All Roads Lead To ATL's Westside Park On August 28th For Alpha's Rho's Summer Smoker & Field Day!
In less than a week's time, the Atlanta-based Alumni Brotherhood of Morehouse College's Alpha Rho Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. will gather at the new Westside Reservoir Park for their first hybrid Summer Smoker + Field Day! The Brotherhood event will take place at 12Noon on Saturday, August 28, 2021. Brother Darren W. Armstrong (Fall 2003) is positioned as the Chairman of this year's annual outing.
In total, Westside Park is nearly 100 acres larger than Atlanta's Piedmont Park, and connects Proctor Creek Greenway and Chattahoochee River Corridor with the Atlanta Beltline. But, the park's function not only provides stunning views and outdoor exposure, it also houses 2.4 billion gallons of emergency drinking water for the city. The park's most notable feature is the multiple trails leading up to the overlook area with spectacular views of the reservoir and the Downtown Atlanta skyline.
Long before the park was completed, the Bellwood Quarry had been a part of multiple film projects including The Fast and Furious and The Hunger Games along with TV Shows like The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries.
The Who, What, When, Where & How For August 28
With all that being shared as background and to keep things simple, we've called upon a few Atlanta-based Alpha Rho characters to help meme you thru the details of how this first-ever hybrid summer event will unfold:
Brothers: Don't let your super-cool-ass miss the entrance to the parking lot most closely located to the AP event site! And don't expect Brother Isaiah Horne to actually be chillin at the 1660 Johnson Road entrance to wave you into the proper parking spot! Just look for the "white ribbed canopy" and enter there.
The exact location for the AP gathering might be challenging to some, as demonstrated above by Brother Kenny Forward who immediately upon arrival picks up his Motorola flip-phone and dials out "where y'all at ... how you get over there ... and who all over there?" But let's simplify things a bit: once you pull into the parking lot in your Toyota Prius taxi, simply follow the park signage for "D3." The field day activities will take place closeby the pavilion on the central greenspace. So remember, don't be a Kenny ... you can actually peep out the exact path to "D3" on your own!
Even though Westside Park is vast at some 280-total-acres, the brief trek to "D3" is located just up from the main parking lot and up a mid-grade walking path to the park's center point -- adjacent to the reservoir. We highly recommend rolling containers.
We all know that nobody can fry/bbq/sammich like Orangeburg, South Carolina's very own Brother Jarrod Loadholt! That being said ... Loadholt is reminding the Brotherhood to plan their own food feasts in advance as the park is a "no-grill" property. And pls keep in mind that your local Church's Chix won't open until 11AM ... which means they probably won't drop the first batch of chix until 11:45AM ... that is, on the Southwest side of town.
Sure thang young Brothers ... if the Alpha spirit moves you, feel free to step it out! There's great hard-cement-surfaces surrounding the pavilion at "D3". The masking request is self-explanatory, so there's that. And for the Dog Dads in the Chapter, it's already dog-days weather in Atlanta, so it's totally cool to bring out your fam-friendly canines!
Crafted with a mix of creative satire in mind. #zeroshotsfired.
These Team Captains will draft from the day's attendees in order to build 6 inter-generational squads for fair competition. It should be noted that Stephen Chester is a seasoned group event executive, Don Webster is a celebrated distance runner, and Charles Johnson has no discernible skills, whatsoever. So, good luck with that last one.
Always keep in mind ... that next Saturday's Alpha Rho Summer Smoker & Field Day will be characteristically, Alpha Rho. Which means, you may encounter self-administered beverage breaks (as demonstrated here by Brother Tommy Lampley) right in the middle of game play. But that's what you get when you combine "AP smoker" with "AP field day," right?
We fully expect that our own ninja-inspired Brother Tony Hall will leap, fleep, and flambé his way toward total domination in the volleyball tourney. But the question still remains: which of the 6 competing teams will actually draft "Tony The Flying Black MANtis" for the ultimate big win???
Admittedly -- the field game of "Capture The Flag" can sometimes closely resemble some southern plantation bullshit ... but Brother Walter Falconer "pledges" to modernize the field frenzy this year with quiz interludes on Alpha Rho history! Bro. Falconer first "exercised" this innovative mix of athletic activity + brain flexing back in the early 1980's on the lower football field behind Washington High School, nearby the Morehouse College campus.
To the delight of his neos from around the world, Brother Clint Johnson, also known professionally as Dean Hiram of the Nightmare Factory pro wrestling league, has signed on as the referee for the pong tourney! Briefly sidelined by a training injury sustained during the height of the pandemic, Saturday's field day marks his long-anticipated return to competitive gamesmanship.
Waaaaay back in 1974, the young fellas pictured above won first place in the first annual MLK Memorial Tug-Of-War contest at Morehouse College -- besting the Psi Chapter Ques, Pi Chapter Nupes, Chi Chapter Sigs, and the Zippy Nil Chapter Groove Phi Groove. These same 8 field day warriors later crossed the burning sands via Alpha Rho Chapter on November 6, 1974. Today they are known to us all as Fall 1974's ARROGANT 8!
If there's one thing the young bros gon do is find the good light, a boss-ass background, and cop some fire new content for their socials! And to that end ... Mother Nature + the City of Atlanta has delivered a spectacular anticipated backdrop for Brothers Tavis Thompson, Eric Wells, Olamide Fagbamiye, and Theo Colbert to eat up! While the water feature in itself is IG-story worthy, this never-before captured angle of the skyline of downtown Atlanta is particularly LIT!
Will there be, or not be a great revival baptism in the 2.4 billion-gallon reservoir this Saturday? Well, if Rev. Brother Winford Kennadean Rice has his way, we're quite sure there'll be a-plenty of new souls saved and wading in the water! But regrettably ... due to safety and security concerns, water activities are prohibited in the reservoir and all other water features throughout the park. Heaven forbid.
Another big question floating amongst the ranks is whether or not Brother Don Webster will utilize the new tailored running trails inside Westside Park and along the adjacent Beltline to finally launch the "Flamboyant Southern Five-Mile Road Race." Webster, long-recognized internationally as one of the elite distance runners from the SWATS, is rumored to be running the entire 12.6-mile distance from his home to the park on Saturday morning. He plans to take MARTA back to the crib tho.
Finally Brothers: Pls handle your RSVP business TODAY! It's highly recommended that you don't create an opportunity for Brother KP Smith to roll up on you and ask "Bro ... where yo RSVP info at ...?"
Click the link below to submit RSVP:
Thanks to Brother Darren Armstrong for accepting the call and leading the Atlanta Brotherhood for this year's hybrid summer outing!
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