Five Things Worth Doing This Weekend in Fulton and DeKalb

Starting this week I'm putting up a short Wednesday list of things to do over the coming weekend, two counties at a time, so all five metro counties come around in rotation. This week is Fulton and DeKalb, Friday September 18 through Sunday September 20. Everything below was checked against an official or organizer listing this week, but plans change and weather moves things — confirm at the source before you drive across town.

Shaky Knees runs all three days on The Meadow and Oak Hill at Piedmont Park, 1322 Monroe Drive. Gates are 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday. The festival's own site says 2026 is sold out, so the only ways in are verified resale or the waitlist — nobody should drive over hoping to buy at the gate. Entrances are at Park Drive, at Charles Allen and 10th, and at 12th and Piedmont. If you live in Midtown, Ansley Park, Virginia-Highland or Morningside, the relevant fact here isn't the lineup, it's that 10th, Monroe and Piedmont will be slow from mid-afternoon to near midnight three days running. MARTA to Midtown or Arts Center and walk in. The deck at 1322 Monroe is shared with the Botanical Garden and gives you 30 free minutes, which is not a festival parking plan.

The Roswell Arts Festival hits its 60th year on the grounds of Roswell City Hall, 38 Hill Street, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free, parking is on site at City Hall, and leashed dogs are welcome. This is the easiest thing on the list to do with kids or with people who won't commit to a whole day — Canton Street is a short walk, so you can work the booths for an hour and then go eat. Sunday is the calmer of the two days; Saturday late morning is when most of east Roswell turns up at once.

DeKalb-Peachtree Airport runs Good Neighbor Day on Saturday at 2000 Airport Road in Chamblee, gates 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free and parking is $20 at surrounding satellite lots with a free shuttle. The schedule runs daytime aerial demonstrations into a night air show, a drone light show and fireworks, with a STEM expo added this year, so the back half of the day is the part worth staying for. PDK sits where Brookhaven, Chamblee and Dunwoody meet, which means Clairmont and the streets feeding it will be heavy from early afternoon. MARTA to Chamblee station, or a rideshare drop at the North DeKalb Health Center at 3807 Clairmont Road, saves you both the $20 and the exit line.

Fernbank Museum, 767 Clifton Road, runs Forestry Day on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. — tree-climbing demonstrations, nature walks, wildlife encounters and booths from forestry and environmental groups, all included with general admission. Weekend admission is $27.95 for ages 13 to 64, $26.95 for 65 and over, $25.95 for ages 3 to 12, free under 3, and buying online rather than at the counter saves $3 a ticket. Parking is included but the museum says plainly that it is limited on event days, so arrive near the 10 a.m. open or plan to park off site. It's a three-hour morning rather than a full day, which makes it a sensible pairing with lunch in Emory Village or Oak Grove, and the surrounding Druid Hills streets are worth the slow drive home on their own.

Placita Latina's Salsa on the Square is free on the square in downtown Decatur, at 101 E. Court Square. The city's listing gives 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and the organizer's gives 4 p.m. to 10:30, so treat the back end as approximate. Free dance lessons at 6, a live salsa performance at 7, an afterparty at 9:30, with food and artisan vendors through the afternoon. No tickets. Decatur handles a night like this better than almost anywhere else in the metro for one structural reason: the MARTA station is directly under the square, so you can skip the deck hunt entirely and walk up into the middle of it.

If I could only do one, it's Good Neighbor Day. Free entry, a real night program, and the unusual quality of being better at 6 p.m. than at 1 — park at a satellite lot, take the shuttle in, and plan to leave after the fireworks rather than during them. If Saturday is already spoken for, Roswell at 10 a.m. Sunday is the low-friction choice: free, parking on site, and you're done before lunch.