#26 - Sweetwater 420 Festival

It didn't take long for my thirst for "festivaling" to come biting back....Sunday afternoon I headed to the Ninsters to carpool down to Candler Park for Sweetwater 420 Fest.

I purposefully made the trip on Sunday in an attempt to avoid a packed out festival days prior. To be honest, I wanted room to shake my groove thang. Fact. But seeing as we had another beautimous day and there are no alcohol sales on Sunday in the great state of Georgia, Candler Park clearly had a different agenda for me! The park was packed to the max with vendors, food and local musical artists the entire day. Surprsingly I was not bothered by the crowd at all, despite my original mindset.

 

We found street parking pretty easily, but I recommend taking MARTA to avoid the stress of remembering which street you parked on, and if you're going to get towed on a Sunday (that would make for an interesting work debut Monday morning...boo).

While the festival is advertised as FREE, you must pay $5 for a wristband if you're planning to drinkity drink. I willingly paid the $5 and thanks to our 99X buds, the Ninster and I got VIP wristbands that helped us avoid the $5 Sweetwater's and $6 corn dogs. Thanks boys!

I guess they were a bit reluctant at first...but we wore them down

For life

After meeting up with our OTP friends, we made our way through the maze of vendors. I realized after about ten minutes of walking that I was not prepared for the hottest day of the weekend. Note to self: long flowy tan dress + 80 degree weather = potential swet stains allllllllll over. Thank goodness for Loose Loosies's tent where I could find a cute new dress to sneaky snake into.  Vendor and friend photoshoot for your viewing pleasure....

New dress - soooo comfie

What a fantastic Sunday Funday we ended up having at Candler Park. Totally worth fighting through the crowd every once in a while for a beer or to pee pee for coco puffs. While I had a blast, I will admit it was second to Dogwood Festival. 420fest is more about the beer and food than the vendors, and that's one my favorite parts of the festivals. Their music blew Dogwood's out of the water, but I was still craving about 20 more tents full of local artists and maybe a new pair of earings for that perfect night out. All and all, this festival rocked and quenched my desire for a springtime Sunday Funday. I will leave you with the picture below....

Oh, and Bucket list worthy?  You betcha! Onto the next....

#25 - Dogwood Festival

After the shock wore off from RHPS the night before, I washed the stank off from my soccer game that a.m. and met up with Broder to walk down to Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park!

I was mucho thankful for not only a gorgeous 75 degree cloudless day, but also that the festival was no longer hosted at the Lenox Mall parking lot. Does anyone remember that?! It looked miserable from the confines of my car driving by last year, so I vowed to boycott the event until it came back to where it belongs....success!

Dogwood has been an active festival in Atlanta for 74 years, and by golly I hope to be around for 174. Did I mention it is one of few Atlanta's festivals with FREE admission? Its endless green space welcomes vendors from all over the U.S., selling their trinkets and entertaining each visitor with their back-story on how it all began for them.

This event is HUGE, one of the biggest I have experienced in Atlanta yet. We didn't even head down until around 4:00 that afternoon, but the crowd had not yet subsided. Thankfully it wasn't shoulder to shoulder throughout the maze from entrance to exit....only a tight squeeze when people stopped to check out the yummy food, expensive booze ($5 Corona's, $8 margaritas and $3 bottled water....typical)  and some amazing artistic talent. Enjoy the photo montage below.

A Crepe station??? Well done, Dogwood

 Num, Num, Num

Inspired by The Beatles....I'm in love

Our favorite artists: Stephen J. Kasun in GA, HC Porter Gallery of MS & Xavier Nuez of CA

Stephen Kasun

My fav from his collection

H.C. Porter

Xavier Nuez

An hour or so later I started feeling the urge for some major noshing....and then a light began to shine from above, and I found my reason for living.....

....FUNNEL CAKES BABY!!

Man has it been a minute since I've endured the sweet succulent taste of a greasy festival funnel cake. Please take a moment to experience it with me....

At long last...we meet again...for $7

It doesn't get....

...any better....

...than THIS!

And now bro's turn....we were both in heaven...can you tell??

Before heading back to our opposite ends of the earth, we listened to a few tunes from a random white guy.....no seriously, he was literally all white.

Statue or real man? You decide. Wait, I was there so I will decide for you...it was a real dude.

 Dogwood festival is great for all ages....small groups, big groups, couples, besties, families, you name it. I'd hate to be the cleanup crew for this event, but it was a great way to eat some amazing food, get some exercise and catch up with my bro in between flights. Bucket list worthy? YES'SUM!

#24 - Plaza Theatre: Midnight Showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show

It's a well known fact that The Rocky Horror Picture Show has some of the most hilarious acting of all time.....at least it is to those in my generation. Years and years ago, Atlanta recognized the need for this movie to be reunited with its audience over and over and over again. So thanks to Plaza Theatre and Natalie's birthday the crew dressed up in our Rocky Horror gear and experienced the Midnight Showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

The crew minus Daniel - don't act like you're not impressed

 

In character

To give you some background, the Plaza Theatre is the last of its kind in Atlanta, as well as the oldest continuously operating cinema in the city. It opened its doors in 1939 as a 1,000 seat art deco cinema and live theatre. In the 1970's it turned into an adult cinema and live burlesque theater until its renovation in 1983 by George Lefont....who was the first person to bring independent cinema to Atlanta.....and the rest is history.

Back in the day

Present day

Now onto my experience....and I'm just going to go ahead and prepare everyone, this was pretty intense! Before you even walk into the theater you are greeted by several lingerie wearing hostesses with red lipstick in hand. "Have you ever been to the midnight showing of RHPS before," they ask? "Why no half naked stranger, I have not..." I responded. Seconds later I'm getting both cheeks kissed with red lipstick and a V on the forehead indicating that I was a newbie or "virgin" to the show.

Close up

We made it! Well, half of my face did anyway

After being briefed on the "Rules of the Plaza" we walked into the vintage theater and awaited the movie. In the interim, the staff gathers around and sells candy and raffle tickets and sets up some funny games up front to pass the time while the movie is being prepared. This takes a while, so if you get there a little after midnight no worries.

 Ideally I was hoping to reminisce on the flick I had only seen glimpses of several years ago, but it was a whole different ball game. Do not go into this movie like you do others.....the staff is either quoting or yelling explicit language in unison the entire movie! It was intense, but some of it was pretty hilarious and it was totally worth going to. Every time there was a pause in the script, or the camera zoomed in on Janet....someone (or everyone) on staff would yell out something super offensive to some but hilarious to many. If you want to know what was said you will have to check it out yourself, I'm keeping this blog PG rated people!

The best part was that each staff member posed as an actor/actress and performed on stage while the film was playing above. They provided a hilarious imitation of each cast member and created an interactive feel that kept us laughing our lips off.

Dancing was encouraged when "Let's Do the Time Warp Again" came on

The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays midnight every Friday night at the Plaza Theatre. Tickets are $8 a pop and the entire event lasts until about 2:30 a.m. If you are easily offended, you will want to stear clear of this event. If not, I recommend going to at least say you're not a newbie anymore. Bucket list worthy? Letttttttt's do the tiiiiiiiiiime warrrrrrrp again! I mean, yes :).