Brookhaven International Festival 2026 at Brookhaven Park: Your Guide

Brookhaven's fourth annual International Festival runs Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is not at Corporate Square this year. It moves to Brookhaven Park at 4158 Peachtree Road NE, which the City calls the event's new location. The Sunday 5K stays on the Peachtree Creek Greenway, starting from 1793 Briarwood Road. For the first time, festival Sunday happens in two separate parts of the city.

The address change is the small part of the story. Brookhaven Park only became fully city-controlled in 2025. Its last DeKalb County building came down in November of that year. One of its new pavilions has already been removed and is being paid for again through a legal settlement. A two-day festival with headliners, a marketplace, and shuttle buses is the largest crowd the rebuilt park has been asked to hold.

How the festival ended up on Peachtree

The festival began on the other side of the city. In 2023 the City described the first edition as its first major event along the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor. In 2024 it was held at Corporate Square, with 1801 Corporate Blvd. given as the trailhead and GPS address.

The 2025 return to Corporate Square was never a sure thing. When the City announced it, Mayor Pro-Tem and District 4 Council Member John Funny explained why:

"We are excited to announce that we will be able to return to last year's wonderful location at Corporate Square since their redevelopment construction has not started. When the City started planning the festival, we were not sure of the redevelopment timeline."

That redevelopment is Northbend, the planned remaking of Corporate Square. The City expects Phase II of the Greenway to eventually connect to it. The City has not said why the 2026 festival moved. It has said the new site is easy to reach by MARTA and festival shuttles. Council Member Madeleine Simmons, whose District 3 includes the park, described the move as a chance for Brookhaven Park "to show off some of its amazing improvements to a wider audience since the City became its official owner."

"Since the City became its official owner" is a fairly recent milestone.

Four years to own one park

According to 2022 coverage in Rough Draft Atlanta, the split ownership had held up improvements for years. Even after the land transfer, DeKalb kept the old services center building in the middle of the park. That building was the last piece. The City set aside $5 million in SPLOST II funds to help Claratel move its services elsewhere. It also budgeted $500,000 to tear the building down once it was empty. Demolition started in early November 2025. The City said the sidewalks and the concrete slab would stay. By the City's February 2026 monthly report, the demolition was complete. The cleared site had already been used for the City's Winter Wonderland and ice skating event.

That makes the festival the second time a seasonal city event has used the ground where the services center once stood. Its long-term use is still open. Before demolition, the City asked residents whether the former Claratel site should be considered for the new Brookhaven library, alongside two other options. None of the reporting since then confirms a decision.

What the $8.8 million built

The 2024 renovation added most of what festival visitors will walk through. It included a dog park and dog splash pad, an expanded playground with restrooms, a walking path, a stage, a lighted parking lot, pavilions, and a modified stormwater system. Other coverage also lists a larger parking lot, a turfed play area, a community garden, fresh turf, and better walkways.

The original plans called for three pavilions, and that count is out of date. Soil under a column of one finished pavilion failed, "likely due to a collapsed subsurface storm pipe." The pavilion was taken down and the pipe was repaired. The City sued the firms involved in design and construction in December. At its March 10 meeting, Council unanimously approved a $375,000 settlement. Tri Scapes is paying $115,000, Lose & Associates $120,000, Jacobs Engineering Group $75,000, Crown Service Contractors $50,000, and Matrix Engineering Group $15,000. FOX 5 identified the structure as the Brookhaven Park pavilion. On April 14, Council put the settlement money toward rebuilding it and authorized the city manager to sign reconstruction agreements. In March, City communications director Burke Brennen said the replacement would go wherever a suitable spot in the park is found, with bids to follow. The available reporting does not say where that spot is.

Festival weekend is a good chance to see the reopened park at full use, including the stage the 2024 work added.

The lineup, so far

Cumbiatron, a cumbia music and dance act, headlines Saturday. DROP, a five-member K-pop group whose digital single Booster came out on January 23, 2026, headlines Sunday. A Sept. 4 update added Olly Sholotan to Saturday's bill and said more performers would be announced. The City also promises live cultural performances, art installations, international food, a Kidz Zone, and a global marketplace. No food vendors had been named in the City's announcements as of its Sept. 29 update. The City's festival page is where final details will be posted.

Getting there, and the Sunday that now happens in two places

In 2025, the City advertised free parking at Corporate Square. This year it is promoting free shuttles from Apple Valley Road, behind the MARTA parking lot. The City has not published shuttle hours or how often they run.

The bigger change is on Sunday. In past years the 5K started at Briarwood Road and the festival sat on the same Greenway at Corporate Square, so a runner could finish and walk into the festival. Now the 5K stays on the trail and the festival is on Peachtree. The Greenway segment involved is the Model Mile, the stretch from North Druid Hills Road to Briarwood Road that opened in December 2019. Published lengths vary a bit, but all put it at a little over a mile.

If you plan to do both on Oct. 18:

1. Register for the 5K on the City's festival page. The race benefits We Love Buford Highway, a nonprofit that works to preserve the corridor's multicultural identity. The course is USATF-certified and counts as a qualifier for the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race.
2. Start at 1793 Briarwood Road. The course runs along the Greenway and nearby parking lots. The City describes it as safe for runners and walkers of all ages and abilities.
3. Plan the trip between the two sites before you go. The race is on the Greenway and the gates are on Peachtree Road NE, so pick your route and parking or shuttle stop ahead of time.
4. Pack what the City recommends: water, chairs or blankets, sunscreen, and bug spray.

The race is also why the festival's Buford Highway roots still show. This is the fourth year the 5K has funded the Buford Highway Orchestra Program, We Love Buford Highway's free afterschool music program. Executive Director Lily Pabian says 96 young musicians have taken part.

What comes after the festival

On the Greenway side, the City has secured $13,593,489 in federal funding for Phase II. That phase would carry the trail south from North Druid Hills Road to the Atlanta city limits. The plan calls for a 14-foot-wide path, mostly boardwalk, with seven pedestrian bridges. As of the May 2026 announcement, there was no construction timeline. A separate Greenway Connector Bridge over I-85 to Emory Executive Park is expected to finish final design in late 2027, with construction anticipated in 2028.

At Brookhaven Park, the open items are the replacement pavilion's location and the permanent use of the former Claratel site. A few days after the festival, the slab where the DeKalb Services Center stood will go back to being an empty space.

If the festival has you thinking about how Brookhaven's parks and trails are changing, and what that could mean for your own street, I'd be glad to talk it through. Kim Waldron lives in Brookhaven and follows these projects as closely as you do. Let's Connect.