Monday, September 28, 2009

An Unspooky Sunday in Oakland Cemetery


Sue Rodman, author of Field Trips with Sue recently won the honor of being named the Nickelodeon Parents' Pick for Best Local Blog and always has interesting and inexpensive things to do with the kids. I thought this was a good time to reintroduce you to her blog as it is one of my favorites for kids activities.

What: Sunday in the Park
Where: Oakland Cemetery
When: Sunday, Oct. 4, 12 - 6 pm
Cost: Suggested donation is $3 per person, Under 3 is Free

A cemetery may not be the first place you think of for a lovely Sunday in the Park, but Oakland Cemetery is no ordinary cemetery. This Sunday they are celebrating the 30th annual Sunday in the Park festival. Sunday in the Park is a Victorian street festival offering fun and entertainment for all ages.

The children’s area features crafts and old-fashioned games. Oakland’s traditional Teddy Bear Tea entertains kids of all ages with storytelling by well-known Atlanta storyteller Cathy Kaemmerlen as Miss Sara Dipp A Tea. We saw Cathy do her rendition of "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" at Artspooloza and she was FANTASTIC! Other children’s entertainment includes: The Bubbleman, Ruby the Clown, Fancy the Face Painter and a kid’s scavenger hunt.

The festival isn't just for kids. Activities include Doug Lothes and his performance of Gone With the Wind in Twenty Minutes at Lion Square Stage. There will be a variety of live musical entertainment on Lion Square Stage (including Lonesome Redwing, Handsome Roy Glenn Key and Friends, Bone-A-Fide Slides and Hicks with Picks). Throughout the cemetery, guests will enjoy an artists market, living history demonstrations, storytellers, Irish dancers, The Harmony Express Barbershop Quartet, Big Bethel Heaven Bound Choir, Vauxhall Garden Variety Players and more!

Guests are encouraged to participate in the Victorian costume contest and photography contest. Carriage tours and free walking tours (with an opportunity to enter some of the magnificent mausoleums) will be offered. I had the opportunity to take the Civil War tour at Oakland this summer. It was an unusual, interesting and memorable history lesson.

Free parking is available outside the cemetery gates and in designated parking lots (Grady Health systems parking lot behind the Kin Memorial MARTA station on Grant and Barnet Performance parking lot at 465 Memorial Drive.)

Sponsors for Sunday in the Park include: Six Feet Under, Stella Neighborhood Trattoria, A.S. Turner & Sons, The Stacks, Craft Creation & Design, LLC, Atlanta INtown and Tin Lizzy's.

2 comments:

Sue Rodman said...

Thank you so much. I appreciate the kind words and the post. Sue

Steve Barton said...

This is a great event -- we have been several times -- and it is fun for all ages.

The tours of the cemetery at Sunday in the Park include the insides of many of the impressive mausoleums at Oakland. Normally they are not open.

Recommended!