Sandy Springs spends most of September building toward one bright, loud weekend, and the stretch from Sunday, September 20 through Monday, September 28, 2026 is where it lands. The Blue Stone district gives itself over to a free arts and music festival, a road race rolls out at first light, the Saturday market holds the City Green, and a quiet Monday evening at the performing arts center offers the counterweight. Four things worth the calendar, with the detail that gets you there well.
Sound Bath Meditation with Malinie Feeney
What to Expect
The city's New R and R wellness series brings sound healer and 500-hour yoga teacher Malinie Feeney to the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA 30328, on Monday, September 21, 2026 at 6 p.m. Tickets are listed at $31.25. The session fills the room with crystal singing bowls, chimes and other resonant instruments, and no meditation background is required. You lie down, you breathe, and the sound does the work. Sessions run about an hour, and participants bring their own mat.
Insider Tip
Earlier dates in this series have sold out, so buy ahead rather than deciding at the door. Guests are asked to arrive about fifteen minutes early, and doors close shortly after the start time to protect the quiet. Treat 5:45 p.m. as your real arrival time, and park in the City Springs underground garage.
Neighborhood Angle
This is the version of City Springs that rarely makes the highlight reel. The campus that stages musicals and festivals also runs a steady program of small, low-key evenings, and for residents nearby it works as a ten-minute errand rather than an outing. If you are new here and still working out what living beside a civic center feels like, a Monday sound bath answers it better than any brochure.
Blue Stone Arts and Music Festival
Why It Stands Out
Blue Stone anchors the window. It takes over the district around City Green, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA 30328, on Friday, September 25 from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, September 26 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with stages and food trucks running to 10 p.m. both nights. Admission is free, and so is every performance on the City Green and South stages. That mix of scale and no ticket price is unusual this close to the Perimeter, and it is why the weekend reads as a civic moment rather than a programmed one.
What to Expect
Two stages carry the music. Friday builds from Carl Wockner and Cat Ridgeway at 4:30 p.m. through Brother Maven at 7 p.m. to alt pop headliners Nicotine Dolls at 8:30 p.m. Saturday runs longer, from a Zach Bryan tribute at 1 p.m. and a Bon Jovi tribute at 4 p.m. to Kyndle Wylde at 7 p.m. before Allen Stone closes at 8:30 p.m. The Hilderbrand stage hosts Squonk and its Joy Machine, an outdoor multimedia spectacle, twice Friday and three times Saturday. Around the music sit an Artist Market drawing vendors from across the Southeast, an Emerging Artist Gallery, a sports zone, carnival rides and food trucks.
Timing and Planning
Blankets and low-back lawn chairs are welcome, as are outside food and drink. Tents, canopies, drones and pets are not, though service animals are permitted. Free parking sits at Century Springs Office Park, 6000 Lake Forrest Drive, and the Sandy Springs Commerce Building, 333 Sandy Springs Circle, each about a fifteen-minute walk in. The City Springs underground garage at 6300 Blue Stone Road is closest and has elevator access, with rates that may apply. A free shuttle runs Friday from 3:30 to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Rideshare drops at 215 Johnson Ferry Road, and streets close for the festival, so check the closure map first.
Neighborhood Angle
Blue Stone is the clearest argument for what Sandy Springs has spent a decade building toward. A district that was surface parking and office frontage closes to cars and fills with artists and music, and residents walk to it. For anyone weighing a move into the core of the city, Friday evening is the honest preview.
Blue Stone 5K-9: A Road Race for People and Pups
What to Expect
The race steps off at 8 a.m. on Saturday, September 26 from City Springs, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA 30328. Registration is $35 through RunSignUp. The course is a primarily flat down-and-back road route, approachable for walkers as well as runners, and dogs are welcome alongside you. The city partners with Catalyst Sports to offer adaptive hand cycles, reserved in advance.
Best For
This suits couples and friend groups who want the weekend to start with more than brunch, and anyone wanting a reason to walk the dog on closed streets. The flat route means you need no training block behind you, and newcomers get an efficient introduction: an hour on foot through the district tells you more than a month of driving it.
Insider Tip
Plan the handoff before you arrive. Dogs are welcome on the course but not inside the festival footprint later, service animals excepted, so decide in advance who takes the dog home and who stays. Register ahead rather than counting on race-morning sign-ups, and allow time for closures already in place by early Saturday.
Sandy Springs Farmers Market
Why It Stands Out
The market runs Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., rain or shine, on the City Green at 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA 30328, and it holds its place on September 26 even with the festival building around it. The lineup shifts week to week, with growers bringing produce straight from the farm alongside vendors selling artisan and prepared specialty foods. It is a working market, not a staged one.
Timing and Planning
September 26 is the best morning of the season to arrive early. The market opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at noon, the race finishes into the same plaza, and festival gates open at 11 a.m., so the green is busiest late. Come at 8:30 or 9, shop properly, walk your bags to the car, and return later carrying nothing. A current vendor map is posted before each market.
Best For
Couples building a slow Saturday, families who want a short outing, and newcomers trying to read the rhythm of the city rather than its landmarks. If you are relocating and want one hour that shows how Sandy Springs spends a weekend morning, this is it. Season and vendor details sit on the City Springs farmers market page.
Event Q&A
Which of these events cost nothing to attend?
The Blue Stone Arts and Music Festival is free, including every performance on the City Green and South stages, and the farmers market is free to browse. The optional Kids Zone wristband is $15, the 5K-9 registration is $35, and the sound bath is listed at $31.25.
Where should I park for the Blue Stone weekend?
Two free lots sit about a fifteen-minute walk out, at 6000 Lake Forrest Drive and 333 Sandy Springs Circle. The City Springs underground garage at 6300 Blue Stone Road is closest, with elevator access and rates that may apply. A free shuttle operates both days, and rideshare drops at 215 Johnson Ferry Road. Full parking, transit and closure detail sits on the city's Blue Stone festival page.
Can I bring my dog to the festival?
No. Pets are not permitted inside the festival, service animals excepted. The one place dogs belong that weekend is the 5K-9 road race on Saturday morning, built around them.
How much of this can I do in a single Saturday?
More than you would guess, because it is all one campus. The race starts at 8 a.m., the market runs until noon, and the festival opens at 11 a.m. and holds the green until 10 p.m. Park once and treat the day as a series of returns rather than separate trips. To spread it out, take the festival Friday evening instead, when the crowd is lighter.
