Guests arrive just after sundown, unaware of the magnitude of what's about to begin. All photos by John E. Ramspott.
We’d like to pause for a moment to send a warm, thundering shout-out to everyone who helped make BURNAWAY’s Second Annual Fundraiser a brilliant success! To the crowds whose whispers of suspense, cries of surprise, and cheers of adoration could be heard over the rooftops facing the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park, and Cabbagetown, we thank you. To the 50-plus volunteers who clocked some 200 hours of service hauling supplies, hanging lights, greeting guests, signing up memberships, monitoring and packing artwork, providing technical support to our performers, mixing drinks at our two bars, and cleaning up the mess after the fun was finished, we thank you. And to John E. Ramspott (click here and here for photos), Terry Kearns (click here and here for more), and others who documented the festivities for posterity, we thank you. The list goes on.
Helen Hale and Alisa Mitten's performance momentarily shuts down the dance floor, which quickly reactivates itself as observers felt inspired to get down.
Volunteers discuss logistics in a rare quiet moment before the storm.
The same space transformed as guests arrive in the hundreds.
The party pulses with life, sprawling throughout the complex.
Laura Hennighausen (right) keeps things regulated as BURNAWAY columnist Kristin Juarez (center) and a volunteer prepare for their shifts.
Angel Poventud announces a lucky winner of Saturday's raffle ticket drawing.
Angel Poventud showed up early Saturday morning with a capable crew who, as part of a community project, proceeded to vigorously trim the overgrown vegetation surrounding the site. Then, after cleaning up and donning some train-appropriate attire, he served as MC for the main stage. Twinhead Theatre made us laugh with their hip-hop shenanigans, warming up the crowd for the enchanting tunes of Jeffrey Bützer and the Bicycle Eaters, as well as Helen Hale and Alisa Mitten’s dance number that paid tribute to the railroad and sent us sailing headlong into another world. This other world, evoked by the ghostly projections of Robbie Land’s film, became real again with a live reading by Thomas Wheatley, staff writer for Creative Loafing newspaper, as he described the political importance of public transportation, as well as the story of how he met his wife while traveling by train.
Other literary performances included Blake Butler and Rachael Maddux, while in the hallway next door, conversations bubbled over the work of our visual artists: Lloyd Benjamin, Dr. Blade, Kevin Byrd, Branden Collins, Linda Costa, Meta Gary, Sean Fahie, Ellen Fuson, and Katherine Taylor. Several limited-edition prints are still available, but selling out fast, so please show your support by contacting Susannah Darrow at susannah@burnaway.org to learn how to make a purchase!
We are tremendously grateful to our sponsors: Creative Loafing, Scoutmob, Daybook Atlanta, Binders, Bang Arts! Management and Promotions, Atlanta History Center, Good Food Truck, The Sugar Dolls, Ice Box, Parish Foods & Goods, Sucker Punch, Aurora Coffee, Twain’s Billiards and Tap, Fallen Arrows, and Young, Foxy & Free. Thanks also go to sound artist Nat Slaughter for his incredible patience, Stephanie Dowda and John Paul Floyd, Andre Keichian and Nell Ruby, and the invaluable generosity of our host committee, Barbara Archer, Susan Bridges, Lucinda Bunnen, Carolyn Carr, Annette Cone-Skelton and Bob Hipps, Jaynie Crimmins, Nancy and Gene Hooff, Gyun Hur, Jackson Fine Art, Baxter Jones, Gene Kansas, Marianne Lambert, Stacie Lindner, Brenda Massie, Amy Miller, Museum of Design Atlanta, Offsite Business Solutions, Jennifer Schwartz, Louise Shaw, Preston Snyder, Anne Lambert Tracht, and Marcia Wood.
We also wish to express gratitude to members of our party planning committee, Richard Arnold, Susan Bridges, Hope Cohn, Carolyn Milner, Megan Nare, Christa Tinsley Spaht, and Nenah Treadwell, not to mention our indomitable volunteer coordinator, Laura Hennighausen, and our ever-vigilant production manager, Deisha Oliver, for keeping the event on track while everyone else was busy having fun!
And we couldn’t have done it without you, our wonderful readers. Please keep supporting BURNAWAY as we champion the movement for local art!
