Purim Across Atlanta 2024

The streets of Metro Atlanta were much more colorful and lively this past weekend as local synagogues and Chabad organizations hosted their annual Purim parades and festivals. In every corner of town, costumed children (and some adults) enjoyed the festivities and volunteered in various community-oriented service projects, like baking hamantaschen and packing gift bags.
Some highlights from this year’s Purim weekend include:

A trio of children are decked out in colorful shades // Photo Credit Tziporah Wayne, Happy Heart Photography

Purim Parade and Festival in Toco Hills

By Chana Shapiro
This year marked 32 years of floats, performers, marching groups, motorcyclists, and costumed marchers parading down a half-mile of LaVista Road in Toco Hills to celebrate the festival of Purim. Since 1987, the parade and festival have become an iconic community event, with hundreds of onlookers (the majority in costumes) cheering the parade from the sidewalks on both sides of the street. Many of the floats tossed candy to the bystanders and entertained attendees with joyous music from mounted loudspeakers.

The Toco Hills Purim Parade celebrated its 32nd year

The parade led from the Toco Hills shopping center to Congregation Beth Jacob where there were games, activities, and rides for all ages, a playhouse, petting zoo, face painting, sand art, digital photo booth, obstacle course, pirate ship, kiddie train ride, several food trucks, and refreshment stations. The parade and outdoor festival activities at Beth Jacob were headed by Gail Linder, Melanie Frank, Rachel Goldsmith, and Leah Lubel, with the assistance of dozens of hard-working volunteers.

Ahavath Achim students and volunteers made hamantaschen

AA Kesher Students Craft Baskets, Bake Hamantaschen

By Chana Shapiro
The Kesher students at Ahavath Achim synagogue learned the themes and traditions of Purim this year and created themed Mishloach Manot baskets. They also made close to 400 hamantaschen alongside community volunteers from Ahavath Achim on Sunday, March 10, and March 17.
The dozens of volunteers worked along with staff member, Jackie Nix, who directed the students as they came to the kitchen, two to three kids at a time. Annsley Klehr, Interim Education Director at AA, pointed out that each student in Kesher was able to actively participate, whether mixing dough, rolling it out, punching out circles, pinching the dough together, or adding different fillings.
At the AA’s Purim Palooza event on March 24, there were a dunk tank, inflatable obstacle course, a tot bounce house, balloon twisting demonstrations and instructions, games, a pancake bar, and, of course, the handmade-with-love hamantaschen.

Synagogue Volunteers, AJA Students Create Gift Bags

By Chana Shapiro
Jodi Wittenberg and Tzippy Teller, co-owners of The Spicy Peach kosher gourmet grocery in Toco Hills, decided to establish a new Purim tradition last Purim in 2023. This year, the duo sponsored a second year of sending mishloach manot gifts to Jewish assisted living residents in the greater Atlanta area.

A group of volunteers at The Spicy Peach assembled Mishloach Manot bags

They worked with volunteers from Congregation Ohr HaTorah, The New Toco Shul, Congregation Or V’Shalom and Congregation Beth Jacob Sisterhood and many high school students from Atlanta Jewish Academy to assemble and pack 600 Mishloach Manot bags. In addition to residents of Jewish HomeLife and Berman Commons who received gift bags last year, this year’s recipients included Jewish residents at Hammond Glen and Holbrook.
Each Mishloach Manot bag contained hamantaschen, a Danish pastry, yogurt-covered raisins, a small bottle of grape juice, and a chocolate wafer bar. The festive bags bore stickers which read, “Happy Purim, packed with love from the communities of Ohr HaTorah, Or Veshalom, Beth Jacob and New Toco Shul.”
An assembly line of volunteers working outside of The Spicy Peach packed, boxed, divided, and loaded the gifts into cars to be dropped off at the residences in time for Purim. Teller notes, “The adult and student volunteers, from four different synagogues, worked as a Jewish nation to come together to reach out and celebrate Purim with our fellow Jews.”

The Queen Esther Royal Purim Tea Party featured Purim-themed crafts, Purim-inspired desserts, hamantaschen, readings from the Megillah, a bounce house, face painting, and a magical princess meet-and-greet // Photo Credit: Sasha Heller

Royal Purim Tea Party in Dunwoody

By Sasha Heller
Queen Esther’s Royal Purim Tea Party at Ashford Lane in Dunwoody was a smashing success as children came decked in creative costumes to enjoy the Purim festivities. The first-of-its-kind celebration in the redesigned, mixed-use Perimeter shopping center featured Purim-themed crafts, Purim-inspired desserts, hamantaschen, readings from the Megillah, a bounce house, face painting, and a magical princess meet-and-greet.