Atlanta residents reflect on what the end of summer means to them: "The last blast of hot air"
Depending on where you are in life, the end of summer can mean something different.
For some, it's back to busy schedules. For others, it's a chance to slow down.
At the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert in Piedmont Park on Sept. 9, people reflected on what the seasonal shift means to them.
For Tahra Nichols and Barbara Coble, summer's end no longer comes with a deadline.
"I'm a retired educator, so the end of summer for me used to mean back-to-school and back to work," said Coble.
These days, it means something a little different.
"It's kind of the last blast of hot air. It feels like just a deep breath before we hunker down and see the leaves coming off the trees," said Nichols.
For some people, few places in Atlanta are better for that last deep breath than Piedmont Park, with the ASO providing the soundtrack.
"I love symphonic music. I love it, and it kind of gives me a taste of what's to come for when we're inside," said Coble.
A few blankets away, summer's end looks a lot different for teacher Holly Smith.
"Starting now-ish, it's right when a lot of my time in the evenings and time on the weekends has to go towards grading and lesson planning, so this is kind of going to be it for me for a while," said Smith.
She and her friend Anne-Marie Pollacia arrived an hour early to get the best seat in the house, in a spot in the front-center lawn.
Pollacia, an emergency manager, told CBS News Atlanta she also becomes busy around this time with September being Emergency Preparedness Month, and she enjoys the fall more.
"I loathe direct sunlight," said Pollacia. "For me, the end of summer means the beginning of fall, and that's very exciting for me."
For Coble, retirement has given the seasonal shift a few perks.
"Others are going back to school and back to work, so the traffic is going to be much nicer where I live. Not a lot of people in the grocery store in the morning," she said.
The free concert was part of the ASO's longstanding tradition of performing in Piedmont Park. This year's program celebrated Atlanta as the "City in the Forest."
