Archive for month: February, 2021

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Willy’s Mexicana Grill at Piedmont Park Under Construction for New Concept

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Willy’s Mexicana Grill at Piedmont Park has secured a lease with the Piedmont Park Conservancy for the Community Center vestibule area and will be constructing a new concept in the coming months. Willy’s Mexicana Grill existing restaurant will be operating out of a food truck starting February 23, 2021 and is expected to return to its brick and mortar location sometime in April.

For further questions, please contact Willy’s Mexicana Grill’s Vice President of Marketing Diana Holley at diana@willys.com.

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About Piedmont Park Conservancy
The Piedmont Park Conservancy is a member and donor funded nonprofit organization working in partnership with the City of Atlanta to maintain and enhance historic Piedmont Park. Founded in 1989, the Conservancy raises over $3 million each year to enhance and maintain the park. Today, the Conservancy manages over 90% of the overall maintenance and security of Piedmont Park.

Media Contact: Amy Han Risher
Director of Marketing, Communications and Public Relations
Piedmont Park Conservancy
E: arisher@piedmontpark.org
P: (404) 480-3758

Shake Shack Coming to Piedmont Park

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Shake Shack has secured a lease with the Piedmont Park Conservancy to open their sixth metro Atlanta location at Piedmont Park. Shake Shack will be located at the Piedmont Park Conservancy Community Center, directly adjacent to Willy’s Mexicana Grill at 1071 Piedmont Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30309.

“Shake Shack coming to Piedmont Park is a dream come true,” says Mark Banta, President and CEO of Piedmont Park Conservancy. “We can’t wait to see Park visitors enjoying classic roadside burgers and frozen custard shakes all year round. The Piedmont Park Conservancy’s new relationship with the family friendly establishment will enhance the Piedmont Park experience by adding more food options and a fun, upbeat environment. Landing this fantastic tenant was the direct result of the hard work of past and present Conservancy Board Members.”

The space is anticipated to host seating options as well as a Shack Track exterior walk-up window, giving guests a seamless pickup experience. The Shack Track experience is Shake Shack’s digital pre-ordering and fulfillment experience. Shack Track includes the ability to preorder via app or web and pick up by way of a walk up window, curbside pick-up or in-Shack pick-up shelves.

“We’re incredibly excited to be joining Piedmont Park,” says Andrew McCaughan, Chief Development Officer of Shake Shack. “Shake Shack started as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park in New York City and became a beloved community gathering place. Parks are a part of our history and supporting public spaces a core value as a company. We’re looking forward to serving guests of Piedmont Park and working with the Piedmont Park Conservancy to uphold the common ground’s iconic reputation.”

Shake Shack expects to open at Piedmont Park in late 2021 or early 2022.

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About Piedmont Park Conservancy
The Piedmont Park Conservancy is a member and donor funded nonprofit organization working in partnership with the City of Atlanta to maintain and enhance historic Piedmont Park. Founded in 1989, the Conservancy raises over $3 million each year to enhance and maintain the park. Today, the Conservancy manages over 90% of the overall maintenance and security of Piedmont Park.

About Shake Shack
Shake Shack is a modern day “roadside” burger stand known for its 100% all-natural Angus beef burgers, chicken sandwiches and flat-top Vienna beef dogs (no hormones or antibiotics – ever), spun-fresh frozen custard, crinkle cut fries, craft beer and wine and more. With its fresh, simple, high-quality food at a great value, Shake Shack is a fun and lively community gathering place with widespread appeal. Shake Shack’s mission is to Stand for Something Good®, from its premium ingredients and caring hiring practices to its inspiring designs and deep community investment. Since the original Shack opened in 2004 in NYC’s Madison Square Park, the company has expanded to more than 280 locations in 27 U.S. States and the District of Columbia, including more than 80 international locations across London, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Dubai, Philippines, Singapore, Mexico, Tokyo, Seoul and more.

Skip the line with the Shack App, a mobile ordering app that lets you save time by ordering ahead! Guests can select their location, pick their food, choose a pickup time and their meal will be cooked-to-order and timed to arrival. Available on iOS and Android.

Learn more: shakeshack.com | IG: @shakeshack | t: @shakeshack | facebook.com/shakeshack

Contacts

Piedmont Park Conservancy Contact: Amy Han Risher
Director of Marketing, Communications and Public Relations
Piedmont Park Conservancy
E: arisher@piedmontpark.org
P: (404) 480-3758

Shake Shack Contact:
Katie Scott | Shake Shack | kscott@shakeshack.com

Photographs

Lease Space Photo:

Shake Shack Photos:
https://shakeshack.sharefile.com/share/view/s3ee4608dcf2a4173a3f8772419b7ebe3

Four Adorable Piedmont Park Love Stories

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Piedmont Park is a go-to destination for dates, couples photos, weddings and more. Parks have a special way of kindling relationships and creating lifelong memories. This Valentine’s Day season, the Piedmont Park Conservancy rounded up four absolutely adorable love stories.

A Park for All Your Special Moments

“My husband and I were dating back in Dec. 2012. We decided to make it “official” while we were on a date at Park Tavern’s skating rink. Since our first “Skate Date,” as we like to call it, the park has held a special place in our hearts. We have returned almost every December for a skate date since. We used to live in Buckhead and would spend weekends picnicking in the park wishing that we lived closer. In 2014, we took our engagement photos at the park and used them for our wedding save the dates. In 2015, we bought a Goldendoodle with our wedding money and started frequenting the dog park and sponsoring a bone each year. In 2016, we decided to move to Midtown and live near the park, which is where we are now, just two blocks away! We recently had our first child and amidst the pandemic world, found sanctuary walking our baby in her stroller around the park almost daily during my maternity leave and now as a family every weekend since I’m back to work. The park is my favorite place!” – Tyler Keenan

World’s Tiniest Ceremony

“I have been with my partner for six years, and while we were in quarantine, he proposed. But we didn’t want to wait until the end of the pandemic to get married. We decided to plan the world’s tiniest wedding ceremony for the month after. Come October 2, 2020, we were standing in Piedmont Park, overlooking the lake with the skyline as the backdrop. Our parents and one best friend were in attendance, and my now-husband’s best friend since childhood married us. It was the best day of my life, and every time we visit the Park, that lovely memory washes over me.” – Grace Dent

From Dreaming to Fruition

“My husband moved close to Piedmont Park right after we first started dating long-distance. We spent every other Saturday morning (then nearly every one after I moved to Atlanta) walking through with coffees, talking, dreaming and planning. Two years later, I took one of the first photos of my engagement ring in the park with the Midtown skyline in the background. After waffling between venue disappointments, we were again walking through when he suggested that we should be married at Piedmont Park. It was our favorite place, after all! We ended up shooting our engagement photos in the park a few months before the wedding, too. I love that we have photographs of just us bundled up in the sleepy, wintry park and of us with our family and friends enjoying a beautiful spring day. We still visit the Green Market and park just about every weekend – and now we bring a stroller, too. Piedmont Park is so integral to our lives here, and we’re excited for our baby to love it as much as we do!” – Anna Kay Cope

A Piedmont Park Game Plan

“When we first fell in love, she was in Houston and I was in Atlanta. I knew the other half of my heart was in Atlanta, so I set out to convince her that Atlanta was a place she’d like to move. We’d go to Piedmont Park every weekend she visited. We would walk down 10th street and enjoying some wine sometimes but it was always Piedmont Park. People watching in the valley, watching doggies at the dog park, and my secret weapon: the Botanical Garden. Once I unleashed it’s full power, she knew it was futile to resist. She moved to Atlanta, and we continued going to the park every week pretty much ever since. We were married in April 2018 at Park Tavern and all of our family from out of state remarked on how beautiful the view of the park was and how festive it was to have dozens of families in the valley enjoying a park as the back drop to our wedding party. I owe it all to Piedmont Park for being the best place I have ever known to go kill time until the end of the world with ones you love.” – William Smartridge

Looking to host your next date at Piedmont Park?

If you are inspired by these love stories and want to make a love story of your own, check out our self-guided tours and plan a picnic at one of our several lawns. The Piedmont Park Conservancy offers three venues perfect for weddings, proposals and anniversaries, and all proceeds benefit our nonprofit mission to preserve and enhance the Park.

Story Behind Sidney Lanier Monument

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In 1866, Sue Harper, a 23-year-old from Brandon, Mississippi with a “shell-like complexion and violet eyes” met Civil War Veteran Livingston Mims from Jackson, Mississippi. They fell in love and were soon married.

The couple moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1876. After visiting Atlanta, Mrs. Mims fell in love with the city and persuaded her husband to move his business, the Southern Department of the New York Life Insurance Company, to Atlanta.  In 1879, the couple moved into their Queen Anne-style house at the corner of Peachtree Street and Ponce DeLeon Avenue.

Guests to their house, named “Heartsease”, included President Grover Cleveland (twice), President William McKinley and Jefferson Davis.

In 1901, Major Livingston Mims became Mayor of the City of Atlanta.

Mrs. Mims’ love of literature guided her to start the first Shakespeare Club in Atlanta, as well as the Browning Society. She also became the first president of the Home for the Friendless which aided deserted children.

Upon her death, Sue Harper Mims bequeathed money obtained from the sale of her jewels be used to erect a monument to Sidney Lanier in Piedmont Park.

Sidney Lanier, a friend of the Mims and frequent visitor to their home, was considered one of America’s greatest poets whose poems expressed the social concerns of that day. His more famous works are “The Song of The Chattahoochee” and “The Marshes of Glynn.”

Author: Patrick Teague, Piedmont Park Conservancy Docent

Sources:

Cover Photo Credit: Marcia Brandes