The Standing Peachtree Native American Festival returns to East Point City Hall on Saturday, October 24, and Sunday, October 25, 2026. For the first time, it falls in the fall. The 2026 listing on the Pow Wow Calendar marks the dates as a "NEW DATE" and bills the event as the 5th Annual Indigenous Peoples Celebration/Standing Peachtree Native American Festival.
Earlier editions ran in the heat of August. The first one took place August 20–21, 2022, on the same City Hall grounds. Visit East Point lists the third annual edition for August 17–18, also at City Hall. With the move, the festival no longer stands alone on the summer calendar. It now sits in the middle of the busiest stretch of free downtown events East Point has this year, with something happening at City Hall or Downtown Commons in every remaining week of October.
One Month, One Small Patch of Downtown
Most of the month's events happen within a few addresses of each other on East Point Street. Here's the run of dates from the City of East Point's event listings and the East Point Main Street Association:
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Oct. 14 | Eats & Beats @ East Point Farmers Market | Downtown Commons, 2714 East Point St. | 4–7 p.m. |
| Saturday, Oct. 17 | Strings On The Green with the Tri-Cities Trio | East Point Historical Society lawn and gardens, 1685 Norman Berry Dr. | 4 p.m. |
| Saturday–Sunday, Oct. 24–25 | Standing Peachtree Native American Festival | City Hall, 2757 East Point St. | 9 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Friday, Oct. 30 | Boo With The Blue Halloween Community Night | City Hall front lawn, 2757 East Point St. | 5–8 p.m. |
The farmers market behind that October 14 date runs every Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Downtown Commons, according to the East Point Main Street Association. City listings also show market dates on November 18 and 25, with hours shortened to 4–6 p.m. Strings On The Green is the only October event off the East Point Street strip. Downtown Commons and City Hall host everything else.
In August, the festival was a single weekend with nothing on either side of it. In October, it lands between a weekend concert and a Halloween night on the same City Hall lawn, with the Wednesday market a few doors down.
What the Festival Weekend Actually Holds
The event is free, runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and has its Grand Entry at noon on both Saturday and Sunday. Organizers encourage guests to arrive early so they're settled before the Grand Entry.
The program lists traditional and intertribal dances, stomp dances, storytelling, hoop dance performances, Native American arts and crafts, and living Muscogee history. These are the named participants for 2026:
- Lowery Begay, hoop dancer and MC
- Silver Ridge Singers, host drum
- Kelly Dukepoo, MMIW flag carrier
- Nokose Haco, Muscogee living history
- Donnie Ross, arena director
Food on the event flyers includes frybread, Indian tacos and roasted corn, plus hamburgers and hot dogs. The listing welcomes all drums and dancers and invites schools to attend. One practical note from the organizers is easy to miss: bring your own chairs.
The 2026 listing names Monika Ponton Arrington, PhD, of Georgia Indigenous Diversity Consulting as the contact for vendors and event questions. For the third annual edition, Visit East Point credited the organization as facilitator and producer, with City of East Point Arts as presenter. The partnership with the city goes back to the first edition. The City of East Point's 2022 announcement named the East Point Public Art Division and Georgia Indigenous Diversity Consulting as partners, and that first festival featured dance, music, traditional dwellings, food, and arts and crafts. The city's own event page files the 2026 festival under Public Arts.
Where the Name Comes From
Anyone who has driven Peachtree Street has used this name without knowing its source. The Atlanta History Center says the Peachtree name comes from Standing Peachtree, a prominent Muscogee (Creek) village in what is now Buckhead. The same source places Fort Peachtree near where Peachtree Creek meets the Chattahoochee, built during the War of 1812 to monitor the local Muscogee population. The History Center also notes an alternative theory that "Standing Peachtree" may be a settler's misnaming of "Standing Pitch Tree," so the origin isn't settled.
That history connects to the program. Living Muscogee history with Nokose Haco is on the 2026 lineup, which makes the festival a chance to hear the story behind one of metro Atlanta's most-used street names a few miles from where it started.
Planning the Saturday Around City Hall
The noon Grand Entry sets the schedule. A festival day built around it might look like this, using four downtown businesses whose own websites currently list an address and hours:
- Morning coffee at Kupcakerie, 2781 Main Street. The bakery's site lists coffee, pastries and cupcakes at its Downtown East Point shop.
- Settle in before noon. Set up your chairs on the City Hall grounds at 2757 East Point Street ahead of the Grand Entry.
- Lunch from the festival vendors, with frybread and Indian tacos on the flyer.
- An afternoon cooldown at EnSue's Smoothies, 2879 East Point Street, Suite 3B. Its site lists smoothies, juices, acai bowls and salads. EnSue's celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon cutting in May 2025, according to Visit East Point.
- Evening at Chairs Upstairs, 2783 Main Street, right next to Kupcakerie. Its site describes a community bar and restaurant with food and weekly events.
Sunday works almost the same way, with the Grand Entry again at noon. A brunch beforehand at Eat My Biscuits, 2881 Main Street, Unit 100, fits the schedule. Axios Atlanta reported in December 2025 that the restaurant opened in October 2023.
Check each business's hours before you go. The details above come from their own sites, and festival weekends can change routines.
The Construction You'll Walk Past
The October crowds will come downtown while the city's streetscape work is still listed as underway. On September 30, 2026, the City of East Point's construction notices index posted the Downtown Multimodal Improvement Project with the date range "1-6-25 — 1-6-27." Earlier targets have come and gone. A City transportation update in September 2025 estimated completion in April 2026. A CBS News Atlanta report cited a goal of February 2026.
The city's construction notice lays out the planned scope. Main Street goes from three lanes to two, White Way and Dorsey Avenue become one-way, Main Street's angled parking is replaced with protected low-speed parking, and a shared-use path is added along Main Street's east side. For East Point Street, the plan calls for two lanes, parallel parking on both sides, sidewalk improvements, street trees, brick pavers and streetlights. Those are the plans. The city's materials don't say which pieces are built today, so expect parking and access to look different from one block to the next.
This matters for the businesses on the itinerary. In 2025, CBS News Atlanta and Axios Atlanta both reported that street work made it harder for customers to reach Main Street businesses, including Eat My Biscuits and The Extension Blow Dry Bar. Both sit on the Main Street side of the same downtown blocks that host the festival.
For vendor or schedule questions, organizers list Georgia Indigenous Diversity Consulting at (770) 402-8288 or [email protected].
If you live near downtown East Point and wonder how projects like the Main Street streetscape affect your home's value, Intown Focus Realty can walk you through it. Request Your Home Valuation, and we'll start with your block.
