Porsches, Games, Golfing, Car Show: 5 Things To Do In Atlanta Area To Celebrate Dad 2022

ATLANTA, GA — Before you wish him a happy Father's Day, you'd better strategize a plan. Where are you going to take Dad on Sunday? Instead of just sitting and watching TV together, take Dad to do one of these fun activities to show him you care.

The Five Best Things To Do With Dad On Father's Day 2022 In The Atlanta Area

Go to a baseball game. Unfortunately, the Braves are out of town for Father's Day weekend. But luckily, they return home to play San Francisco on Monday and have six straight days of home games, so there's plenty of time to watch a ballgame with Dad if he can wait just a bit past Father's Day. Most of the games have a special component to them, such as the first 15,000 fans receive a Dale Murphy "Power Alley" bobblehead (Monday), a specialty Pride ticket that includes pre-game access and a Braves Pride Tervis tumbler (Wednesday), a free pre-game concert by an up-and-coming country music artist and fireworks after the game (June 24) and more. See the full schedule and all of the special offers here.

Spectate like a VIP at the Atlanta United Game. Sports, all sports. Dads like them all. The Atlanta United will play on Father's Day at home. But that isn't even close to the best part: The team is offering a 2022 Atlanta United Father’s Day package so that you and Dad can live life to the fullest. The package includes two tickets and a backpack cooler. Technically, you can choose to attend the game on Sunday or on July 9 with this package, but just wait; the experience becomes more VIP. According to the description, Sunday's game includes the option to upgrade your Father's Day package to include the Coca-Cola pre-party. The Coca-Cola pre-party includes a pre-match tailgate in the Home Depot Backyard with food, three drink vouchers and entertainment. Dad is worth the VIP treatment on his special day, so regular tickets just will not do. See more information about the 2022 Atlanta United Father’s Day package and buy tickets here.

Take Dad to the Porsche Experience Center. Dads like cars — that's a rule when you become a dad. The Porsche Experience Center is the "home of Porsche in North America," according to its website, and it is one of a kind. Dad could choose one of the amazing driving experiences on offer, which take place on a 1.6-mile track "to showcase the incredible performance of Porsche vehicles." But be forewarned before you look at the prices: It's not cheap.

The facility is still exciting to visit if you opt not to pay for the driving. It features simulators that use physics to feel like you are driving any number of Porsche models on a racetrack and a heritage gallery in which guests can take a self-guided tour of two levels of experiences and vehicle displays. Treat Dad to some Porsche swag at the store, which is described as the only location that offers all three Porsche brands: Porsche Museum, Porsche Driver’s Selection and Porsche Design. The center also includes a couple of dining options, so Dad can eat a meal by Porsche while overlooking the racetrack. Hours vary for each part of the Porsche Experience Center, so be sure to check them and plan ahead. Reservations are also required for most experiences.

Head to the car show. Dad can join like-minded individuals and discuss cars at the Father’s Day Cruise-In from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. The car show is about fun and meeting other people who also like cars, so all years, makes and models are welcome. Enjoy a live DJ and the chance to win Dad a $100 gift card to The Avenue, the location of the show. According to an Instagram post about the event, it will have "no judging, no classes or restrictions, just a whole bunch of fun and camaraderie!" It also recommends taking Dad to lunch somewhere nearby after the show — not a bad idea.

Play a round of golf at Dad's favorite course or surprise him with one he has never tried. The Atlanta area has lots of courses, so check out Golf Atlanta's ratings and reviews of the courses in the metro area if you need some help picking. Don't forget about the four golf courses owned by the city of Atlanta if you are looking for convenience and a reasonable price range. Golf Atlanta reviews the city courses favorably.

Still looking for a last-minute gift for Father's Day? Check out Patch's Father's Day Gift Guide 2022.

A Brief History Of Father's Day

It wasn’t a #MeToo movement that made Father’s Day a national holiday on equal footing with Mother’s Day in 1972, about six decades after President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the holiday celebrating America’s mothers in 1914.

In fact, it was the opposite, something akin to a #NotUs movement in the more patriarchal family structure in the early 20th century.

The whole idea of a day to celebrate fathers for simply doing their duty — providing for their families — struck men as silly and trite when it was the nation’s mothers who were underappreciated, Lawrence R. Samuel wrote in “American Fatherhood: A Cultural History.”

Men “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products — often paid for by the father himself,” according to one historian’s account shared by The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The first Father’s Day observance was held on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington, and it was organized by Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widowed Civil War veteran.

Dodd thought fathers such as hers should be honored in the same way mothers are. So she set out on a campaign to make it happen, convincing local churches, civic groups, shopkeepers and governmental officials of the idea’s merit. Accordingly, on the third Sunday of June in 1910, preachers across the state of Washington gave sermons honoring fathers.

In the years following, U.S. presidents and other politicians nudged the idea forward that Father’s Day should be made a federal holiday.

In 1916, Wilson used telegraph signals to unfurl the flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, where he celebrated Father’s Day with his own family. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge asked state governments to observe Father’s Day.

Even though Father’s Day was an unofficial holiday, families around the country celebrated it. Silk neckties became the go-to gift for dads and were mass-produced in the 1920s to meet the demand, according to Good Housekeeping.

Father’s Day survived a movement in the 1920s and 1930s to do away with and decommercialize the individual observances and celebrate Parents’ Day instead. Pro Parents’ Day rallies were held in New York City’s Central Park during those years to raise awareness around the idea that, in the words of Parents’ Day activist and radio performer Robert Spere, “Both parents should be loved and respected together,” according to History.com.

During the Great Depression, retailers and advertisers overcame many Americans’ hesitance to part with their money with promotions to make Father’s Day “a second Christmas” for fathers, according to History.

When World War II came along, marketing efforts shifted, according to Good Housekeeping. Father’s Day became another way to honor U.S. troops and support the war effort, though some dismissed that as propaganda, according to Good Housekeeping.

Still, Father’s Day was firmly institutionalized, even if it wasn’t the official holiday Wilson had hoped for.

In the 1950s, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine pleaded with Congress to make Father’s Day official, arguing that Congress “has been guilty now for 40 years of the worst possible oversight against the gallant fathers of our land.”

“Either we honor both our parents, mother and father, or let us desist from honoring either one," she wrote.

In 1961, Republican Rep. Walt Horan, whose district included Spokane, gave a speech on the House floor in support of an effort to make Father’s Day an official holiday. The 11-term congressman didn’t live to see it happen; he died in 1966.

That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who reportedly was keen on the idea of a national Father’s Day holiday, issued the first-ever presidential proclamation honoring fathers.

Johnson’s successor, President Richard M. Nixon, made Father’s Day a federal holiday in 1972, writing in a proclamation the following words.

"In fatherhood, we know the elemental magic and joy of humanity. In fatherhood, we even sense the divine, as the Scriptural writers did who told of all good gifts coming 'down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning' — symbolism so challenging to each man who would give his own son or daughter a life of light without shadow.
“Our identity in name and nature, our roots in home and family, our very standard of manhood — all this and more is the heritage our fathers share with us. It is a rich patrimony, one for which adequate thanks can hardly be offered in a lifetime, let alone a single day. Still it has long been our national custom to observe each year one special Sunday in honor of America's fathers; and from this year forward, by a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, that custom carries the weight of law.”

Father's Day may be on equal footing with Mother’s Day as an official U.S. holiday, but consumer spending for Father’s Day doesn’t come close to matching the amount of cash Americans lay out to celebrate their mothers.

This year, Father’s Day spending was expected to be about $20.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. That compares with about $32 billion spent on Mother’s Day.

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