Cobbham's October Sundays Run on Two Schedules, and Prince Avenue Fits Only One

Two Sundays in a row this October, Cobbham's own streets host the event. On October 11 the AthHalf half marathon comes through the neighborhood in the early morning. On October 18 Historic Athens Porchfest turns Cobbham porches into stages for the afternoon. Each Sunday has a set timetable. On the race, organizers list a closure window for every street. On the festival, every porch has a listed start time.

Line those timetables up against the Sunday hours on east Prince Avenue and the two days look very different. Race morning ends just as the coffee counter opens. Porchfest is only getting going when that counter closes, and the newest market on the strip is closed on Sundays altogether.

October 11: A Race Morning That Ends at Nine

The AthHalf Half Marathon starts at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 11. The organizers' course description sends runners from downtown through the historic Boulevard, Normaltown and Cobbham neighborhoods, then past Five Points and across the UGA campus to a finish inside Sanford Stadium. The 2026 race is sold out, so a waitlist is the only way left to get in.

The start line has moved this year. The race site says median installations on some downtown streets forced the change to keep runners from getting hurt. The start-line note in the 2026 Runner Info Packet puts it at Washington Street and N. Lumpkin Street, with five corrals and runners asked to be in place by 7:20 a.m. Other race pages still name Washington and College Avenue, so check the full course map before you walk down to watch the start.

The organizers' road closure sheet lists closures in the order runners reach each street. The sheet isn't dated, so treat these as the windows organizers have posted, not a promise. Here are the listings closest to Cobbham, all a.m.:

• 6:30 to 8:00: all of Washington Street
• 7:32 to 7:48: one westbound lane of Prince Avenue, Pulaski to Grady
• 7:35 to 7:52: all of Grady Street
• 7:42 to 8:19: one eastbound lane of Prince Avenue, Sunset to Satula
• 7:52 to 9:00: all of Cobb Street
• 7:55 to 9:27: the southbound lane of Milledge Avenue, Cobb to Lumpkin

Prince Avenue only loses one lane at a time, and each lane closure on the sheet lasts under 40 minutes. Cobb Street is the one that closes fully, and for more than an hour. The sheet lists it as Cobbham's longest full closure, open again at 9:00. The Milledge lane south of Cobb stays blocked until 9:27, so if you're driving south toward campus, you'll be the last to get your street back.

The runner packet promises live bands and DJs along the route, plus cheer squads from local businesses and organizations. It doesn't say where any of them will be in Cobbham. Cobb Street itself is the easiest place to watch, since it's closed for the longest stretch on the sheet. The race is produced by AthFest Educates, a nonprofit that funds music and arts education programs.

Where the morning lands

Hendershot's, at 237 Prince Avenue, opens at 9 a.m. on Sundays and stays open until 2:30 p.m., according to its own website. That's the same minute Cobb Street is listed to reopen. Hendershot's had internal renovations over the summer and is now open on Mondays too, Flagpole reported in its August 17 food column. On race Sunday, the closures end just as the coffee shop opens.

October 18: An Afternoon Spread Across Cobbham's Porches

A week later the neighborhood fills up for a different reason. Historic Athens Porchfest runs Sunday, October 18. Historic Athens, which produces the festival, lists the hours as 1 to 8 p.m. The listings don't agree, though. Visit Athens shows noon to 8 p.m., and Flagpole's event listing shows 1 to 7 p.m. The organizer's own 1 to 8 p.m. is the safest bet.

The festival is free and presented by Cafe Racer. It spreads more than 200 local acts across seven historic neighborhoods, and Cobbham is one of them. The official Porchfest site has a directory of performers you can sort by neighborhood and time. Its full Map & Schedule page still said "coming soon" when we checked.

These Cobbham porches are already posted, sorted by street:

This list covers only part of Cobbham's lineup, and times can change until the official schedule is posted. Even so, it shows how the afternoon is laid out. Four of the 1:00 sets are on the neighborhood's outer edges: Meigs, Prince, N. Milledge and N. Chase. Later in the day the music moves to Cobb Street and Hill Street. Cobb has listed sets at 2:00, 3:00 and 5:00. Hill picks up at 4:00 with the Georgia Children's Chorus and runs to Little Mae at 825 Hill at 6:00. You can catch most of it by starting near the edges, catching the middle-afternoon sets on Cobb and finishing on Hill.

On getting around, Historic Athens says free hop-on, hop-off trolleys will run between performance spots in the participating neighborhoods, with commentary on the historic architecture along the way. Its event page does not list stops street by street. The festival's day-of page says parking details are still coming. It suggests carpooling, rideshare or Athens Transit, or parking on the edges of the neighborhoods, and it marks restrooms on the online map.

Where the Afternoon Runs Into Closed Doors

This is where the two Sundays split. Hendershot's closes at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. That overlaps with the 1:00 and 2:00 Porchfest sets but none of the Cobb Street or Hill Street sets that come after.

The other new anchor on the strip is Dovetail Market at 497 Prince Avenue, which opened in May 2026 in the space Birdies Market used to occupy. In a September 23 review, Flagpole described a gourmet market with a dining area and a paned glass door into the neighboring Lark Winespace. The review mentions grab-and-go sandwiches like the Bocadillo, made with Serrano ham, manchego and romesco on an Independent Bread Co. baguette. The Athens Banner-Herald put Dovetail on its September 30 list of 2026 openings and confirmed it serves lunch and dinner.

Flagpole lists Dovetail's hours as Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Its Toast ordering page shows the market side open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and closed on Sunday and Monday. The two listings disagree about evenings but agree about Sunday. Both October event days fall on a day Dovetail is closed.

So the same week gives you two different setups:

1. October 11. The closure sheet has Cobb Street reopening at 9:00 a.m., the same time Hendershot's opens its doors. The rest of race Sunday is yours.
2. October 18. Music on Cobbham porches is listed until 6:00 p.m. and beyond, while Hendershot's closes at 2:30 and Dovetail stays closed all day. If you want a market-side picnic, the Saturday before is the time to stock up.

Dovetail's Saturday hours make the second option easy. Pick up sandwiches or a charcuterie plate on October 17, and you'll have something to carry from Cobb Street to Hill Street once the afternoon sets begin. Agua Linda's Prince Avenue location is still open under new ownership, according to Flagpole's May report. Check its Sunday hours yourself before you plan around it.

When Cobbham's streets turn into a race course one week and a music venue the next, the details of how those Sundays work belong in the story of a Cobbham home. Eric Vaughn helps clients tell that story one block at a time. If you're thinking about what your Cobbham home is worth this fall, start with a free home valuation and a conversation with someone who keeps track of these schedules.