Cheap Thrills: Beat the Heat and Save Some Bucks

Let’s face it; it’s not the best economy for family summer fun and vacations, what with having to basically spend the mortgage payment on a trip for the whole family to an amusement park - and then paying unbelievable amusement park prices.  Those $8 hamburgers and $6 soft drinks are hard to take, especially after setting up financing for the admission fees at the gate. 

No, staying close to home and searching for cheap fun may be your best move this year.  But cheap, doesn’t mean boring.  So, if you’re looking for something inexpensive to do this weekend, especially now that school’s out and the kids are getting a little antsy, we may have the answer – or answers – to filling your weekend with fun close to home without busting the family budget.  

There are a lot of things to do in and around Norcross, now that the long, hot summer days are here – and some of them will even help you beat of the heat.  And whether your pleasure is music, art, festivals, movies or all of the above, you’ll find it going on this weekend.  The best part is that virtually all of the activities we found are free!

For example; this Friday, June 10th, just half a block from Historic Downtown Norcross at Thrasher Park, you can watch that sweltering sun melt away to the unmistakable sounds of the Eagles as the group, Hotel California, performs the Eagles’ classic hits into the night.

The guitar riffs of Glenn Frey’s rock ballads will cut through the sultry twilight beginning at 7:30 p.m.  All you need is a blanket or a few lawn chairs and maybe a bite to eat and something cool to drink – and yes, soft drinks and even alcohol are fine as long as you serve them up in plastic cups.

On Saturday, why not take the family to the Peachtree Corners Festival?  It’ll be a day filled with live music, great food, arts and craft exhibitors and activities for the kids.  There will even be a high performance and “muscle car” show. 

The Peachtree Corners Festival will be located one block west of Peachtree Parkway between Holcomb Bridge Road and Crooked Creek Road.  There will be ample free parking and the festival admission is also free.

Of course, given this heat, if the river is more your style, then hit the ‘Hooch on Saturday in Roswell for the 9th Annual “Back to the Chattahoochee River Race and Festival” where paddlers can canoe down the river starting at 9 a.m. for river race bragging rights.

The yearly event celebrates the Chattahoochee River which serves 3.5 million Georgians and 70 percent of the population of metro Atlanta.  It’s organized by a group called Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper along with the National Park Service, as well as Fulton County and the City of Roswell.  The race course will begin at Garrard Landing Park on Holcomb Bridge Road and end at Riverside Park in Roswell - which is also the site of the festival which will feature live music, food and fun for the whole family.  And the admission is free.

But if you’d just like to gather the family, sit under the stars and watch a great family movie on a warm summer evening, you might want to pack a picnic basket, load the lawn chairs and a blanket and head over to Johns Creek for this weekend's “Movie in the Park”. 

This Saturday’s feature is the family favorite “Gulliver’s Travels” and starts at 8:00 p.m.  Of course, families are encouraged to come out early to get a good spot on the lawn for the movie and so they can also enjoy children's activities, face painting, carnival games and concessions. 

“Movie in the Park” will be at Newtown Park, located at 3150 Old Alabama Road in Johns Creek.