ATLANTA — Atlanta officially wrapped up its month-long FIFA World Cup celebration Sunday with the “Celebration of Soccer & Sound” festival at Piedmont Park that also marked a historic milestone for the city.
The celebration coincided with the 30th anniversary of the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, giving thousands of fans another reason to gather for a day filled with soccer, music and hometown pride.
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The festival featured vendors, interactive activations, a children’s area and concerts by Atlanta artists, including Ludacris, Pastor Troy, and Jeezy.
Fans packed Piedmont Park to watch Spain defeat Argentina in the World Cup final. Spain’s World Cup journey began in Atlanta more than a month ago, making the city a fitting place for fans to watch the championship match.
“Piedmont Park is a perfect spot to host something like this, look how many people are out here, and I really appreciate Atlanta being accepting of the World Cup,” fan Vansh Sharma said.
For local businesses, the tournament brought a significant economic boost.
“We’ve done numbers, record numbers that we’ve never done before,” said Latrice Coleman of Parlay Savory Saloon, who was a vendor during Fan Fest and Sunday’s final celebration.
To cap off the tournament, the city hosted a concert headlined by Ludacris.
“Man, I’m always gonna give back to the city who gave to me,” Ludacris told Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers.
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Ludacris also brought out a special guest Sunday, making it different from his concert at Fan Fest this past Tuesday.
“It’s what it’s about. It’s about community, us being a part of The World Cup. This is amazing. It’s culture. It doesn’t get any better than this, and this is in Atlanta, Georgia,” Jeezy said.
Ludacris praised the city’s efforts to host the international event.
“We’re talking about hotels, how the roads are supposed to be, how traffic is supposed to flow, how the nightclubs are, just inviting everyone. And I think that I just want to say I commend everyone that was a part of making Atlanta the hub for all the things that happened over the last couple weeks, man. The World Cup, it’s amazing,” he said.
Atlanta’s Olympic legacy celebrated 30 years later
The final day of the World Cup also served as a celebration of Atlanta’s Olympic legacy.
Former Atlanta Mayor Ambassador Andrew Young, who played an instrumental role in bringing the 1996 Olympic Games to the city, reflected on what the moment represented.
“It was a belief that Atlanta as a city stood for the future. We stood for the best that humanity could produce, and we wanted to try to show that, and I think we did,” Young said. “Here 30 years later, we’re celebrating the end of the World Cup, and we did very well with the World Cup.”
Former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who was mayor during the 1996 Olympics, said the city once again demonstrated its ability to host a global event.
“They love the fact that we did it the right way, and 30 years ago, we did it the right way, so it’s a great opportunity to sort of have these bookends,” Campbell said.
City leaders have said Atlanta’s World Cup festivals over the past month were among the most popular of any host city.
Current and former city leaders said the success of the World Cup festivities proved Atlanta is ready to host another major international event.
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