Fresh Loaf

A fire that ignited outside Atlanta’s Masquerade Music Park Saturday night has been extinguished, with no reported injuries. The fire did destroy a storage space separate from the music venue.

Around 10 p.m., three Atlanta Fire Department engines responded to the venue’s open-air music park.

Witnesses said they walked outside to find plumes of smoke billowing from the the rear of the venue. Another witness standing in a nearby parking lot said he saw smoke as well. He said he walked to the rear of the venue and found flames had already engulfed trees and were spreading to nearby booths.

Firefighters managed to contain the blaze to a fenced-in area that stored portable toilets. All of those toilets — an estimated 20 — appeared to be destroyed.

The main venue, which tonight was hosting a punk rock showcase, was not impacted.

Firefighters did not immediately know what caused the fire. The fire, witnesses said, appeared to have started in the portable toilet storage area.

CL attempted to take a photo of the damage but was told by firefighters we were not appropriately dressed to enter the scene. You know, because of the contents of the burnt portable toilets and the fact that we were in sandals. Tessa from Drive a Faster Car has Twitter pics of the blaze.

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Annelise: My father reads the Declaration of Independence every Fourth of July out loud. We have it on our door. He pulls it down, reads it out loud to my mom, the dog and me. He’s a lawyer. It’s why our country was started, so we should remember it. I had a friend over last year and he read the Declaration of Independence. It was great. Then we went to the Waffle House afterward. Now that’s American. Then [for dinner] my mom makes a really big meal and we have an American flag ice cream cake. We’re very patriotic.

Bubba: I like to shoot guns on the Fourth of July to celebrate my freedom. Commie bastards come over to kill us. They’re continually slapping us in the face. I’ll shoot anything that moves — vermin, ’coons, squirrels, greys, beer bottles, armadillos, chickens. Then I eat a pig. I put an apple in his mouth. It’s traditional barbecue, man. And then maybe I’ll ride some motorcycles and watch some fireworks in the graveyard over there at Marietta Boulevard and hang out with the G.B.C. It’s a secret society, man.

Zeus: The independence of America is really the independence of so many other people and different cultures. So I try to spend time with as many friends from different cultures, because that’s what the United States is. If it wasn’t, it would be boring. It’s cool that you can walk through a neighborhood within a 10-block radius of Atlanta and see people from all over the world. Best day to do that is on the Fourth. Everybody barbecues, but every culture has their own dishes. They all bring a little bit of [it] home with them. It’s like, “Wow, I’ve been around the world today.”

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The July 4th weekend looks to be a hectic one in Atlanta. PRIDE is happening, so is a road race sponsored by the monolith-that-will-not-be-named, and the normally clogged streets of our one-horse town will be even worse.

MARTA plans to reroute some buses during the race and boost service for some of the events. Here are some details courtesy of the transit agency:

Peachtree Road Race
7 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Start of Race: Buckhead or Lenox Rail Stations
End of Race: Civic Center Rail Station

4^TH of July at Lenox Square
6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Lenox or Buckhead Rail Stations
Streets around Lenox Square will be closed starting at 6 p.m.

4^TH of July at Centennial Park
6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center or Peachtree Center Station Customers should expect delays on routes 1 and 11.

Atlanta Pride Festival 6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Civic Center Rail Station

Atlanta Braves Game and Fireworks
7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Five Points Rail Station
Catch the Shuttle from Underground Atlanta. The Shuttle returns to that location until the seventh inning. After the seventh inning, fans are taken to the Five Points rail station.

More info can be found at MARTA’s website.

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