Atlanta has more than seventy streets with “Peachtree” in the name and, until this week, almost none of them had actual peach trees. That long-running civic punchline got a little quieter on Monday, when the nonprofit Atlanta Way 2.0 installed sixteen peach trees at Underground Atlanta and Woodruff Park.
The trees came from Pearson Farm in Fort Valley, one of the state’s best-known growers, and were placed at the two downtown sites in crates as a temporary summer installation before permanent planting. The line that inspired the project — “like growing peach trees on Peachtree Street” — has been quoted around town for years as shorthand for things Atlanta talks about but never quite does. The group decided to just do it.
Britton Edwards of Atlanta Way 2.0 said the response from property owners has already opened the door to a longer corridor. “If anyone else wants to plant a peach tree and have property on Peachtree Street, let us know,” Edwards said, “because we would love to put them up and down Peachtree from Buckhead to Downtown.” Interest has come in from businesses, arts centers, and churches along the route.
The timing is intentional. Peach Fest lands on July 12, and the World Cup is already drawing international visitors who tend to ask, fairly, where the peaches are. Underground Atlanta and Woodruff Park are both within easy walking distance of Five Points station, which means anyone in town for a match can take a short detour and finally photograph the obvious thing.
Original reporting: Rough Draft Atlanta