The city of Atlanta, a community that is certainly familiar with staging an event of Olympic proportion, is hosting Mega Fest 2004 this week—a four-day, power-packed celebration of hope, renewal, and wholesome family fun that is expected to draw more than 100,000 people and some of the world’s most popular entertainers and speakers to Atlanta’s top venues.
The Mega Fest began on Wednesday with Mega Fest Youth Kick Off, where thousands of youth, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Kirk Franklin, and American Idol’s R. J. Helton jump-started one of the largest religious events with a high-voltage rally in the International Plaza.
Also on the first day, tens of thousands of women packed the Georgia Dome for Woman, Thou Art Loosed (one of three conferences running simultaneously), which in 1999, set national indoor attendance records in Atlanta. And professional athletes such Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin teamed up with leaders from the sports and spiritual communities for Mega Fest's Magic Johnson Basketball Exhibition Wednesday evening.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of men packed the Georgia Dome for the dynamic ManPower event, which drew more than 44,000 men to Atlanta in 2003. Also, Suze Orman--called a "one woman financial-advice powerhouse," by USA Today--offered practical life lessons for Mega Fest families during Life Lessons from Suze Orman Thursday afternoon.
Thursday evening featured the Women of Purpose Concert with performances by music artists such as Patti LaBelle and India Arie.
Mega Fest is expected to draw more people to the downtown Georgia metropolis than the 2000 Super Bowl, which brought an estimated 100,000, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
