SoVo: Why Paul McCartney, but no Pride in Piedmont Park?
Thursday, June 25th, 2009The Southern Voice raises an interesting question about why a former Wings bassist and ex-husband of model Heather Mills can be allowed to play in Piedmont Park, but the Atlanta Pride Festival had to reschedule the summer event until October.
…due to restrictions on city parks put in place during the drought, the official Pride festival has been postponed until late fall. Instead, a coalition of LGBT organizations are hosting Stonewall Week events through Sunday.
The Paul McCartney show — announced on June 24 and scheduled for Aug. 15 — is widely expected to draw a crowd as large or larger than the 50,000 who turned out to see the Dave Matthews Band in September 2007 for the Piedmont Park Conservancy’s Green Concert series.
But according to city officials, the concert is not a “Class A” festival.
“The Piedmont Park Green Concert Series is a Class B event. It is also a gated and ticketed event so it does not fall under the outdoor event policy,” said Sharon Davis, spokesperson for the city’s Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs department.
SoVo goes on to say the city’s dangerously close to contradicting itself should Mills’ former husband draw a crowd larger than 50,000 people. Now, we’ve never heard of this McCartney character, probably because we don’t listen to country music. But whoever he is, SoVo does raise a good point.
