Masonry Magazine September 1978 Page. 8
Atlanta
The site and dates have been confirmed, and preparations are gearing up for MCAA's largest and most important event of next year-the 1979 International Masonry Conference and Educational Trade Show. The site is the beautiful Marriott Motor Hotel in perhaps the South's most energetic and spectacular city-Atlanta, Georgia. The dates for the entire Conference are March 1-7. The three-day Trade Show runs March 3-5.
The Marriott, a luxury resort in the heart of bustling downtown Atlanta, offers the ultimate in convenience and pleasure, both for a business conference and for subsequent relaxation. The Atlanta Marriott is renowned as one of the most elegant hotels in the Southeast, with 800 tastefully decorated guest rooms and suites, superb restaurants, and old-fashioned Southern hospitality in a lively, contemporary setting. Its central location, too, is ideal-just a short ride or brisk walk to many of Atlanta's most exciting and enjoyable sights.
At nearby Stone Mountain Park stands awesome Stone Mountain. The huge rock, the world's largest mass of exposed granite, is more than five miles in circumference accompanying its 825-foot height. On its face is carved the world's largest sculpture. The colossal work depicts the mounted figures of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson astride their mounts. Designed as a Confederate Memorial, this truly magnificent achievement surpasses in size and magnitude even the carvings of the U.S. Presidents on South Dakota's Mount Rushmore.
Under one big roof on Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street, you can paint a picture, or buy one; act in a play, or see one; sing in an opera, play in a concert, or hear one; dance in a ballet, or watch one; see a movie, a mobile, or a piece of sculpture.
The roof crowns out the Memorial Arts Center, a $13 million complex built by the arts, devoted to the arts, and consisting entirely of the arts. The Center quite literally rose from the ashes of the Orly plane crash of 1962 which took the lives of 122 Atlanta Art Association members who were touring the art centers of Europe. The crash caused predictions that the city's cultural growth would be stunted for 100 years.
Six years after the tragedy, the Center, a memorial to those who died, opened with an array of cultural achievements which is unparalleled in the South.
Such is the spirit of Atlanta, which arose from the devastation and rubble following the Civil War to emerge as one of America's most modern and enticing metropolises. Its Civil War history is graphically depicted at the Cyclorama, a three-dimensional, 400-foot-long painting of the day Atlanta burned in 1864. The huge panorama is enhanced with lights, music, sound effects and narration. Here the Battle of Atlanta is relived in dramatic fashion in Atlanta's beautiful Grant Park.
With so much to see and do, it's also convenient and economical getting to and around Atlanta. Fly in, bus in, drive in. Travel the city in your own car, rent a car, rent a limo, hop a cab, or step on a bus. Atlanta is a city on the move, and there is plenty of transportation at your service to move you around.
March 1 is not that far away. Start planning now to attend and enjoy the '79 MCAA Conference and Trade Show. Take along your wife and kids, and make it a pleasurable family affair. There will be plenty of industry developments to learn about, plus a good deal of enjoyment to go with it.