder J.K. Jones did not return calls or e-mails for comment but issued a press release stating his event, intentionally spelled with "nic", is all about picnics and family gatherings. Jones has made ample use of social media to promote his event. He has gained more than 29,000 Facebook followers and has used e-mail alerts and twitter to inform them of events and venues, some of which were still unclear and changing as of Thursday.

Emanuel Hunt, 24, of Smyrna said Jones was encouraging promoters in the city to host parties and attach the Freaknic Atlanta logo. Hunt is hosting a Saturday event at Club Inferno, but he doesn't have very high hopes for the weekend. "Back in the day, you usually would have seen increased traffic by now and people would be asking, ‘What's going on?'" Hunt said.

He thinks a new version of Freaknik has potential, but making it work, may mean making a break with the past. "Everybody always wants to come to Atlanta," he said. "I feel like if they change the name, the city would be a little more receptive to it."

Staff writer Eric Stirgus contributed to this story.