"Brookhaven Park is ready to show off some of its amazing improvements to a wider audience since the City became its official owner!" District 3 Council Member Madeleine Simmons said this when the city announced that its fourth annual International Festival would take over 4158 Peachtree Road NE on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
"Official owner" is the important part. Brookhaven has been a city since 2012, and for nearly all of that time the park was split between the city and DeKalb County. That held through a lawsuit, a $1 settlement and a final building deal in 2025. The festival has never had a permanent home either. This October, the city's largest multicultural event takes place on ground the city fully controls for the first time.
Three Years of Borrowed Ground
The festival started in 2023 on the Peachtree Creek Greenway at 1793 Briarwood Road NE. The city called it its first major event along the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor. In 2024 it moved along the Greenway to Corporate Square, with visitors directed to 1801 Corporate Blvd. That year about 5,000 people came.
The 2025 festival shows how much depended on other people's schedules. The city first announced Lenox Park as the site. On Sept. 10, a little over a month before the event, it moved the festival back to 1801 Corporate Blvd. because redevelopment of the site had not begun. Third & Urban owns that property and plans to turn the large office park into residential, retail, restaurant and recreation space. Each of the festival's first three sites was tied to a corridor, a trail or a property owner's construction timeline.
Brookhaven Park has none of those ties. The city owns the land, including the parking lot, the pavilions, the restrooms and the space where a building once housed county services. Mayor Pro Tem and District 4 Council Member John Funny, who has championed the festival since it began, gave a practical reason in this year's announcement. He said the park is "easily accessible via MARTA and our provided shuttles."
How the Park Became the City's to Lend
The ownership history explains why this site could not have hosted the festival earlier. Each step took years.
| Year | What changed at Brookhaven Park |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Brookhaven incorporates and begins pursuing the park |
| 2017 | DeKalb County sells the western half to the city and keeps the Peachtree Road side |
| 2021 | The city sues DeKalb in a dispute over whether county parkland could be acquired for $100 per acre or at fair market value |
| April 26, 2022 | Both governments approve a settlement transferring the front portion to Brookhaven for $1 |
| Nov. 25, 2024 | Ribbon-cutting for the park's major upgrades |
| Feb. 26, 2025 | The city signs an agreement with Claratel Behavioral Health to take over the old DeKalb Services Center building |
The 2022 settlement carried a second commitment. Brookhaven set aside $1.6 million in General Fund reserves for a new DeKalb library within city limits, to be paid when the county starts construction. The city said the library would not be built in Brookhaven Park.
The $1 transfer still did not give the city the whole site. The county kept the central DeKalb Services Center building, where Claratel operated. In the February 2025 agreement, the city took over the building and transferred $5 million to help Claratel move to a new facility. The city's budget history dates its 100 percent control of the park to that month. This year's International Festival is the first edition held on the park since that control was complete.
What the Upgrades Put on the Lawn
Work began right after the April 2022 acquisition of the front half and finished with the ribbon-cutting on Nov. 25, 2024. The city's list of finished improvements reads like a set of event facilities:
- A larger parking lot
- A completely new playground, which the city billed as the tallest in the U.S.
- A turfed play area
- Two pavilions and restrooms on the side away from the dog park
- A new pavilion, improved walkways, fresh turf and a dog splash pad in the dog park
- A new community garden
At the opening, Simmons described how the park would be divided. The off-leash area had gotten better, and the rest of the park would go back to being family-friendly with dogs on leashes. The cost figure depends on the source. Rough Draft Atlanta reported the Brookhaven Park improvements at $8.8 million, while the city's park bond page lists $6 million in proposed bond funding for the park. The sources don't reconcile the two numbers. Construction also ran late. Poor soil found during storm and sanitary sewer work, along with utility coordination, pushed the schedule back in 2024.
The festival's own needs line up with these upgrades. The city is promoting live cultural performances, art installations, international food, a global marketplace and a Kidz Zone, and it asks attendees to bring chairs or blankets. The previous sites had a trail and parking lots. This one has turf, pavilions and permanent restrooms.
The Weekend, Laid Out
The lineup grew after the first announcement. A Sept. 4 city update added Olly Sholotan to Saturday's bill. Rough Draft Atlanta describes him as a singer, songwriter, producer and actor whose music blends pop, R&B and hip-hop with Afrobeats, and who is also known for playing Carlton Banks in Peacock's Bel-Air.
Saturday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cumbiatron headlines with a cumbia music and dance show built around audience participation. Olly Sholotan also performs.
Sunday, Oct. 18, morning The fourth annual 5K walk/run benefiting We Love Buford Highway starts the day on the Peachtree Creek Greenway at 1793 Briarwood Road. The course is USATF-certified, counts as a qualifier for the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race, and runs along the Greenway and nearby parking lots. The race stays on the Greenway even though the festival has moved, which keeps one piece of the event on the Buford Highway corridor where it began.
Sunday, Oct. 18, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. DROP, a five-member K-pop boy group, headlines. Its digital single Booster came out Jan. 23, 2026.
Getting there Free shuttles leave from Apple Valley Road, behind the MARTA parking lot. The city recommends bringing water, sunscreen and bug spray along with seating. The city's announcements don't include festival-day parking instructions, road closures or shuttle frequency. Updates are posted at brookhavenga.gov/intl-fest.
The 5K funds a specific program. Lily Pabian, executive director of We Love Buford Highway, said it supports the Buford Highway Orchestra Program, a free after-school music program for local children. "Because of support like this, 96 young musicians have participated in the program," she said.
The Parts of the Park Still Being Finished
Full control doesn't mean the park is finished, and some pieces are still unsettled on festival weekend.
The old services center building was the last structure left from the county era. WSB-TV reported on Nov. 5, 2025, that demolition had started and was expected to finish before Thanksgiving, leaving sidewalks and the concrete slab. The city's January 2026 Facility Services update confirmed that the demolition was complete. That season's Winter Wonderland and ice skating event used the cleared site with real ice, and plumbing work was underway for a permanent water source for the community garden. The city has not published a lasting plan for the space where the building stood.
The park is also becoming Brookhaven's winter venue. Brookhaven's first ice rink opened there in December 2024. Last season, Rudolph's Rink ran from Dec. 20, 2025, through Jan. 4, 2026, with free 45-minute sessions, alongside Santa's Village, food trucks and lawn games. The city hasn't yet announced whether the rink returns for 2026–27.
Taken together, a park that hosts an October festival with two days of headliners and then a holiday rink in December is being used as the city's event lawn. The festival dates are this year's first real test. Each earlier site depended on a corridor plan or a developer's timeline, and Brookhaven Park depends only on the city.
The International Festival weekend shows how much a property's setting depends on public decisions, sometimes made years earlier. Stacy Shailendra follows those decisions closely across Brookhaven, Buckhead and Ansley Park. If you'd like to know how changes like this affect the value of your home, request your home valuation.
