FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — An event advertised as "the greatest automotive experience" rolled into metro Atlanta Saturday as rapper Rick Ross held his second annual car show at his Fayetteville home.
Last year's event turned out to be a traffic nightmare with people stuck on roads in the area for hours, but this year, it was a much different story.
Last year, only six officers worked the event. This year, more than 100 officers from multiple counties were out in full force.
11Alive's Dawn White was allowed on Rick Ross' property for the car show, and it's a vantage point you'll only see on 11Alive.
Thousands of people pulled into Ross' home known as the "Promise Land" with cars as far as the eye could see.
“Oh my God. When we talk about last year, it's almost like you wake up to a bad dream. Traffic was horrible," City of South Fulton Police Maj. Marcus Dennard said.
Dennard said this year was much different due to lots of planning.
“Well, we started planning this for this thing about three months ago," Dennard said. "There are no cars parked on the side of the street in our neighborhood in the City of South Fulton. The residents, for the most part, are happy. I'm happy things are flowing straight. We talk about a wait time again, two hours compared to 15 minutes now."
Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb said officers helped to move traffic along smoothly by being stationed along roads and intersections close to Ross' mansion.
"They had to use one of five parking locations, and there were also some back up lots and they would take shuttle busses here. We've only heard from one or two neighborhoods with minor problems, and we've immediately been able to address it," Babb said.
Busses picked people up from lots and dropped them off at the car show.
“Everything has worked out because our South Fulton Police Department worked in conjunction with Rick Ross's team and we had a multi-jurisdictional task force that's come together and made sure that they had a plan for traffic control," City of South Fulton Councilwoman Linda Pritchett said.
No parking signs lined roads for miles in Fayette and Fulton counties.
50 Yard Line Breakfast and Sports Bar owner Harriett Bryant said people going to the car show blocked the parking lot last year, and they had no customers. This year, business is booming.
“It was like night and day," Bryant said. “It was great for the businesses here in the Tri County Plaza. It was just a great experience. Everything worked out. Everything was orderly.”
Customer April Kennedy thinks this year's event was much smoother.
“I think it was a good thing for the community. You know, as far as you know, as a car show, the kids get to come out to see all the cars, the different cars, to see, you know, what it's like. You know, they have the old school cars," Kennedy said.
This is expected to be an annual event. Police agencies had a debriefing after the car show to look for any ways to improve it for 2024.