Since August 1, the first two hours of on-street parking in downtown Roswell have been free between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. every day. The best-known events on this fall's downtown calendar happen outside that window. Alive in Roswell runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on a Thursday in October and again in November. SIP & Stroll at Boo Y'all starts at 2 p.m. on a Sunday and ends at 6. Free curb parking covers a lunch on Canton Street. For a festival night, you need the new Green Street deck, which is free for one reason: the street next to it is torn up. Once the closure ends this fall, the deck stays free until the city decides otherwise, and that decision is planned for January.
What the free window covers
The rules apply to city-managed, on-street spaces in four places:
- Canton Street between Magnolia Street and Norcross Street
- Elizabeth Way between Canton Street and Alpharetta Highway
- East Alley between Canton Street and Norcross Street
- The East Alley Parking Lot
After the first two free hours, parking costs $3 an hour, rising in steps to $24 for the day. The same $3 rate applies at all hours outside the 8-to-3 window. That is higher than the rate the pilot started with on May 15, which was $2 an hour for up to six hours and a $16 daily maximum. The August change made daytime parking cheaper and evening parking more expensive. At the old rate, a two-hour dinner on Canton Street at 6 p.m. cost $4. Now it costs $6.
The city also set aside two free 30-minute spaces on Elizabeth Way for quick stops at local businesses. You still have to start a parking session during the free hours. You do that by scanning or texting from the posted signs, or at one of two kiosks. No app download is needed, and the city lists Oobeo as its payment provider. One July news report mentioned paying through the ParkMobile app. The city's instructions from July 30 are newer, so follow those and the posted signs.
The fall calendar falls outside the window
Here are the downtown dates from now through November, in order, with the parking details each one has published:
- Saturday, Oct. 3. The 76th annual Frances McGahee Youth Day Celebration takes place on Historic Canton Street. This year's theme is "America250: Tapestry of Generations."
- Saturday, Oct. 10, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 7th Annual Roswell Motoring Festival takes place at City Hall, 38 Hill St. It's free for the public and features cars, motorcycles, boats, bikes, vendors and food. This is the only event on the list that lines up with the free window, and it's held at City Hall, not on Canton Street.
- Thursday, Oct. 15, 5 to 9 p.m. Alive in Roswell is free and spreads across Historic Canton Street and the Roswell Antique and Interiors Lot. The listing points attendees to free public parking at Roswell City Hall.
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 2 to 6 p.m. SIP & Stroll at Boo Y'all, hosted by the Roswell Woman's Club, is a ticketed tasting route through participating Canton Street businesses. Its listing also recommends free parking at City Hall.
- Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 to 9 p.m. This extra Alive in Roswell replaces the June 18 festival, which was canceled because rain was forecast. It also points to City Hall parking.
On Alive in Roswell nights, the curb isn't available at all. Canton Street closes to vehicles from Highway 9 to Norcross Street during the festival. The city sends real-time event updates by text if you text ROSWELLEvent to 888777, which helps on a night when the weather is uncertain. On these nights the real choices are City Hall, the lots around downtown, and the new deck.
The deck covers evenings for now
The Green Street Parking Deck at 1056 Alpharetta Street opened May 4 with 394 spaces. According to the Roswell Ledger, it is the largest parking facility the city has built in more than 30 years. It was funded with $20 million from the bond package voters approved in November 2022, and Winter Construction built it under a $14.5 million design-build contract. A traffic signal on Alpharetta Highway lets drivers enter without cutting through residential streets, and the deck sits across the highway from the Southern Post development.
The pilot plan the council approved in March did not make the deck free around the clock. It called for free parking Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with fees on weekday evenings and all day on weekends. Residents and nonresidents would pay the same rates. An earlier idea to let Roswell residents park free was dropped. The city said telling residents from nonresidents at scale in a city of nearly 100,000 people wasn't workable.
Evenings and weekends are free right now only because of the Green Street Activation Plan. After a pre-construction review found the street had to close completely, the city decided in April to make the deck free during construction. The closure also took over the 66-space gravel lot at 1056 Green Street for construction staging. Council had set that lot aside for downtown employees. The Ledger, citing city records reported by Appen Media, estimated the city is giving up about $262,000 in pilot revenue by keeping the deck free.
The construction clock under the free deck
Green Street is closed to through traffic from Cherry Way to Alpharetta Street. The section from Woodstock Road to Cherry Way is still open, one-way southbound. Work started in early May. The city expected the full closure to take about six months, half the twelve months the job would have needed with traffic kept open, and said the rebuilt street "should be open in fall 2026." Six months from May 4 lands in early November, between the two Alive in Roswell dates. The city has not published a revised schedule or a firm reopening date.
When the street reopens, it will run one-way southbound. It will also have a brick-paved multi-use trail, new lighting and landscaping, underground utilities, and eventually a trail connection from Plum Tree Street to Canton Street. The Plum Tree connection would give people walking from the deck a more direct route to Canton Street.
The city's most recent parking update says the deck stays free "during active construction." It doesn't say what happens between the end of construction and the end of the pilot on Dec. 31. The council's Sept. 28 meeting recap shows no action on parking policy. If you're planning around Nov. 19, check the deck's posted signs that week.
What January decides
The on-street pilot and the deck pilot both expire Dec. 31, 2026. The Ledger reports that the council plans to review the pilot data in January 2027 and then decide whether to keep the deck free or start charging. It describes a possible schedule of free parking 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and $1 to $5 an hour on evenings and weekends. The city's own pilot page says deck fees haven't been set yet. They will be set by the city administrator using dynamic pricing, which adjusts rates based on demand, occupancy and time of day. For now, the $1 to $5 range is a reported framework, not a posted rate.
Canton Street business owners have spoken up on both sides. At the March 9 council meeting, where the pilot passed 4 to 2, Jenna Aronowitz of 1920 Tavern said the deck is too far from the south end of Canton Street, where demand is heaviest:
"I've got an older clientele. My clientele is not going to park in a parking deck eight minutes away."
At the same meeting, Ryan Pernice, owner of Table and Main and Osteria Mattone, said paid parking puts Roswell at a disadvantage against Alpharetta, Sandy Springs and Woodstock, which he said offer free downtown parking. Council member Christine Hall said the deck's operating costs need a revenue source. She pointed to electricity, cleaning, maintenance and the elevator. The city's July 30 update called early use of the deck "strong" but didn't include any usage figures.
The January review won't cover everything downtown. The council put off decisions on City Hall parking and on the planned HillRose development across from City Hall. HillRose is expected to add about 350 spaces in a city-owned deck, plus surface spaces and shared City Hall parking. For this fall, City Hall is still the free option the event organizers recommend.
Downtown parking affects more than festival nights. The Green Street trail, the new deck and the HillRose parking all change what "walkable" means near the Historic District. If you're considering selling a home near downtown or just want to know how these changes might show up in its value, Rhonda Shell Real Estate can walk you through it with a complimentary market analysis.
