By Sarah Meiselman
With summer on its way, North Springs students will all have a lot of extra free time, which is why I decided to make a list of fun activities to do to stay active and drive off boredom.
Outdoor activities:
When I think of summer, I imagine lathering up in sunscreen and going outside to enjoy the sunny skies, so here are some outdoor activities to use to appreciate the heat. First, you can gather friends to walk or bike the Atlanta BeltLine with. The BeltLine is a sustainable redevelopment project downtown with a goal of creating a web of 1,300 acres of public parks, 33 miles of multi-use trails, and 22 miles of transit along 22-miles of unused railroad tracks circling the area. Its many trails and parks currently open can be found at https://beltline.org/places-to-go/. Along these trails are restaurants, local shops, public art displays, and open-air markets, including Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market (more on these later). Also along the BeltLine are doors part of the Tiny Doors ATL art project. This project has installed six-inch doors around Atlanta, encouraging people to explore the city for each door and posting pictures of them on social media, and the most popular doors are conveniently located along the BeltLine’s trails.
If the BeltLine is too far from you, you may have better luck walking or biking the developing PATH400 Greenway Trail. Once complete, it will offer a paved 5.2-mile trail starting at the Atlanta BeltLine and moving north through Buckhead up to I-285 and the trail system in Sandy Springs. Presently, it is open in two disconnected sections. Its northern section spans about a mile between Wieuca Road and a busy retail area near the intersection of Lenox and Piedmont Roads, mostly parallel to Georgia 400 but buffered from the roadway by trees. Its southern section spans another mile in the Lindbergh neighborhood between Miami Circle NE and the intersection of Adiva Drive and Piedmont Road.
A third fun outdoor activity in Atlanta is the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with the last entry being at 8 p.m., this is a garden home to plants that are “cultivated for display, education, research, conservation, and enjoyment,” in the words of the garden’s own website. With beautiful pathways perfect for friends or family, this is a perfect summer activity. Additionally, from now until September 17, the garden is hosting Thomas Dambo’s all-new traveling exhibition titled Trolls: Save the Humans. This exhibition features giant trolls ranging from 15 feet tall to 25 feet wide, all made of reclaimed wood. They are meant to convey a message of sustainability and the importance of recycling. The garden is located adjacent to Piedmont Park in Midtown and tickets to it for adults cost $26.95 on weekdays and $29.95 on weekends.
A final enjoyable outdoor activity in Atlanta is the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Stretching 127 acres of forest, wetland, and river habitat, this center is complete with hiking trails, indoor and outdoor venues for a variety of events, educational experiences including school and scout programs, and a wildlife clinic that rehabilitates injured birds of prey, reptiles, and amphibians. It also recently put in ziplines and canopy walk.
Art:
Along with many outdoor activities, Atlanta has several interesting events and museums centered around art. First, there is the High Museum of Art found at 1280 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. The last ticket each day is issued one hour prior to closing, and the hours for each day are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The museum is closed on Mondays. Tickets currently cost $16.50 but will rise to $18.50 beginning on June 1. The museum features American, European, and African art, as well as decorative art and photography. In total, it has a permanent collection of over 11,000 pieces, many of which can be viewed from different levels of the four-story, glass atrium.
A second art museum in Atlanta is the Michael C. Carlos Museum. It holds collections from Africa, ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East, ancient Greece and Rome, the Indigenous Americas, South Asia, America, and Europe. Until August 6 of this year, the museum is also home to the Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, an exhibition focused on power of ancient Egyptian objects. The museum is located at 571 S Kilgo Cir NE, Atlanta, GA 30322 and is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from Noon to 5 p.m. Tickets for adults cost eight dollars.
A third art museum in Atlanta is the Museum of Design Atlanta, also known as MODA. It is the only museum in the Southeast devoted exclusively to the study and celebration of all things design. It regularly features exhibitions highlighting architecture, industrial and product design, interiors and furniture, graphics, fashion, and more. It is located at 1315 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, GA 30309 and adult tickets cost ten dollars. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays but opens Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 7 p.m.
A final place in Atlanta to go for art events is City Springs, located in the heart of Sandy Springs. This walkable city center has a theater to host plays and musicals, outdoor venues, a park, restaurants, and retail stores. Until May 21, it is hosting the Cats musical. Until November 18, every Saturday morning it is home to the Sandy Springs Farmers Market, which has fresh produce, artisan foods, and homemade pieces of art for sale. The center’s website, found at https://citysprings.com/, has a list of the many more events happening here.
Shopping:
Atlanta is also the perfect place to go shopping in. One great spot for this is Ponce City Market, which began reopening in 2014 after fully renovating an old Sears & Roebuck building dating to the 1860s. It has retail, office space, and dining, and most recently opened a residential section with flats. Its retail is open on Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its food hall is open on Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Among the markets many perks, it has a carnival on the roof, has restaurants featuring James Beard Award-winning chef’s food, and has beautiful views of the Atlanta skyline. The market is located along the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail.
Another market like this is Krog Street Market. It too is located along the Atlanta BeltLine, between Irwin Street and Edgewood Avenue in Inman Park. It is a historic 1889 building, once home to Atlanta Stove Works. It features a “living room” where shoppers can relax and eat after choosing from a large variety of delicious restaurants. It is open Mondays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
A final fun shopping center in Atlanta is the Battery Atlanta. It is specifically designed for Atlanta Braves fans before and after a game at Truist Park, but is open to anyone year-round. It brings baseball fans plenty of restaurants, retail stores and a music venue. It is located at the intersection of I-75 and I-285 in the Cumberland area. Its restaurants include Terrapin, Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q, Wahlburgers, PBR Bar & Grill, Antico, Goldberg’s Bagel Company & Deli, and Cru Food & Wine Bar and it revived the 1970s Atlanta’s Roxy Theatre as the Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre for music lovers to enjoy live entertainment at this 4,000-capacity venue. In terms of retail, this center is home to stores like the DressUp boutique, the sports fan-focused Mizuno Experience Center, the Harley-Davidson retail store for street bikers, and Sugarboo Designs for whimsical home decor.
Family Festivals:
If your family is looking for festivals to go to with young kids, like your younger siblings or cousins, Atlanta is perfect for that too. On Saturday, June 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Sunday, June 4 from noon to 5 p.m., the Chattahoochee Nature Center is hosting the Butterfly Festival for the first time. Tickets for the general public cost $25. The festival includes a butterfly performance, a guided experience through the exhibit with hundreds of native butterflies, a shop with host and nectar plants for butterflies and other pollinators available for purchase, a migration game throughout the festival that teaches about monarch migration, food, and live entertainment.
A second fun family festival is the Atlanta Ice Cream Festival at Piedmont Park at 10th Street & Charles Allen Drive. It is the festival’s 13th year running, and will be on Saturday, July 22 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is no entry fee, so people can support vendors as they wish. The festival has a variety of health and wellness engagement activities, kids’ zones, fitness routines, food and non-food vendors, and live local musical entertainment. Of course, it also has a lot of delicious ice cream to try.
Enjoy your summer!
I hope you found something you want to check out in this article, but either way, I hope you have a great summer! This past school year was a challenge, so let’s all use the summer to relax and rejuvenate.
