Welcome to May! It’s time for spring festivals, outdoor concerts, baseball, and drinks on the patio. Are you looking for things to do in May around metro Atlanta? This is your monthly guide to free and cheap fun in the month of May.
Below is an overview of May events, plus activities that FREE, cheap, or discounted. Sometimes, we throw in a splurge alert item that we think is especially notable.
REMINDER:
Before making plans for a restaurant, special exhibit, concert, trampoline, or spa treatment, make sure to check Groupon for a deal! You can often save 50% or more.
May in Atlanta: top things to do this month
Below the spotlighted events, you’ll find a rolling day-to-day calendar listing of May events.
♦ Free museum days in May
• The Georgia Aquarium offers you FREE admission on your birthday — so all of you May babies are in luck!
Details on the Aquarium offer
• The High Museum Art hosts its Second Sundays FREE day on May 11, 2025.
Details on Second Sundays at the High
• The High Museum also hosts its FREE Access For All program on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 — you need to register in advance for this one.
• The Museums On Us program offers FREE admission to Bank of America cardholders at two metro-area museums on May 3rd & 4th. This includes the High Museum and Atlanta History Center.
Details on Museums On Us
• The Marietta History Center hosts its FREE monthly Family Fun Day on Saturday, May 17, 2025.
♦ Free craft and DIY workshops in May
Take advantage of one of these FREE crafting events — just click through for details and to register.
In most cases, supplies are provided.
• Home Depot Kids Workshop — make a bird feeder on Saturday, May 3rd
• Lowe’s Kid Workshop — make a trinket box on Saturday, May 17th.
• Decatur Makers’ Family Build Night — happening on Wednesday, May 28th.
♦ Atlanta BeltLine Lantern Parade
May 3, 2024
Adair Park & BeltLine Westside Trail
After more than a decade, the BeltLine Lantern Parade has become an iconic event that draws thousands. Anyone can march in the parade — as long as you have a lantern! Pre-parade activities begin around noon and include lantern-making workshops and a children’s lantern parade. The main event steps off at dusk.
Details for the Lantern Parade + find a lantern-making workshop
♦ FREE outdoor summer concerts & movies in May
The summer concert series and outdoor movie series is in full swing in May, with something going on every weekend.
Browse our special calendars for:
◊ FREE outdoor summer concerts
◊ FREE outdoor movies on the lawn
These events cover the extended metro area, including the suburbs.
♦ Cinco de Mayo
Celebrate Mexican heritage with cultural performances, great food, tequila deals, and more.
Check out our list of Cinco de Mayo parties + food deals
♦ Free Comic Book Day
May 3, 2025
Multiple locations
Grab up to 6 titles at this comic book giveaway event. Most of the shops participating have other special programming as well.
Details for Free Comic Book Day
♦ Fairs & Festivals in May
For festival details, just click thru the links.
Or, you can also browse our complete 2025 Guide to Festivals & Fairs in Atlanta.
- Georgia Renaissance Festival — all month long
- Decatur Arts Festival — May 2-4
- Duluth Chalk Festival — May 3
- Johns Creek International Festival — May 3
- Tucker Day — May 3
- Conyers Taste of Spring — May 3
- Taste of East Cobb — May 3
- Acworth Dragon Boat Festival — May 3
- May-retta Daze — May 3-4
- Roswell Arts & Crafts Festival — May 3-4
- Taste of Alpharetta — May 8
- Georgia State Fair — May 9-18
- Dunwoody Art Festival — May 10-11
- Sweet Auburn Springfest — May 10-11
- Chastain Park Arts & Crafts Festival — May 10-11
- Alive in Roswell — May 15
- Marietta Greek Festival — May 16-18
- Canton Garden in the Park — May 17
- Kirkwood Spring Fling — May 17
- Gwinnett Multi-Cultural Festival — May 17
- McDonough Geranium Festival — May 17
- Virginia-Highland Porchfest — May 17
- Duluth Spring Arts Festival — May 17-18
♦ National Hamburger Day
National Hamburger Day is on May 28th every year.
Both national and local burger joints offer freebies and special deals each year.
Find a burger deal
♦ Georgia State Fair
May 9 – 18, 2025
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, GA
Welcome back to the fair! Enjoy the usual midway rides, classic carnival food favorites, live entertainment, and more. Check out our detailed post about this fair, which includes info on all the available discounts and FREE admission days!
Details for the Georgia State Fair
♦ 31 Days of Jazz
31 Days of Jazz is a kickoff event to the Atlanta Jazz Festival, which happens each Memorial Day Weekend in Piedmont Park. All month long in May, there will be jazz performances in restaurants, bars, parks, concert venues, arts centers, and MARTA stations throughout Atlanta. Many are FREE to attend.
See the schedule
♦ Atlanta Jazz Festival
May 24 – 26, 2025
Piedmont Park
This is one of the country’s largest FREE jazz festivals, typically taking place in Piedmont Park over Memorial Day weekend. Over the years the Atlanta Jazz Festival has been backdrop to musical legends such as Miles Davis, Dizzie Gillespie and Nina Simone.
Details on Atlanta Jazz Festival
♦ Atlanta Burger Week
May 5th to 11th, 2025
This year’s deal is for a $12 for a limited-edition burger with a side item.
In case you don’t know how it works:
Each participating restaurant creates a specialty burger. In past years we’ve seen everything from Bad Daddy’s Jalapeno Popper Burger (because some like it hot) to Sublime Doughnuts’ Ice-Cream Burger (for those who’d rather play it cool).
More info on Burger Week
♦ Midtown Garden Stroll
Sunday, May 18, 2025
FREE
Come out and celebrate spring at the annual Midtown Garden Stroll! It is completely FREE and open to the public.
This outdoor, self-guided tour is a rare opportunity to experience some of Midtown’s most beautiful private gardens. There will also be an outdoor Garden Stroll Market where you can purchase plants and garden-related merchandise, as well as food and drink.
Get more info
♦ Atlanta Streets Alive
Sunday, May 18, 2024
FREE
During Streets Alive, for four glorious hours, three miles of Peachtree Street is closed to cars — and open for people to stroll, roll, bike, and play!
The Streets Alive route stretches from downtown to midtown, right through the heart of the city. Peachtree Street will be closed from Mitchell Street, downtown, to 15th Street in midtown.
More info on Streets Alive
♦ Cool off at a splash pad or sprayground
The splash pads and spraygrounds in Atlanta are a fun way for kids to cool off and play in the water, without going to a pool. No matter where you live in metro Atlanta, there is most likely a park with a water feature near you — and most of them are FREE.
The splash pad season starts in early May and goes through September at most locations. We’ve put together a handy list of splash pads, spraygrounds, and interactive fountains. The list is organized by county.
Find a splash pad
♦ Mother’s Day Brunch
Celebrate Mother’s Day in Atlanta by taking Mom to brunch — on the cheap, of course!
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 11th, 2025.
We’ve put together a list of restaurants in the Atlanta metro area where you can get a cheap Mother’s Day brunch — which we define as $35 or less per person. (That doesn’t mean you can’t spend more at these restaurants!)
And this year, we’re including a handful of hidden gems that you may not have known about before.
Browse our brunch list
♦ Stone Mountain Park: May deals & discounts
For a limited time, a Groupon deal lets you purchase the Attractions Pass for HALF PRICE — that’s just $19.99.
PLUS, Groupon is offering 25% OFF tickets to the new Zip Line adventure at Stone Mountain.
And the Pre-K Pass is back for the summer of 2025!
With this program, your little tykes age 3 to 5 get free admission to attractions at Stone Mountain Park, all summer long.
To redeem the offer, just register your kids online, and then activate your FREE pass in person at the Park by May 15, 2025.
♦ Candlelight Concerts
Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations around metro Atlanta. These are live performances in intimate venues, lit by flickering candles. The concerts range from iconic classical music to tributes to pop artists like Adele and Queen.
More info and tickets
♦ Cheer on the Gwinnett Stripers at Coolray Field
It’s baseball season! If you’ve never been to minor league game, make time this spring to visit Coolray Field and cheer on the Gwinnett Stripers, the triple-A affiliate team to our Atlanta Braves.
A Stripers game is an affordable outing for families, and a perfect cheap date — with tickets starting at just $9 and special promotion days that bring added value. Everything about the experience is less expensive than a Braves game at Truist Field. Plus, you’re sitting much closer to the action.
More info
♦ Strawberry picking
Fresh, local strawberries are a sign of spring in Georgia! It’s the perfect time to plan a pick-your-own outing or enjoy a strawberry festival at a Georgia farm.
We’ve put together a list of strawberry festivals and you-pick farms that are within an hour drive from downtown Atlanta.
Find a strawberry farm
♦ Georgia Renaissance Festival
Weekends thru June 1, 2025
Plus Memorial Day Monday
Fairburn, GA
Well worth the drive! Travel back in time to days of yesteryear and yore, with this popular themed festival. There are multiple discounts and ways to save on the price of admission, including a BOGO deal for opening weekend.
Get the details and view the discounts
♦ Titanic: An Immersive Voyage
This NEW immersive exhibit just landed at the Exhibition Hub Art Center, on Buford Highway at I-285. It allows you to virtually hop aboard the Titanic and walk through life-sized recreations of parts of the infamous ship.
You can also:
- Discover an impressive collection of artifacts related to the Titanic’s short life
- Relive the ship’s final dramatic moments from a lifeboat in an immersive room
- Dive into the depths of the ocean aboard a virtual submersible and discover the RMS Titanic’s wreck site
- Learn about the story of the Titanic—from its creation to the crash and aftermath
♦ Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
This immersive exhibit lets you step into a Van Gogh painting as you explore his life and work through 360-degree digital projections and a virtual reality excursion through the French countryside. It’s running all month long — so you can treat your mom for Mother’s Day!
More info and tickets
♦ Spring walks and easy hikes
The May weather is warm and pleasant, and wildflowers line many trail paths.
• Cobb County Trail of the Month program will meet at Heritage Park in Mableton, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. Register in advance.
• Group walks at Mason Mill Park are lead by a guide, starting at 10 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month — that’s May 21st. No reservation needed!
• Tucker’s Just a Walk in the Park is a guided group walk at a different park each week. The events take place every Wednesday and they alternate between morning and evening time slots. May dates include the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th. See the schedule.
• Here’s a short list of some of our favorite spring walks to do on your own:
♦ Spring farmers markets
There are dozens of farmers markets in metro Atlanta. You can find one every day of the week, and nearly every week of the year. Who doesn’t love to browse the stalls while munching on a freshly baked pastry?
Bonus: Some Atlanta-area farmers markets participate in the Georgia Fresh for Less program, which matches SNAP/EBT benefits, dollar for dollar — or, in some cases, doubles the benefit.
Find a farmers market
Upcoming events in May:
This is a rolling list, so events fall off as the dates pass. It includes events for the next 14 days.
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