The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After two years wandering in the desert, the Atlanta Jazz Festival will return to Piedmont Park’s promised land Saturday, May 29.
It will be the 33rd edition of this much-loved outdoor event, an Atlanta tradition that has been through ups and downs, and looks like it’s headed back toward the ups.
In late 2007, the jazz fest — and other major festivals — were invited to leave Piedmont for fear they would cause permanent damage to the drought-stressed green space. The jazz fest spent a season in downtown’s tiny Woodruff Park, which could hold only a fraction of the 150,000 entertained at past events. Last year brought the festival to the more-spacious Grant Park, but stormy weather kept attendance down.
“I’m so excited that it’s back,” said vocalist Kathleen Bertrand, an Atlanta native and a longtime admirer of the festival.
Bertrand sang with the late Paul Mitchell at the festival’s birth in the 1970s and, except for a time period when she was overrun with infants, has returned faithfully either as a listener or performer.
“Being in Piedmont Park is ingrained in my memory as what the jazz festival experience is about,” she said.
In fact, what’s not to like? Hundred-year-old oak trees shade the crowd during the hot daylight hours. The park’s durable turf accommodates listeners and their blankets and lawn chairs.
Revelers toast each other with beverages from coolers, while children chase Frisbees. And the music is pretty good, too.
“We’re thrilled that it’s back,” said Monica Thornton, vice president and chief marketing officer with Piedmont Park Conservancy. “It’s one of those beloved events at the park.”
Thornton said the conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the park, has invested nearly $100,000 in the past two years sinking two wells that produce up to 50 gallons a minute. That water source will help keep the park green in the event of extended dry weather, she said.
The conservancy also installed a “smart” irrigation system that senses the needs of the turf and responds accordingly. “It detects the level of moisture in the ground, turns itself on when needed and then turns itself off.”
Camille Russell Love, director of the city’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs, said if weather and visitors behave, this year should live up to 2007, which she considers the best festival ever. Behaving, on the part of visitors, would include taking MARTA to the fest, or at least not parking illegally, and cleaning up afterward.
Midtown resident David Heany, president of the Ansley House Condo Association, would like to see a cleaner jazz crowd, but these festivals are usually not tidy, he said. Among Piedmont events, “the jazz festival is the filthiest one,” he said. “There is more garbage left behind, more bad parking, more fast food [trash on the ground].”
Love noted that “we’re not going to be able to satisfy everyone. But we’ll try to ensure that, the day the festival is over, the next day you come in, the festival grounds are clean.”
Love said no city funds are used to stage the event. Longtime sponsors, such as Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch and new sponsor American Family Insurance, make the festival possible.
Traditionally staged over the three days of Labor Day weekend, the festival was clipped back to two days several years ago. It may expand, but not until more sponsorship money turns up, said Love. “We cannot program what we can’t pay for.”
Among the performers this year will be Trombone Shorty, Marcus Miller, Diane Schuur, Jason Marsalis, Stanley Clarke, Spyro Gyra and the Rialto Jazz for Kids All-Star Jazz Band, led by Georgia State University’s Gordon Vernick and composed of top students from five middle schools.
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