The 6th annual Atascadero Fall Festival and the 53rd Atascadero Colony Days are coming, and that means time for celebrating in the city, but it also means thinking ahead about where to park.
The three-day free family event at Sunken Gardens kicks off Friday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m.
The Colony Days Parade takes place Saturday, Oct. 17 at 9:30 a.m.
Parking restrictions, however, begin days earlier, with the City Hall parking lot being closed Tuesday, Oct. 13 starting at 6 a.m. through Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6 a.m.
Palma Avenue between East and West Mall and between West Mall and the alley toward Entrada will be closed from noon Wednesday until Monday at noon.
Thursday, East and West Mall will be closed between El Camino Real and Lewis Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Oct. 19.
Many of the blocked-off parking spaces surround local businesses and offices, meaning you may need to find somewhere else to park over the coming days.
“Our routine is to park over across on the other side of the Sunken Gardens, and so we won’t be able to park there for our walk that we do, which is about a total of about a mile but going around the different streets here, and some of the streets will probably be closed,” said Atascadero resident Monica Innis. “It’s not that big of a deal, we can try to find another parking place, but we’ll probably have to park over a couple blocks over. It just gives us some extra exercise!”
On the day of the parade from 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., West Mall will be closed from Lewis Avenue to the Atascadero Creek bridge, and Olmeda will be closed from West Mall to Traffic Way.
Also on Saturday, Lewis Avenue will be closed between West Mall and Capistrano; both lanes of Highway 41 will be closed from Capistrano to El Camino Real; both lanes of El Camino Real will be closed to Entrada, and Entrada will be closed from El Camino Real to Lewis Avenue from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
NO PARKING areas (Thursday, Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to Monday, Oct. 19 at 12 p.m.):
El Camino Real (in front of Sunken Gardens only)
Lewis Avenue (between East Mall and West Mall)
