ATLANTA — Watch the parade live, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYMDd_qP1I
Atlanta is bracing for a massive party on Friday, as the city celebrates its newly-minted champion Braves with a World Series parade.
The parade's will offer essentially three distinct areas for people who want to see the celebration to target: Downtown, Midtown and the area of Cobb County south of the stadium.
Depending on which area you want to target, there are a number of good places to watch the parade from. But, be warned: Huge crowds are expected, and there aren't necessarily a ton of great public viewing points along Peachtree Street in Atlanta or Cobb Parkway near the stadium.
These areas will get packed fast, so plan to be where you want to be extremely early, and have a plan for getting in and out: If you're driving, you'll have to park (almost surely at a private pay lot) and walk a ways. Heading into Downtown or Midtown, it would be much easier to take MARTA.
With that in mind, here are some good places to catch a view:
Downtown
- Woodruff Park: The parade starts at the park's south end, the corner of Peachtree Street and Marietta Street. It's very initial stretch will go up Peachtree on the west side of the park. Again, though, this is an obvious spot to catch the parade - it's going to be super crowded.
- 100 Peachtree Plaza/International Peace Fountain: These are little plazas on either side of Peachtree at the corner of Luckie Street/Auburn Avenue, at the north end of Woodruff Park.
- Outside Georgia Pacific Tower/Margaret Mitchell Square: There's a sizeable plaza at the foot of this big Downtown skyscraper. Across the street is a little peninsula of a plaza that juts out to the corner where Peachtree Street meets Forsyth Street.
- Hardy Ivy Park/SunTrust Plaza: The route goes through a pretty congested part of Downtown until it curves into this area just past Baker Street. This might be one of the very best spots, with the open Hardy Ivy Park (identifiable by the Carnegie Monument at its south corner) running the length of the block up to W. Peachtree Street, and on its opposite side the sprawling SunTrust Plaza (identifiable by the Olympia Ballet sculpture.) The SunTrust Plaza wraps around the corner offering viewing spots all the way up to where Peachtree Center Avenue feeds in from behind at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
- Little park where Ralph McGill Blvd. turns into Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd.: It's just a little corner park before Peachtree passes over I-75/85, about a block up from where the SunTrust Plaza ends
Midtown
- Outside St. Luke's Episcopal Church/parking lots across the street: There's a long stretch of Peachtree that's okay for finding a spot (but really probably only okay at best). The church grounds are fenced off and a fence divides the parking lot from the sidewalk, which limits space.
- Outside Emory University Hospital Midtown: There are plaza-like areas outside the hospital running basically from Pine Street to Linden Avenue, but really we'd advise against planning to watch the parade here: The hospital is still going to be active, and they may try to discourage people from gathering too heavily.
- The Ponce Triangle/Fox Theatre: Again, this is dicey - this whole stretch of Midtown is a risky proposition, really. But there is some space outside The Ponce Condominium building at the corner of Peachtree Street and Ponce De Leon Avenue, as well as The Georgian Terrace Hotel a few steps away, across from the Fox.
- Corner of 4th Street and Peachtree Street: There's a parking lot on one end which creates a sizeable open space, and diagonally across is a small park area that runs most of the block up to Saint Mark United Methodist Church.
- Big Parking Lot between 5th and 6th Streets: The parking lot starts at 805 Peachtree St. and runs the length up to 6th Street, where there's a QuikTrip at the corner.
- Margaret Mitchell House/plaza at 999 Peachtree: This is where the parade finally reaches 10th Street and ends, so it'll be prime real estate. Still, there's some good viewing points here. Additionally, there are open plazas across the intersection at the Federal Reserve building and 10th Street Park.
Cobb County
The stretch of Cobb Parkway the team plans to run a parade route toward the stadium isn't exactly designed with foot traffic in mind.
But, starting at Riverwood Parkway, there's a bunch of shopping plazas with big parking lots where in theory you could get a good view.
Around the Cobb Galleria Centre might specifically offer some viewing points to station at in the approach to the ballpark.
There's also, of course, The Battery: The team's exact approach toward the stadium isn't clear, and it's going to be super crowded, but if you lined up along Circle 75 Parkway you could also get a good view.
