Freaknik was an annual party held in Atlanta over spring break in the 1980s and ’90s that attracted tens of thousands of people at its peak.
After a major traffic tie-up on Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street in the late ’90s and other safety concerns, city leaders cracked down on the street party, and it fizzled out. There was an attempt to revive it in 2019, but the rebooted party couldn’t compare to the original, which for many Atlanta folks is now just a fond memory.
The Atlanta magazine called it Atlanta’s most infamous street party. As the event grew to over 250,000 people, the problems worsened. By 1999, Atlanta area police and elected officials worked together to end Freaknik.
A new documentary looks at Freaknik, an annual spring break party in Atlanta during the 1980s and 90s which became a victim of its own success.
