Hey there, folks! Thanks for your interest in participating in Atlanta Pride 2024 with North Decatur UMC and the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church! This page exists to offer some instructions on ways to participate and how we will be getting from NDUMC to midtown on October 13th after church for the parade.
On the 13th, immediately following 10am worship, everyone from NDUMC who is attending pride is invited to drive over to the Avondale MARTA Station. You can make your way there by heading left on Church Street from the church, merging onto Sycamore drive - which will take you right up to Avondale Station. Free parking is available there, and everyone will purchase their own MARTA pass to take the train to midtown. You can either purchase a one-trip pass and another for your way back, or you can purchase a day-pass which will allow you to skip the line and just get on the train when you make your way home. We also highly encourage folks to download the Breeze Mobile App, which will allow you to purchase your MARTA pass in advance. Information on how to get and use the Breeze app can be found on MARTA's website here.
After purchasing a MARTA pass and making your way into the station, board a Westbound train and ride it to Five Points Station. At Five Points, we will all de-board the train and follow signs to the "Northbound" track, where we hop on a Northbound Train (either red or gold line is fine, it just needs to be northbound) and take it to Civic Center Station where the parade begins. Upon exiting the Civic Center Station, all who are wanting to march in the parade will follow Nanci, Dan, Jon, Connor, & Stephen to our spot in the Pride Parade with the North Georgia Annual Conference! We will be in Row C for staging, on W. Peachtree Street.
We invite anyone who is uninterested in marching or unable to march to still come with us to Pride, watch the parade, and take part in the festivities in Piedmont Park following the parade itself. Any youth between the age of 12 and 18 who wish to attend must either march in the parade with our group or be accompanied by a parent/guardian to watch. Any children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent/youth to march in or watch the parade.
Everyone is free to leave whenever they are done celebrating and make their own way back to North Decatur on the MARTA. The nearest station to the end of the parade at Piedmont Park is Midtown Station, a few blocks to the West of the parade's end on 10th Street. To get home from Midtown Station or any other MARTA station in that part of the city, simply take a Southbound Train of any color to Five Points and then an Eastbound Blue Line train back to Avondale Station. (it must be blue line to get back to Avondale)
We encourage those who ordered our new NDUMC shirts to wear them (be sure to pick yours up at church on 10/6 or 10/13)! If you don’t have one, we encourage you to wear one of our past NDUMC Pride shirts or something colorful. Also be sure to drink plenty of water, and have fun as we celebrate the image of God in our LGBTQIA+ siblings!