Things-to-Do on WACN 21 News

The 10 best ice cream spots in metro Atlanta, ranked

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Summer in Atlanta runs on ice cream. The good news: the metro has more serious ice cream shops than at any point in the last decade.

Here’s my ranked list, from best to best-but-not-quite-as-best.

1. The Varsity — Midtown

The original location, open since 1928, is the platonic ideal of an Atlanta ice cream shop. The frosted orange (a Technicolor orange-vanilla milkshake) is the only correct order. Yes, the hot dogs are also great. That’s a separate list.

Six restaurants to try this July, from a Vietnamese omakase to a Decatur seafood house

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Atlanta’s restaurant openings this summer are unusually strong and unusually varied. After a sluggish stretch in 2024 and early 2025, the scene is back.

Here are the six openings I think are worth a booking — and one I’d skip.

Worth booking

1. Phở Bằng — West Midtown

The first dedicated Vietnamese omakase in Atlanta is also the first restaurant from chef Khánh Lê, who spent four years at NYC’s Di An Di. It’s an 8-seat counter, $145 a head, six courses that lean hard on regional Vietnamese flavors but skip the usual phở-and-bánh-mì hits. Bookings opened last week; the next available Saturday is August 16.

Piedmont Park gets major renovation, including a new public pool

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:00:00 -0400

Piedmont Park, Atlanta’s most-visited green space, is getting a top-to-bottom renovation that will close most of the park for nearly a year.

The $48 million project begins September 1, 2026 and runs through August 2027. The work will add a public swimming pool (Atlanta’s first in a generation), a redesigned playground, new restrooms throughout the park, and a complete overhaul of the park’s aging plumbing, electrical, and irrigation systems.

The Piedmont Park Conservancy, which manages the park under a long-term agreement with the city, is leading the project and funding about 70 percent of it privately. The remaining 30 percent comes from a 2024 parks bond passed by Atlanta voters.

T. Rex exhibition opens at Fernbank. Here's what to actually see — and skip.

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:00 -0400

The blockbuster T. Rex: The Ultimate Predator opens Saturday at Fernbank Museum in the Druid Hills neighborhood. I walked through the entire exhibit Tuesday so you don’t have to fight the first-weekend crowds unprepared.

What to actually see

The juvenile T. rex cast

The single best thing in the show is a life-sized cast of a juvenile T. rex — about 11 feet long, covered in downy feathers. It’s the first time a juvenile has been reconstructed at this size for public viewing, and it does a much better job than the giant adult skeleton of showing what the animal actually looked like.