Centennial Olympic Park will no longer host big events, administrators say

Centennial Olympic Park will no longer host large music festivals because of all the wear and tear they cause to the park, administrators announced this week.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Since 2015, thousands of people have descended on the park for events like Shaky Knees, Sweetwater 420 Fest and One Musicfest.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Police swarm Athens apartment complex in connection to death of student on UGA campus

• GA woman, 74, dies after hitting head trying to stop 13-year-old from stealing 12-pack of beer

• Georgia city manager killed in crash involving log truck, GSP says

“Around the time of the pandemic, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which has overseen the park since it was built for the 1996 Olympics, had a change of heart,” Jennifer LeMaster, Chief Administrative Officer for the GWCC, said.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

LeMaster said it costs between $2 and $3 million a year to operate the 22-acre park. Costs include public safety, landscaping, maintenance and staffing.

After each big event, the park had to re-seed the grass, and “big portions of the park had to be closed off until the grass recuperated.”

“It became a question of access,” LeMaster said.