Buckhead Spring Arts Festival

I love the location of this arts festival. It was my first time checking them out since moving to ATL and happy that I went. My friend Panida S. lives in the area so we were able to walk over with her dog, Bunker and had a blast this past Sunday.
It’s a super family friendly festival. Even more so than other popular ones held throughout the year in other parts of Atlanta. The type of «talent» they attract is equally as great as the type of artists/​entrepreneurs you see at the Dogwood Festival. It’s nice to also see a variety of food trucks that were invited to «set up shop» in certain areas throughout the festival path. I’ve never been to a food truck park so it was my first time checking out some of the vendors thanks to this festival.
This festival attracts positive people, vendors and enterainment. I’m sure I’ll return next year. It did fall on Mother’s day weekend so I’m not sure if that’s a recurring theme but either way, the entire experience/​visit was great! Highly recommended!

There was ample parking when I arrived around 1:30 pm. The walk to the actual Festival from the red lot was quite short. There were many trees which softened the heat as patrons walked to different booths. The Festival wasn’t crowded but there weren’t many booths and food options either. There were some food trucks there and there were samples of pizza and Greek yogurt given out. I liked that I was able to take my time walking from booth to booth without having to squeeze between people or get pushed or run over by strollers. It was just too hot to go on a day with ~80 degree weather.

I have a summer bucket list every year and one of the recurring activities to do is to attend a local festival, but I struggle to check this one off some years due to my dislike of the high heat, huge crowds and traffic/​parking issues at Piedmont Park for the Dogwood Festival and others. Smaller (and shadier) venues just appeal to me more.
The Buckhead Spring Arts Festival is perfect for a casual Saturday or Sunday afternoon activity. Held the weekend before Mother’s Day (convenient for gift shopping), the festival takes place on Park Drive, a long, mostly shaded, gently elevated road tucked away at the back of Chastain Park. There were probably 100 to 150 exhibitors, which ranged from fine art original paintings to framed photography to sculpture, woodwork, jewelry and craft vendors. Prices were exceptionally reasonable compared to other arts festivals I attend with many pieces in the $ 10 to $ 50 range or even less. I picked up a beautiful beaded bracelet for just $ 7!
There is a food truck park at the tail end of the festival, with many local favorites like King of Pops, Yumbii, several local BBQ vendors etc with a myriad of options at reasonable prices for all tastes.
Kids will love this festival as there is a separate dedicated kid zone near the permanent playground with arts and crafts activities like making sand filled bottles plus a dozen or more inflatable play structures to ride, along with an awesome jumping apparatus called the spider jump where kids — fully harnessed up– were launched 20 plus feet in the air off of trampolines. How I wish this was for adults too! There are fees for these activities based on a ticket system.
Fun spring family or couple activity, free to attend and free to park, in the shade and a reasonable size with a wide variety of exhibitors. My bf and I had a wonderful afternoon outing today and we both said we will really look forward to next year’s festival. Loved it!

Going to art festivals is one of my hobbies, so I have solid opinions on what elates and pisses me off about them. What I hate most is crowds of people double-​fisting plastic cups of Miller Lite pouring into the booths and blocking my view. Luckily the Buckhead Spring Arts Festival maintained steady, healthy foot traffic that added to the event’s energy but didn’t give me a panic attack. I also appreciated the booth’s set-​up through shady Chastain Park along just one side of the path; that way, I didn’t have to switch my view back and forth between booths or make a loop. One trip down the tented aisle, and I was through.
I found the art pricey overall – expected for the typically wealthy Buckhead demographic. I couldn’t resist purchasing a smaller piece by Best in Show winner Knick Knack Paddywhack, a woman who fashions sculptures from old toys and antiques. My sculpture comprises a glass granny head; an old teapot with handles on each side that look like hands on her hips; a tin torso; a block of bobbins (Get it? My name is Bobbin…); and dangling movable legs.
The Buckhead festival was more about the art and less about hanging out in the park and getting drunk. There can be benefits to both scenes – I just like knowing what I’m getting into.

Do you avoid a lot of the festivals around town because you hate strollers constantly ramming in to your heels and waiting forever to get a bite of overpriced food? Yeah, me too. Well, unless I have to work the festival, which is usually the case.
The Buckhead Spring Arts Festival was, quite literally, a breath of fresh air. Located along the shady and winding walk in Chastain Park, I’m pretty sure this is the perfect place to have a festival. The tree cover meant it never got too sunny or hot and the long meandering path meant that there were no bottlenecks and it felt more like taking a wonderful walk through the woods than dealing with typical festival shenanigans.
There was a steady crowd all day, but it never reached obnoxious levels. People were encouraged to bring their dogs, which just added to the festivity of it all. The vendors and artists covered an impressive array: from crafty stuff to fine art, there was a lot to look at.
I’m really looking forward to the future festivals that these organizers are putting together later in the year on Ponce and in Piedmont Park. They seem to know what a neighborhood festival really should be all about.