Piedmont Park: Early Evening Hike + Optional free Atlanta Symphony Concert

We AOC hikers & music lovers greatly enjoyed similar "combo events" in the park in 2013 and 2014.  By popular demand we're offering another midweek AOC Piedmont Park hike + free outdoor Atlanta Symphony concert!  An ASO "premiere" this time will be Queen's pop-classic hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody!"
As of today (Thursday) the Midtown weather forecast for this evening expects partly sunny skies, temperatures in the low 80s, and about a 40% chance of isolated showers, so I suggest that we each carry a lightweight poncho or umbrella!  We're definitely ON for the event, rain or shine.

IN a NUTSHELL:  Hope you can join us for this leisurely 2-mile hike through historic Piedmont Park, with a big bonus afterward! - a rare FREE outdoor ASO concert in the beautiful "Promenade" adjoining the Atlanta Botanical Garden.  We've found the perfect spot for enjoying the music (7:30 - 9:30 PM) on the shady hill beside the lawn.  It has excellent acoustics and a view of the stage through the trees.  (No problem if you don't have an advance-reserved printed ticket for formal free seating on the lawn!)  Feel free to split from the group at any time if you like, provided you let us know you're splitting.  We can easily direct you back to our meetup spot at Elmwood / Monroe Drive.

PARKING and other EVENT DETAILS:  In past years we've had no problem finding free parallel parking along Elmwood Drive, a quiet shady residential street just east of Piedmont Park - please follow my precise Directions below if you wish to try parking there.  We'll gather for the hike at 6:00 PM on the sidewalk at the corner of Elmwood and Monroe Drive.  From there we can easily walk together into the Park in about 5 minutes.  PLEASE BE ON TIME, allowing for Atlanta's insane rush-hour traffic.

On our 90-minute leisurely paced hike we'll explore the "wilder side" of Piedmont Park and visit lesser-known areas including the "Six Springs Wetlands" and some of the lovely heavily wooded pathways that adjoin the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Please plan to stay with us for the free Performance on the Promenade - you're sure to enjoy it!  (See suggested items below to bring in your daypack.)  ASO Assistant Conductor Joseph Young will lead the Orchestra in a concert of popular masterpieces under the stars featuring selections from Bizet’s Carmen, Bernstein’s West Side Story, and an ASO first - Freddy Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody (made even more famous by the hit movie Wayne's World)!  The "grand finale" at each of these ASO outdoor concerts is the time-honored tradition of dancing and singing to Sousa's Stars & Stripes Forever.

MORE about PIEDMONT PARK:  More then 125 years old, it became world famous in 1895 as the site of Atlanta's "Cotton States & International Exposition."  Volunteers from the Piedmont Park Conservancy deserve much credit for the Park's dramatic improvements and excellent maintenance in recent years. The thriving Atlanta Botanical Garden in the NW corner of the Park has also benefited the Park's popularity and reputation.  Check out http://piedmontpark.org/ for more information.  For a nice online Color Map of the 200+ acre park click the following link.  (Our AOC hillside seating spot for the concert will be where the "P" appears in the word "Promenade.")  http://piedmontpark.org/visit/Park_Map_07-11-print.pdf

DIRECTIONS to CORNER of ELMWOOD DRIVE & MONROE DR, assuming you're PROCEEDING SOUTHWARD via INTERSTATE I-75 or I-85 toward DOWNTOWN ATLANTA:  (For a map of this meetup spot click on the Blue & Green "LOCATION" icon near the top of this article.)

1. As you near the I-75/ I-85 interchange (which is ~2 miles north of downtown Atlanta) get into the second lane from the right side of the Interstate.
2. Avoid exiting onto the other Interstate, but as you pass the interchange bear right toward I-75 Exit #84 and exit there (for "17th St, 14th St and 10th St").
3.  Then bear leftward along the access road (a.k.a."Techwood Drive") for about 0.3 mile to the traffic light at 10^th Street (bypassing 17^th St and 14^th St en route).
4. Turn Left onto 10th Street and go 1.3 miles eastward to the traffic light at Monroe Drive (crossing Peachtree St, Piedmont Rd, etc. en route).
5. Turn Left onto Monroe Drive and go just 0.2 mile northward to Elmwood Drive, (The "Elmwood" street sign is slightly blocked by trees, but note the traffic light 1 block ahead at "Park Drive" - the east-side entrance street into the Park.)
6. Turn Right onto Elmwood Drive (eastward off Monroe) where (at least in the past) we've found plenty of parallel parking spaces along the street in this nice residential neighborhood. If you park on Elmwood Drive walk back to the Elmwood/ Monroe corner (east side of Monroe) where we'll meet between 5:45 and  6:00 on the sidewalk for the hike.

LAT/LON COORDINATES of ELMWOOD DRIVE "MEETUP CORNER" (GPS or Google Maps users can input this as your "Destination" to augment the above directions):  33.7847,-84.3676
The street address at this corner is 601 Elmwood Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30306

Free event, with free entrance into the Park, free Concert Viewing, and free (suggested) parallel Parking along Elmwood Drive.