If you have driven past the ball fields off Alumni Drive near Kennesaw State University's Marietta campus lately, you have probably not given the grass much thought. That changes this Friday. On September 18, the City of Marietta holds a groundbreaking ceremony at 10:30 a.m. at the Aviation Sports Complex for Phase 1 of the Rottenwood Creek Trail, a three-mile multiuse path that will eventually stitch together a much bigger piece of the city than most residents realize.
It is easy to miss, because the same six weeks that start with this groundbreaking also bring the North Georgia State Fair, Chalktoberfest, and HarvestFest and Scarecrows In The Square. Compared to a beer tent or a fairground, a shovel in a field off Aviation Road does not compete for attention. But of everything landing on Marietta's calendar between now and mid-October, the trail is the one that will actually change how people in this city move through it.
What $17 Million Actually Buys
Phase 1 of the Rottenwood Creek Trail runs from Alumni Drive on the KSU-Marietta campus east to the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex, a three-mile segment carrying an estimated price tag of $17 million. Divide that out and you get roughly $5.7 million per mile, the kind of per-mile cost usually associated with road widening, not a paved path for walkers and cyclists. That number is a signal of how much engineering goes into a trail corridor that has to cross creek drainage, connect to existing park land, and eventually tie into a regional network rather than dead-end at a cul-de-sac.
This segment is only the opening piece. The long-range plan positions Rottenwood Creek Trail as the east-west connector between Kennesaw Mountain and the Chattahoochee River, linking up with the Mountain to River Trail and the Bob Callan Trail. The Mountain to River Trail itself runs 13.5 miles total, with 3.5 miles inside Marietta's city limits, tracing a path from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park south through the area near Kennestone Hospital, continuing into Historic Downtown Square, and on to Brown Park and the City Cemetery. Anyone who already walks, runs, or bikes near those landmarks is looking at a future where those separate errands become one connected route.
Phase 2, which will eventually push the trail south across I-75 to the intersection of Delk and Bentley Roads and tie into the Bob Callan trailhead at Terrell Mill Road, has already cleared a concept report with the Georgia Department of Transportation. That phase is still in engineering and design, with no construction date set. Friday's groundbreaking is specifically for Phase 1, the KSU-to-Franklin-Gateway stretch, and it is a partnership among the City of Marietta, Cobb County, and the City of Smyrna, which tells you this was never conceived as a Marietta-only project.
The Square Doesn't Wait for the Trail
None of this pauses the rest of the fall calendar. If anything, the next month runs closer to back to back than most years.
| Event | Dates | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Rottenwood Creek Trail groundbreaking | September 18 | Aviation Sports Complex, 455 Aviation Road |
| Glover Park Concert Series | September 25 | Glover Park |
| North Georgia State Fair | September 24 to October 4 | Jim R Miller Park |
| Chalktoberfest | October 10 to 11 | West Park Square |
| HarvestFest and Scarecrows In The Square | October 17 | Downtown Marietta Square |
Chalktoberfest, put on by the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, is the one most residents already circle. The chalk art, artist market, and food vendors run free and open to the public Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ticketed portion, the Craft Beer Festival, only runs Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. and pours from more than 120 beers and 25 wines, with tickets priced at $55 at the gate. It has grown enough over the years that organizers describe it as regularly selling out.
HarvestFest, a week later, is a different register entirely: a family-facing fall festival with a craft show, costume contests, a touch-a-truck setup, and the annual Scarecrows In The Square display, where schools, clubs, and businesses build entries for Best In Show. The city is also running its Squarecrow competition alongside it this year, with entries due by September 25.
Two Different Fall Calendars, Not One
The detail worth sitting with is that these events are not happening in the same part of town. Chalktoberfest and HarvestFest both take place on and around Marietta Square, where parking runs through the decks at Waddell and Haynes Street and at Mill Street and North Marietta Parkway, with some streets closed for the festival footprint. The North Georgia State Fair happens several miles away at Jim R Miller Park, a fairgrounds visit with its own separate parking logistics. And the trail groundbreaking is happening in yet a third location, off Aviation Road near the sports complex, nowhere close to either.
Marietta's identity gets condensed to the Square more often than not, understandably, since that is where the restaurants, the Art Walk, and most of the festival foot traffic live. But this fall's calendar is a reminder that the city's actual footprint, and its actual civic investment, extends well past the brick storefronts around Glover Park. A three-mile trail segment linking a university campus to a sports complex, with a design meant to eventually reach the Chattahoochee, is infrastructure that outlasts any single festival weekend.
What This Means for a Fall Weekend
None of the five items on that calendar conflict with each other on paper. The fair wraps October 4, Chalktoberfest opens October 10, and HarvestFest follows a week later, so nothing forces a choice between them. What it does mean is there is no true dead weekend on the Marietta calendar between now and the third week of October. If you are the kind of resident who treats fall as decompression time after a Georgia summer, this year the compression runs the other direction.
A few practical notes worth keeping in mind if you plan to be out and about:
- Chalktoberfest's beer festival portion is Saturday only, noon to 5 p.m., with a hard stop regardless of when you arrive, so plan your timing around that window rather than the full weekend hours.
- Parking near the Square fills fast during both Chalktoberfest and HarvestFest. The Waddell/Haynes and Mill Street decks are the more reliable bets over curbside spots near the railroad tracks.
- The Rottenwood Creek Trail groundbreaking is a public event at the Aviation Sports Complex, not on the Square, so if you want to see the start of a project that will eventually connect Kennesaw Mountain to the Chattahoochee River, you'll want to head in the opposite direction from downtown that morning.
The festivals will fill the photos and the group texts this fall. The trail groundbreaking, quieter and further from the Square, is the one that changes what a Tuesday morning walk or a weekend bike ride looks like in Marietta for years after the chalk washes off the pavement.
Strong Tower Realty works these neighborhoods because we live in them too, and we like paying attention to the stuff that outlasts a festival weekend. If you are curious what any of this fall's changes, from a new trail segment to a Square that keeps adding restaurants, might mean for your own street or your home's value, Strong Tower Realty is always glad to talk it through, no pressure and no obligation attached.
