For the past several years, the Atlanta Black Pride Festival was held in Candler Park.
“We loved Candler Park, but it was small and we outgrew it in 2019,” said Amber Moore, COO and vice president of Atlanta Black Pride.
After pausing the festival in 2020 to regroup, Atlanta Black Pride officials decided to move the festival to Central Park and to expand the festival to two days, rather than the one-day event it had been for decades.
“That’s what the community said it wanted,” Moore said.
The pivot to a two-day format also allowed the organization to expand its programming and entertainment line up for this, its 25th year. But the enduring pandemic also forced organizers to adapt. Indoor symposiums and events at the Marriot Midtown Suites Hotel over the weekend had strict masking requirements.
Crowd-pleasers such as the fashion show that usually plays to a packed audience, only allowed a limited number of attendees, in order to comply with COVID precautions. And while masks at the outdoor Central Park festival were not required, they were, however, strongly encouraged, Moore said.
There was also COVID testing as well as HIV testing at Central Park both days.
“We want to make sure our community is as safe as possible,” Moore said.
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