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Climate: Atlanta enjoys a mild climate year-round. Cold weather does not occur until late October. The average temperature is 64.2 degrees with about 4.2 inches of rain each month. Is rarely snows in Atlanta, a small flurry that melts immediately upon hitting the ground often becomes the primary story in local newscasts and people may feel uncomfortable driving in such weather. I have highlighted the months of your stay, You will find hiking, jogging, golf and many other outdoor activities available year-round regardless of the weather.

Average Annual Weather

Source: The Weather Channel, 2002

Population:     4,112,198 
Georgia 8.1 million
Atlanta 4,112,198 (metro) 430,000 (city)
Fulton County 816,006

Atlanta’s population is nearly 48% Caucasian and more than 44% are Black or African American. The median age is 33 and 50% of the population is female. Approximately 13% of the population speaks a language other than English in their home and more than 40% have at least a college degree.

Area History: As the end point for the southern tracks of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, Atlanta was originally named Terminus until 1843 when it was renamed Marthasville after the daughter of Gov. Wilson Lumpkin. In 1847, the city was renamed Atlanta, supposedly a feminine form of "Atlantic" probably created by an engineer with the Western & Atlantic. The city was incorporated in 1847.

By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Atlanta was a major railroad hub, manufacturing center and supply depot. But, in 1864, in order to cripple transportation between the South and the North, Union General William T. Sherman’s army burned all of the railroad facilities, almost every business and more than two-thirds of the city’s homes to the ground during his infamous "March to the Sea." Atlanta lay in ruins, the only major American city ever destroyed by war.

Atlanta’s first resurgence began soon after. Within four years of Sherman’s attack, the Georgia capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta and a drive to attract new business was underway. Colleges and universities began to open and by the late 1920s, a downtown business sector, ringed by residential districts, had taken shape giving Atlanta much of the distinct pattern it maintains today.

Atlanta and Georgia pre-empted much of the strife associated with the 1950s and ‘60s by taking the lead in the Southeast in strengthening minority rights. The city’s strongest identification with the movement was through its native son, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, with more than 80 million annual passengers. Easy access and affordable cost of living make Atlanta an ideal location for worldwide headquarters of several companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Cable News Network (CNN), Delta Air Lines, United Postal Service (UPS), The Home Depot Inc., Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. (TBS) the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Cultural info: Atlanta offers more cultural selections than any other Southeastern city. Atlanta has one of the nation’s top 10 symphony orchestras and a top-grade history center and botanical garden. Atlanta’s large theater community presents original premieres as well as classic theater. There is a versatile range of theaters in Atlanta, from the large Alliance Theater to the smaller 7 Stages to the improv theater, Dad’s Garage. The Alliance Theatre hosts hit shows such as Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, featuring Savion Glover. Atlanta’s High Museum of Art presents blockbuster visual arts exhibitions, such as Norman Rockwell, Van Gogh and Michelangelo. Atlanta offers powerful images of the Civil Rights Movement at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site and the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum attracts worldwide attention in its leadership and peacemaking role.

Current info about your area:

Expect to see a variety of improvements at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, including the name. In January 2004 the airport was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in tribute to the late Atlanta mayors William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson, both strong supporters of the airport and its continued growth. Other improvements include a $5.4 billion development program, which will identify, repair and upgrade designated areas within the airport’s facilities.

A fifth runway will be completed in late 2005, accommodating commuter aircrafts and helping eliminate congestion on the existing four runways. An additional terminal will be built, allowing passengers to access the landside without having to use an automated people mover. It will include access to roadway network, a parking structure, a provision for the southern MARTA extension to the terminal, and more. Enhanced road and rail access will be added and a consolidated rental car facility will be built to accommodate all rental car companies operating at the airport. Concourse E is expanding with 900,000 new square-feet, including international passenger ticketing facilities, ten additional gates, two levels of curb front parking and approximately 1,100 public parking spaces adjacent to the terminal. Lastly, an expanded airport people mover will provide direct access MARTA.
 

• The Coca-Cola Company has donated land across from Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta for the Georgia Aquarium and a new World of Coca-Cola – rounding out a major entertainment destination in Atlanta’s convention corridor.

The five million gallon Georgia Aquarium and the new World of Coca-Cola are anticipated to make the northwest section of downtown Atlanta a turnkey tourist district. The new attractions will complement the existing Centennial Olympic Park, Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, Tabernacle, CNN Center and Imagine It! Children’s Museum of Atlanta, creating a conglomeration of attractions in the midst of the revitalized downtown.

The Georgia Aquarium, at 5 million gallons and 400,000-square-feet, will be among the largest and most elaborate in the nation with more than 50,000 freshwater and saltwater fish and mammals. Slated to open in fall 2005, the facility will house a banquet room with the capacity to seat 1,200 for dinner and more than 12,000 for a reception, all with an excellent view of the aquarium. A $200 million contribution by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus has helped to underwrite what promises to be one of Atlanta’s most popular attractions.

World of Coca-Cola will be moving from its Underground Atlanta site to the new area beside the aquarium. Expected to open in late 2006/early 2007, the new 75,000 sq ft attraction will house more than 35,000 sq ft of exhibit space.
 

• The Atlanta History Center has begun construction on a new 20,000-square-foot wing dedicated to memorializing the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. The $10 million addition will be a highly interactive three-level museum and is expected to open in 2006 to coincide with the 10^th anniversary of the Atlanta Games. The facility will occupy 7,500 square feet and offer an exploration of Atlanta’s Olympic legacy – how the Games came to take place here and changed the city.
   
• The Woodruff Arts Center and the High Museum of Art have broken ground on a $130 million project to turn into world-class cultural destinations. The expansion project adds 177,000 square feet to the museum, more than doubling the size of the facility built by Richard Meier. Completed under Renzo Piano, the expansion will include two new galleries and an administration building for the High, a dormitory and sculpture studio for the Atlanta College of Art, an open-air piazza, a restaurant and a five-level parking garage. The three-building complex and piazza are projected to open in November 2005.
   
• Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta (CMA) opened its doors in March 2003. Located across the street from Centennial Olympic Park, the 30,000-square-foot museum features hands-on, colorful exhibits and activities, in which children can look, listen, touch and explore as they learn how things work in their world.
   
• Atlanta prepares for its first five-star hotel addition since 1992 as InterContinental Hotels, Inc. constructs a new property in Buckhead. Scheduled to open in November 2004, the 21-story property will feature 423 guest rooms, 23 suites, 26,000-square-feet of meeting space and the largest ballroom space offered by any five-star hotel, including a 6,185-square-foot junior ballroom and a 12,000-square-foot grand ballroom. Other facilities will include a 160-seat restaurant with an exterior terrace along Peachtree Road, a day spa and health club, an outdoor pool and a lounge area.
   
• Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has announced plans for a second W hotel, located in Buckhead on the site of the old Lenox Inn. Scheduled to open in 2006, the $160 million hotel will have 225 guest rooms with 120 condominiums on top, making it the second hotel in Atlanta to include a residential component (the Four Seasons in Midtown has 93 condos on its upper floors). Other features include a 200-seat restaurant, a parking garage, a 33,000-square-foot spa and health club and a 3,600-square-foot ballroom, according to the plans. A second phase for the property would add a second tower with another 180 condo units and 325 parking spaces, and would open in 2009.
   
• InterContinental Hotels Group has unveiled Hotel Indigo, a new boutique lodging brand designed to cater to guests who want their stays to be more memorable, as opposed to what they'd expect from larger, standardized brands. The brand is being developed primarily for conversion of existing hotels, which might not be reaching their full potential, in a variety of markets. The first Hotel Indigo, a former Days Inn, is undergoing a $415 million face lift and is scheduled to open in Atlanta by the end of 2004.

Each year, metropolitan Atlanta hosts more than 17 million visitors from destinations worldwide. Of those, more than 27 percent visit Atlanta for the sole purpose of sightseeing. A large percentage of Atlanta’s 3.5 million annual convention delegates also tour the city’s major attractions before or after their meetings. Filled with a wealth of attractions and activities, metropolitan Atlanta offers something for every visitor. Some of Atlanta’s well-known favorites include the Atlanta Cyclorama, CNN Studio Tours, Stone Mountain Park, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Six Flags Over Georgia and Zoo Atlanta.

Metropolitan Atlanta museums highlight the arts, the Civil War period, Atlanta and Georgia history, science and technology and African-American history. Recreational activities include train excursions, water and amusement parks, golfing, tennis, auto racing and more. Sports fans can cheer on the 1999 National League East Division Champion Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Falcons NFL football team, the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball team, the Atlanta Thrashers NHL hockey team, the Atlanta Silverbacks professional men’s soccer team, or the Georgia Force Arena football team. Art lovers may study an impressionist painting or a contemporary sculpture at the High Museum of Art; enjoy the graceful Atlanta Ballet, the oldest continuously operating ballet company in the nation; tap their toes to the music of an Andrew Lloyd Weber production and other Broadway musicals; or enjoy the Grammy Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

National Black Arts Festival

The National Black Arts Festival will take place July 16-25, 2004, and will include more than 1,000 artists from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Americas presenting music, literature, theatre and performance art, film, dance, visual art and folk art. For more information, call 404.730.7315 or visit www.nbaf.org.

Yellow Daisy Festival

More than 400 artists will travel to Stone Mountain Park for the Yellow Daisy Festival, Sept. 9-12. Voted by Sunshine Artists magazine as one of the nation’s top 10 arts and crafts show, the festival features open-air shopping, live entertainment and food. For more information, call 770.498.5633 or visit www.stonemountainpark.com.

Atlanta Greek Festival

The Atlanta Greek Orthodox Cathedral invites you to be Greek for a day at the Atlanta Greek Festival, also in September. The festival offers a unique way to experience one of the oldest cultures in history. Visitors are invited to sample authentic Greek wine and cuisine, including souvlaki, moussaka, kabobs, gyro sandwiches and a variety of Greek pastries. A Greek function would not be complete without plenty of music and dance. A shopping bazaar offers authentic Greek items such as clothing, ceramics, copper, books, jewelry, handmade tapestries and needlepoint and original artwork by international, national and local artists. Other festival highlights include cooking demonstrations and a children’s entertainment tent. For more information, call the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation at 404.633.7358 or visit www.atlgoc.org/festival.

Sweet Auburn Festival

More than 250,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Atlanta Fantastic Weekend

Sept. 17-19. Held in conjunction with the Atlanta Football Classic weekend, the Sweet Auburn area will hum with visitors from around the Southeast. Five stages will feature Atlanta’s best gospel, jazz, blues and hip-hop. Events include children’s fantastic fun area, a technology expo and an international vendors market. Two festival favorites are the Atlanta Classic Car Show and the "Taste of Sweet Auburn," featuring the best soul food Atlanta has to offer.

Sweet Auburn is one of Atlanta’s historic African-American neighborhoods and is the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the home to landmark churches, such as Big Bethel A.M.E. and Ebenezer Baptist. From the 1890s through the 1940s, "Sweet Auburn" was the thriving center of black enterprise. Today, "Sweet Auburn" is thriving once again, with a resurgence of businesses, shops, galleries and nightlife.

Held on April 9-11, 2005, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival is a showcase of springtime in Atlanta featuring local artists, crafters and musicians. 2005 will represent the festival’s 59^th year in Atlanta, making it the longest running festival in the city. Annual events include a canine Frisbee event, hot air balloon races, a children’s festival and a 5K, road race. For more information, visit www.dogwood.org.

Celebrate in Atlanta’s oldest neighborhood at the Inman Park Festival each year during the last weekend in April. Located along Euclid and Edgewood avenues, this Victorian neighborhood plays host to one of the largest neighborhood festivals in Atlanta with live entertainment on several stages and vendors from all over the Southeast. Festivities also include a Tour of Homes and a crazy parade on Saturday, blending the eclectic atmospheres of Inman Park and nearby Little Five Points. For more information, call 770.929.4299 or visit www.inmanpark.org.

Music Midtown celebrates its eleventh year as an Atlanta’s trademark music event. From April 30-May 2, this three-day musical event features more than 130 national, regional and local bands on seven stages, a children’s stage, arts and crafts from artists in Georgia and the Southeast and a blend of food offerings from Atlanta’s favorite restaurants. 2003 performers included: Sheryl Crow, LL Cool J, Tony Bennett, Def Leppard, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Bob Dylan, to name a few. For more information call, access www.musicmidtown.com.

Set on the Atlanta street famous for its role in the civil rights movement, the 2005 Sweet Auburn SpringFest held May 6-8, features ten stages of continual entertainment including gospel and jazz, floral displays for the garden show, street vendors, a parade of cultures and more. For more information, see the Web site at www.friendsofsweetauburn.com.

The Atlanta Jazz Festival

A musical showcase, celebrating jazz legends and up-and-coming jazz greats comes to stages throughout Atlanta during the largest free jazz festival in the country held annually over Memorial Day weekend at Piedmont Park. The festival brings more than 100 of the best jazz performers to Atlanta for nine straight days and features a Free Weekend Concert Series at Piedmont Park, a special benefit concert at Chastain Park Amphitheatre, the best in soul food, ethnic cuisine and American cooking and an expanded arts and crafts market. For more information, visit the festival Web site at www.atlantafestivals.com.

Summerfest takes place annually on the first weekend in June, in the heart of Atlanta's historic Virginia-Highland, an eclectic neighborhood known for its diverse mix of nightlife, galleries, restaurants and unusual shops. Centered around the intersection of Virginia Avenue and North Highland,

this two-day festival includes more than 200 artists booths, the "Taste of Virginia-Highland" Food Market, which includes treats from the neighborhood's hippest restaurants, live local music, a Kidsfest play area, and a Saturday morning 5k run and Tot Trot. For more information, visit www.vahi.org/summerfest.

State/Area Trivia and Interesting or Little Known Facts:
Atlanta has...

• 130 retail centers
• 951 shopping centers; a person would have to visit three a day to see all of them in a year
• 57 public golf courses
• 54 public parks
• 100 streets with the name Peachtree
• largest toll-free telephone dialing area in the world (7,000 square miles of toll-free calling)
• largest suburban office park in the United States, Perimeter Center (3.5 million square feet of office and retail space on 400 acres)
• largest cable-supported domed stadium in North America, the Georgia Dome
• 14^th largest mall in the country – The Mall of Georgia
• world’s largest bas-relief sculpture and the world’s largest exposed mass of granite at Stone Mountain Park
• largest federal regional concentration outside of Washington, D.C.
• largest 10K race in the world, the annual Peachtree Road Race with 55,000 runners
• oldest continually operating ballet company in the nation, the Atlanta Ballet since 1929
• longest escalator in the Southeast at MARTA’s Peachtree Center station, 192 feet
• largest unsupported escalator in the Southeast at CNN Center, 8 stories tall
• tallest hotel in North America, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, 73 stories; 723 feet tall
• tallest building in the Southeast, Bank of America Plaza, 55 stories; 1,023 feet tall
• second-largest theater organ in the nation, at the Fox Theatre
• more shopping center space per capita than any other U.S. city except Chicago

Information and photos submitted by:

Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau 
233 Peachtree Street, Suite 100 
Atlanta, GA  30303
404-521-6600 | Website | Email

 

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