Brookhaven International Festival 2026 at Brookhaven Park: Your Guide

For two years running, Brookhaven's International Festival happened along the Peachtree Creek Greenway at Corporate Square, 1801 Corporate Blvd., close to the Buford Highway corridor where the city started the event in 2023. This year it moves to the Peachtree Road side of the city. The fourth festival runs Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Brookhaven Park, 4158 Peachtree Road NE. Admission is free.

The new address also changes the festival's job. It is still a celebration that grew out of the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor. This year it is also the biggest crowd so far at a park the city spent three years acquiring, one parcel and one building at a time. Most of the practical details for the weekend, from parking to the shuttle, follow from that.

A park assembled one agreement at a time

Brookhaven Park hasn't belonged to the city for long. In April 2022, the City Council approved a settlement with DeKalb County that moved the eastern, Peachtree Road side of the park to Brookhaven for $1. As part of the deal, the city also committed $1.6 million toward a new library, Rough Draft Atlanta reported.

That deal left the former DeKalb Services Center building unresolved. In February 2025, the council approved an agreement with Claratel Behavioral Health to transfer the building to Brookhaven, Decaturish reported. The city's own budget recap says that agreement gave Brookhaven 100% control of the park.

Upgrades had arrived before the ownership was finished. The park reopened with a ribbon cutting on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. The new features included an improved dog park with a dog splash pad, a bigger parking lot, a new playground and turf play area, two pavilions, restrooms, better walkways and a community garden.

Council Member Madeleine Simmons, whose District 3 includes the park, tied the festival straight to that history. "Brookhaven Park is ready to show off some of its amazing improvements to a wider audience since the City became its official owner!" she said in the announcement Rough Draft Atlanta published in September.

The move came after a year when the venue itself was unsettled. The city first announced Lenox Park for the 2025 festival. It then moved the event back to Corporate Square, explaining that redevelopment construction there had not started yet, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. For 2026, city officials have pointed to two reasons for choosing Brookhaven Park. One is MARTA access. The other is the chance to show off the park's improvements. They have not given a more detailed explanation.

Why the city is steering everyone to MARTA

The city's getting-here page asks visitors to take MARTA or catch a free shuttle from Apple Valley Road, behind the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA station. Mayor Pro Tem John Funny made the same point in the city's announcement, calling the park "easily accessible via MARTA and our provided shuttles."

Here are the details to know before you leave the house, as listed on the city's pages as of Oct. 5, 2026:

• Parking at the park: only a limited number of ADA-accessible spaces on the festival grounds.
• Accessible shuttle: an ADA-accessible shuttle runs from the Apple Valley Road stop.
• Road closures: none had been posted for the festival as of Oct. 5.
• What to bring: lawn chairs, blankets, sunscreen and bug spray.
• What to leave home: outside food and drinks. Bottled water is the only exception.
• Dogs: the city's festival pages don't say whether pets are allowed. Call the city at 404-637-0500 before bringing one, even though the park has its own dog park.

If you live within walking distance of Peachtree Road, you may not need the shuttle at all. If you're driving in from somewhere else in the city, Apple Valley Road is where the day really starts.

The stage, hour by hour

Both days follow the same pattern. DJ Steve opens the grounds at 11 a.m., dance and music groups fill the afternoon, La Hora Loca runs a group music-and-dance session at 4:30 p.m., and the headliner goes on at 5 p.m. The schedule below comes from the city's concert page.

Saturday's headliner, Cumbiatron, is a cumbia dance party built around audience participation. Olly Sholotan joined the Saturday lineup in mid-September. He is a singer, songwriter and producer whose music mixes pop, R&B and hip-hop with Afrobeats, and he plays Carlton Banks on Peacock's Bel-Air, Rough Draft Atlanta reported. Sunday ends with DROP, a five-member K-pop group that released its digital single Booster on Jan. 23, 2026.

If you're bringing children, look at the noon salsa session on Saturday and the Brookhaven Dance School set at 11:15 a.m. Sunday. Both come early, before the afternoon crowds build.

Eating and shopping on the grounds

The no-outside-food rule is easier to live with once you see the vendor list. The city's Food of the World lineup includes Apsara Kitchen ATL, Argentine Eats, Beto's Tacos, Blazin Noodles, Bravepro Gyro, Chef Mediterranean, Manny Sazon Colombian Street Food, Purple Pop Cafe, Tamalion, The Atomic Parlour and Tropic Island Chef. That's eleven vendors serving food from several regions, and the music schedule draws on the same range, from mariachi to lion dance.

The Global Marketplace sells artisan goods and fine art. Vendors include TwoCans, Cacti's Girl Boutique, Yoshi's Wellness, Bebe's Pastries, Melao Homebake and AadiShakti Collections. The Kidz Zone offers free inflatables, face painting, a petting zoo and giant bubbles. Northside Hospital is a festival sponsor.

Sunday morning still starts on the greenway

The music has moved to Peachtree Road, but the festival's 5K stays where the event used to be. The race starts at 8 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Peachtree Creek Greenway's Briarwood Road Trailhead, 1793 Briarwood Road, and finishes along the greenway. The course is USATF-certified and counts as a qualifier for the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race.

The race benefits We Love Buford Highway, a nonprofit that works to preserve the multicultural identity of the Buford Highway corridor. The money goes to its free after-school Buford Highway Orchestra Program. Executive Director Lily Pabian said in the city's announcement that 96 young musicians have taken part in the program so far.

If you want to run in the morning and catch the stage in the afternoon, the Race Roster event page lays out the timing:

1. Friday, Oct. 16, 3 to 6 p.m.: packet pickup at the Public Safety Building.
2. Sunday, 7 to 7:55 a.m.: race-day packet pickup. In-person registration is first come, first served. Race parking is at 1775 Briarwood Road.
3. Sunday, 8 a.m.: start at the Briarwood Road Trailhead.
4. Sunday, 11 a.m.: the festival grounds open at Brookhaven Park with DJ Steve, which leaves time to go home and change before getting the shuttle at Apple Valley Road.

Prices on the race page went up on Oct. 3, so check the current fee there before registering. More festival updates are posted on the city's International Festival page.

Michael Kriethe follows the projects that are reshaping Brookhaven's parks and public spaces, Brookhaven Park among them, because they shape how a neighborhood works day to day. If festival weekend gets you curious about the parts of Brookhaven around the park and the greenway, Michael is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.