Beltline breaks ground on new section, forecasts best Lantern Parade yet

As summer winds down, the Atlanta Beltline is prepping for a busy season, with a new link between several neighborhoods officially underway and the city’s most luminous tradition set for a comeback.

Northwest Trail—Segment 3B

While construction including site-clearing and utility location started weeks ago, Beltline officials, city leaders, and neighborhood governing officials held a formal groundbreaking this morning at Atlanta Technology Center for Northwest Trail—Segment 3B, a crucial connector into Buckhead.

The winding, one-mile stretch will use a pedestrian bridge to pass over Northside Drive and another bridge to swoop under Interstate 75, before linking with long-finished trails in Collier Hills and around Bobby Jones Golf Course. In between will be connections to Atlanta Technology Center and the Tanyard Creek concrete channel.

Looking south toward downtown, revised plans for a Beltline Northwest Trail—Segment 3 bridge spanning Northside Drive. Courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

The first portion of Northwest Trail—Segment 3 opened last summer between Trabert Avenue and Northside Drive, with Monday Night Brewery’s The Grove project in between. (Plans were unveiled earlier this year for another adaptive-reuse, retail pitstop along that section, too.)

Once finished, Segment 3 will span 1.2 miles total. It will link together multiple neighborhoods—Ardmore, Berkeley Park, Brookwood, Collier Hills, and Loring Heights—and connect to the completed Northside Trail and Tanyard Creek Park.

The Beltline’s construction schedule calls for Section 3B to be finished and open in late fall 2028. It was designed by KAIZEN Collaborative and is being constructed by Strack, Inc., with the PATH Foundation onboard as program manager.

Beltline leaders say 16.7 miles—or 78 percent—of the 22-mile project is now built and open, with the goal being to complete the northern corridor by 2030.

Atlanta Beltline Inc.

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Lantern Parade returns!

Believe it or not, Atlanta has been without its time-honored, most glowing community spectacular for nearly two and ½ years.

That’s set to change a week from Saturday (Sept. 19), when the 16th incarnation of the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade steps off in Southwest Atlanta, featuring what officials call an “expanded celebration” with more art, activations, pre-parade family programming, and a longer route to house it all.

The 2025 Lantern Parade was scheduled for May, but organizers made a rare last-minute decision to cancel it due to approaching, intense storms. To the disappointment of many Atlantans, the event was never rescheduled last year—and then bumped to September for 2026.

The parade—as presented by Atlanta Beltline Art and led by parade creator Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons—has changed, relocated, and adapted as more of the Beltline loop has been built.

That continues as the 2026 parade route will stretch nearly a half-mile longer through Southwest Atlanta than previous versions.

Overview of the Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade's 2023 incarnation in Southwest Atlanta. Photo by LoKnows Drones; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Art

Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade festivities in 2024. Photo by Erin Sintos; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Art

According to organizers, the parade will step off at 8 p.m. near Beulah Colbert Park (formerly Adair Park II). It will zigzag along multiple blocks of neighborhood streets before entering the Southwest Trail corridor at Allene Avenue.

From there, the parade will head north before ending at the Lee + White mixed-use district, where a large-scale jam session with numerous marching bands and the parade’s signature luminous puppets is scheduled to overtake a parking lot.

The route will feature activation stations by Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation, The Wrens Nest, Latino Community Fund (LCF Georgia), and Atlanta Freedom Bands. Plans also call for new, light-based artist installations and pop-up performances to illuminate the route—making the spectacle more than what’s marching through the crowd.

Lineup for the parade starts at Beulah Colbert Park at 7:15 p.m., and the musical puppet grand finale is scheduled to wrap sometime between 9 and 10 p.m.

Atlanta Beltline Inc.

Parade organizers will host lantern-making opportunities through next week for people who’d like to participate. Trees Atlanta will also put on a parade-day "procrastination station.”

Prior to the main event, Pittsburgh Yards is also hosting an Atlanta Beltline Kids Lantern Parade from 4 to 7 p.m.

Pets, flying lanterns, and drones are verboten at the Lantern Parade, and Beltline officials are strongly encouraging attendees to use alternate transportation options. Like, for instance, the recently completed Southside Trail.

Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons lead the 2023 Lantern Parade on the Westside Trail. Photo by Erin Sintos; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Art