Show your pride in a parade
Location: Atlanta Pride Parade
Date taken: October 13, 2013
It is easily the longest (about 2.5 hours) and most elaborate parade in Atlanta each year. Thousands of people line the streets for the Atlanta Pride Parade — one of the highlights of the annual Pride festival. Local businesses, politicians, corporations, places of worship, community groups, nonprofits and more create elaborate floats, don costumes and wave rainbow flags in support of equality for the LGBTQ community. It is, all at the same time, celebratory and emotional.
Stroll the streets with a glass of wine
Location: Kirkwood Wine Stroll
Date taken: September 27, 2013
Atlanta is home to numerous wine and beer festivals throughout the year, but none have quite the enthusiasm (and complimentary food!) of the Kirkwood Wine Stroll, which is held every September. In the heart of Kirkwood, a small commercial stretch along Hosea Williams Drive, all the businesses — from the car wash to the local pizza joint to the paint store — participate in the wine stroll. In addition to offering samples of wines, each stop serves up appetizers, pizza slices, bbq, desserts and other goodies to strollers. It’s a wine stroll brimming with neighborhood pride — and lots of glasses of wine.
Atlantans Hugh Malkin and Adam Wilson
Location: Tribute Lofts
Date taken: November 11, 2012
When Hugh Malkin moved back to his hometown of Atlanta in 2010, his job with Philips had him working with the Atlanta BeltLine, figuring out how to light its trails and rails. Soon, Hugh started noticing all sorts of events popping up along the BeltLine – events that were spreading simply by word of mouth. Nicknamed “Huge” and the social coordinator among his friends since high school, Hugh saw an opportunity and contacted his long-time friend Adam Wilson.
“Hugh had gotten back in town and was interested in creating some sort of social event site for Atlanta,” said Adam. “He messaged me to see if I knew someone that he could talk to about building a website. I said, ‘You can talk to me.’ We went out for a drink, saw the Social Network and decided to start something. ”
Hugh and Adam have known each other since childhood – their families hung out together and the two Roswell natives became good friends when they were self-described “band nerds” at Roswell High School. With Hugh’s passion for Atlanta events, places and happenings and Adam’s knowledge of software, the two Georgia Tech grads created HUGEcity.us in January 2012 to help connect people with events in Atlanta.
The site, which utilizes Facebook’s public events to create calendar listings, has become one of the most popular places to find out what is happening in Atlanta and in cities around the world. Thousands of people are logging onto the site each day. Atlanta, where HUGE city started, is the only city (for now) with its own e-mail – events hand-picked by Hugh.
“This city has so much to offer, and most people don’t know about it,” said Hugh, who was born in Houston but moved to Atlanta as a child. “Atlanta might not have the best of anything, but we have a little of everything. HUGE city provides people with the opportunity to find out about events, celebrate where they live and share their experiences.”
Next up for HUGE city – creating a mobile app. Adam, a third generation Atlantan, works full-time for HUGE city and is focused on getting the app up and going sometime early next year.
“Imagine sitting at Dark Horse Tavern in the Virginia-Highlands and wanting to find out about events nearby. How do you find out? Facebook has all the events, but no discovery mechanism,” said Hugh. “An app will allow people to pull up all that information up on their phones easily. With all that is happening with technology, it’s exciting – the connections that are being made. Exciting things are happening to connect people.”
Check out HUGEcity.us to learn about events in your city or go to Facebook and connect with the HUGE city app. Atlantans can subscribe to a weekly events e-mail created each week by Hugh Malkin.
Take a chili taste test
Location: 2012 Chomp and Stomp in Cabbagetown
Date taken: November 3, 2012
Bring your appetite. Bring an extra hand or two. Bring a water bottle and maybe some cornbread. And, of course, bring a friend. The annual chili cook-off in the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta features booth upon booth of chili for tasting. Wander down two streets filled with everyday Atlantans who are eager to serve up their homemade chili (and maybe win a trophy for their efforts) and a third street featuring local restaurants. With a spoon in hand, you can spend an hour or more sampling chili (for veggie options, look for the green balloons). Your sample cup might be filled with pumpkin inspired chili, chili so spicy you’ll need that water bottle and cornbread, curry infused chili, chili served with popcorn (see the Plaza Theatre tent) or good old fashion chili that’s perfect for a fall Saturday in Atlanta. Hungry yet?
Atlanta Heydays 
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