Author Archives: Lindsay

About Lindsay

Lindsay has been writing about Pittsburgh since 2005. She likes pretzels from the Pretzel Shop on Carson St., used book stores, her rollerblades and she hopes to learn to skateboard someday soon.

TUE: Free Event with Authors of “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign”

The authors of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign, will be in Pittsburgh for a free lecture at the Carnegie Library Lecture hall on Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

Tickets for the lecture are free and the event will be followed by a book signing with White Whale Bookstore at 8pm.

Visit the PublicSource Facebook event for more details.

Follow: @PublicSourcePA @JonAllenDC @AmieParnes

 

Price Drop. The Moltrup Steel Mansion in Beaver Falls Reduced to $62,500

Update 1/18/2018 – Open house on Saturday, January 20, 2018.

Beaver Falls Mansion

This Beaver Falls mansion was built by the family who owned the Moltrup Steel manufacturing plant in 1914.  When I first profiled this building for historic preservation month in May, 2017. The house was listed for $80,500. (You can see all of the posts that I wrote for historic preservation month here.)

The post on the Moltrup Steel Mansion that is for sale in Beaver Falls has continued to be popular and I went to see if the house had sold.  The 5 bedroom, 4 bath house is still available and the price has been reduced to $62,500. Looking at the comments about this property on Old House Dreams site, there has been some interest in this property from a buyer on the other side of the country.

Hubzu Auction for Beaver Falls Mansion

The house is also listed for auction on Hubzu.com. The auction has one day left and the starting bid $49,500, which is still below the reserve price.

See more photos and learn more about 914 8th Ave:

For more historic information on Beaver Falls, PA:

Pittsburgh Volunteer Fair

Learn about great Pittsburgh Places to Volunteer at the Help or High Water Party

This is one of those events that highlights some of the best of Pittsburgh. Hosted by Pittsburgh Cares, a non-profit organization that matches people who want to volunteer with organizations that need volunteers, this party is a chance to find out more about where you can volunteer your time. Pittsburgh Cares is a great organization and they are bring together over 35 other amazing organizations for a big awesome volunteer party at the Union Project. (The Union Project is a perfect spot for a Pittsburgh volunteer fair because most of the remodeling of the building was done by, you guessed it, volunteers.)

If you are looking to get more involved in your community, meet some other civic minded folks or just find out more about what these organizations do everyday, stop by the Union Project on Thursday night for Help or High Water II.

Help or High Water II: A Volunteer Fair

Thursday, September 21, 2017
6-10pm
The Union Project

Here are the details from the Help or High Water II: A Volunteer Fair (and a birthday party!) Facebook Event:

Pittsburgh Volunteer Fair

The first “Help or High Water” event in January was such a success — hundreds of volunteers, dozens of nonprofit agencies in attendance — that Pittsburgh Cares is organizing another to help us commemorate our 25th year of serving the Pittsburgh region.

In other words, happy birthday to us!

We’re celebrating with food trucks, beer from Full Pint Brewing, wine from J&D Cellars, Maggie’s Farm Rum, Red Star Kombucha, celebrity bartenders, and more. Bring your friends, bring your wallets (suggested $5 at the door), and bring your willingness to improve your community by supporting one (or more) of Pittsburgh’s many worthy charities and service agencies.

While you’re here, get to know a bit more about the evening’s beneficiary, Pittsburgh Cares, which works to advance a culture of volunteerism and civic engagement in the region. Pittsburgh Cares matches non-profits with volunteers of all ages, and organizes one-time and recurring volunteer activities.

This volunteer fair is open to all ages, all abilities, anyone and everyone who wants to get active and give back, but is unsure where to start. Come out to the Union Project on Sept. 21, have a drink, and start building a more vibrant city by meeting amazing people from:

  1. 412 Food Rescue @412FoodRescue
  2. ACLU of Pennsylvania @aclupa
  3. All for All
  4. Amachi Pittsburgh
  5. Assemble
  6. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh
  7. Bike Pittsburgh
  8. Book’Em (Pittsburgh’s Books To Prisoners)
  9. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  10. Casa San Jose
  11. CeaseFirePA
  12. Community Human Services Corporation
  13. Coro Pittsburgh
  14. Dress for Success Pittsburgh
  15. Engineers Without Borders Pittsburgh Professional Chapter
  16. Focus On Renewal
  17. GASP
  18. GLCC of Pittsburgh
  19. Girls Rock! Pittsburgh
  20. Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council – GPLC
  21. Homeless Children’s Education Fund
  22. Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh-Refugee & Immigrant Services
  23. Just Harvest
  24. Keys Service Corps AmeriCorps
  25. Lawrenceville United
  26. Mattress Factory – Museum of Contemporary Art
  27. Northern Area Multi-Service Center – Landmark Home Health-Refugee Resettlement
  28. One Pennsylvania
  29. PennFuture
  30. Pennsylvania Resources Council
  31. Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
  32. PULSE – Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience
  33. PPWP–Planned Parenthood of Western PA
  34. Proud Haven
  35. Wesley Family Services-In Service of Seniors
  36. YNPN Pittsburgh
Acro-Cats in Pittsburgh

The Acro-Cats are coming to Pittsburgh

Yes, there is a cat circus. And yes, the cat circus is coming to Pittsburgh. This is not the first time the Acro-Cats bus has rolled into Pittsburgh. From my social media research, it looks like the Acro-Cats tour has made stops in Pittsburgh in 2013 and 2015.

Here are a few fun facts about the Acro-Cats purformances:

  1. The final act of the Acro-Cats show is a performance by The Rock Cats. The world’s only all cat rock band.
  2. The cats travel in not one, but two custom cat vehicles.
  3. 1420 people donated $153,362 on Kickstarter to fund the Acro-Cats tour bus.
  4. You can volunteer to help with the show and attend for free. Volunteers are needed to help with everything from merchandise to liter box scooping. More info on how to volunteer is below.
  5. Acro-cats was originally acro-rats. Acro-cats trainer, Samantha Martin, had an Acro-Rats Circus prior to starting Acro-Cats. (You can read more about Martin and the Acro-Rats in this 2015 LA Times article.)
  6. Cluck Norris is a chicken who often joins the Acro-Cats on stage. You can see a photo of Cluck here.

Acro-Cats Pittsburgh

A cat circus?

The Acro-Cats cat circus is a performance where the trainer has the cat performers do tricks for the audience. The Acro-Cats troup was founded by Samantha Martin in 2005. Before starting the Acro-Cats, Martin had a rat circus, name Acro-Rats. The Acro-Cats have been touring since 2009.

As I was writing this blog post, I was wondering if this is safe for the cats? The Ringling Brother Circus stopped using elephants in 2016 after public concern for the welfare of the animals. I found no statements about Acro-Cats or circus cats on the PETA website. The Acro-Cats website has many posts about adopting cats and partners with animal welfare organizations as they travel across the country. According to the Facebook event for Acro-Cats in Pittsburgh, the local partner is the Humane Animal Rescue League (This is the new name for the Humane Society and the Animal Rescue League, which merged last year).

Acro-Cats Pittsburgh Purformances:

acrsocats pittsburghLocation: Bricolage’s Theater, 937 Liberty Ave., 1st Floor

  • Wednesday, October 11 @ 7pm
  • Thursday, October 12 @ 7pm
  • Thursday, October 13 @ 7pm
  • Thursday, October 14 @ 4pm
  • Thursday, October 14 @ 7pm
  • Thursday, October 15 @ 1pm
  • Thursday, October 15 @ 4pm

Facebook Event for the Acro-Cats Pittsburgh performance.

Tickets for Acro-Cats Pittsburgh shows:

  • General Admission $24.80
  • VICP (Very important cat people) $40.32

Volunteer to help with Acro-Cats in Pittsburgh and attend for free!

If you would like to help with some of the behind the scenes setup of the Acro-Cats show, you can sign up to be a volunteer for the show here on this Doodle page. Volunteers will be asked to help with things like merchandise and cat care, which the volunteer FAQ notes includes scooping liter boxes. You can read the entire Acro-Cats volunteer FAQ here.

Join the Cat Circus

If you have always wanted to join the (cat) circus, now is your chance… The Acro-Cats are looking for a tour assistant to help with this traveling show…

This job opportunity is PURRRFECT for the right candidate. Pay is commensurate with experience. This could be considered full time work for the right person.

If you are interested in the position, check out the job description here.

More Acro-Cats?

Looking for more interesting events in and around Pittsburgh? Check out our Pittsburgh events calendar for lots more concerts, fundraisers, film screenings and more.

And now, a word from our sponsors…

  • If you are a fan of Uber or looking for a way to skip the parking headache when you head to the Acro-cats Pittsburgh purformance, check out Lyft. Use code PGHEVENTS to save $5 off your first ride. (Lyft is also hiring drivers in Pittsburgh,  Youngstown & Morgantown – apply online here and get a $500 new driver bonus. )