Category Archives: Annual Events

The 2019 Dirty Dozen Bike Race is this Saturday, October 26

One of my favorite things in Pittsburgh that I think more Pittsburghers should know about is the Dirty Dozen Bike Race.

The race is usually held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but for 2019, the race has been moved up a month to October!

I’ve updated all of my old posts with new information over on Very Local, everything you need to know about the history of the race and being a spectator is all right here.

We’ve also published a video about Jeremiah Sullivan, he’s the guy who has successfully completed the Dirty Dozen race on a Healthy Ride Bike.

You can watch the video here, on YouTube or Facebook. (PS – we are always looking for more Pittsburgh stories to share over on Very Local. Have a story idea? Send me an email lindsay.patross@verylocal.com.)

Pittsburgh Yard Sale

June 1: Mexican War Streets Yard Sale & Local x Global Northside

A quick reminder that this Saturday, June 1, 2019, is the annual Mexican War Streets Yard Sale. I’m told this is one of the best neighborhood yard sales in Pittsburgh.

This Saturday is also a very special Northside event. Very Local Pittsburgh is hosting Local x Global: Northside.

Tickets are $12 and include a special Northside sandwich from Blue Sparrow Food Truck and a beer from Allegheny City Brewing.

Big Yard Sale Weekend in Pittsburgh

Check out this guide to Pittsburgh Neighborhood Yard Sales.

  • Saturday, June 1 – Mexican War Streets Yard Sale
  • Saturday, June 1 – Brookline Yard Sale
  • Sunday, June 2 – Highland Park Yard Sale
Pittonkatonk

All the things you need to know about Pittonkatonk 2019

 

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Saturday, May 11, 2019, is the annual Balkan brass band festival in Schenley Park. It is one big, bad, brass band potluck and it is all FREE.

While Pittonkatonk happens one day a year, there are a lot of great things that happen the other 364 days a year to lead up to the festival.

Here are a few of the articles about this year’s festival that are worth your time.

Here is a quick overview of Pittonkatonk…

 

More Pittsburgh stories…

If you like some of the stories from Very Local Pittsburgh that I’ve linked to above, I hope you will take a moment to like and follow Very Local Pittsburgh on Facebook and follow @VeryLocalPGH on Twitter and Instagram. We share very Pittsburgh stories there every day.

Highland Park House Tour

Tour the King Estate and 11 other homes on the Highland Park House Tour

This Saturday, May 12, 2018, is the annual Highland Park House Tour. From 10 am to 3 pm visitors are invited to tour 12 houses around the Highland Park neighborhood.

One of the most popular posts on the blog is the profile of the Moltrup Steel Mansion, which was for sale in Beaver Falls. Some of the other posts about old homes around Pittsburgh regularly make the top 10 list, so I thought some of our old home loving readers might be interested in the Highland Park House Tour.

2018 Highland Park House Tour

Highland Park House Tour

  • Date: Sat, May 12, 2018
  • Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EDT
  • Location: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 5801 Hampton Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
  • Tickets: $35 in advance and $40 the day of the event.  Tickets are available online here.

Proceeds from the Highland Park House Tour benefit the Highland Park Community Council

Visit Baywood/King Estate on the House Tour

King Estate, Highland Park

Photo Credit: Highland Park Community Council Facebook Page

While the annual tour is known for showing off some impressive houses in Pittsburgh, this years tour features a stop at Baywood, more commonly known as the King Estate.  Baywood is the large mansion at the end of Negley Avenue right where Negley turns right to go down to the zoo. Baywood was built in 1880 as a residence for Alexander King, was owned by the City of Pittsburgh for man years and was purchased by the current owners in 1994.  The current owners have been restoring Baywood for the past 20 some years.

Photos and more history of Baywood/King Estate:

Interested in seeing more historic houses and buildings around Pittsburgh?

Join the Pittsburgh Historic Preservation MeetUp group here.

Art All Night Turns 21 and Moves to the South Side

Art All Night poster from 2008

Art All Night turns 21 this year and like many Pittsburghers who turn 21, Art All Night is heading to the South Side to celebrate.  Thankfully, the Carson Street metaphor ends there.  Everything about the event is the same, except for the location.  To get to Art All Night this year, you will have to cross a river (or two depending on your route) to the South Side.  The 21st annual Art All Night will be held at the Terminal Buildings (which have been renamed The Highline, but this is a Pittsburgh blog and we prefer to give directions that would make sense to most Pittsburghers.)  Art All Night everyone is invited to submit one piece of art to be displayed in the show.

Last week, I caught up with an old friend for lunch where we reminisced about local politics, talked about Hq2 and waxed poetic about the transformation of Pittsburgh from then to now. Pittsburgh has changed a lot in the past 30 years and one of the neighborhoods that has undergone the biggest transformation is Lawrenceville. If I had to pick one event that created a ripple effect for years to come – Art All Night might be that event.  (I would love to hear your thoughts on events that had an impact on Pittsburgh! Please share in the comments below).  You can read more about the history of Art All Night here.

Everything you need to know about Art All Night

    • To attend: stop by any time between 4 pm on Saturday (April 28, 2018) and 2 pm on Sunday (April 29, 2018) – yes, this event is 22 consecutive hours of art. The entire event is free to attend.
  • Location: Terminal Buildings/Highline – 198 S. 4th Street, Pittsburgh PA 15203
  • To display your art: register online here and drop off your art between 10 am and 2 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2018.
  • Follow the Facebook event here and @ArtAllNight on Twitter here for updates.

Volunteer Here: Art All Night is looking for volunteers

This is a 100% free event.  If you would like to help make sure this event is a success sign up to volunteer here.

Volunteers are needed to help with:

  • Registration: Register artists and check in their artwork, move art to the staging area.
  • Parking and Traffic: Help control the road and pedestrian traffic by the buildings.
  • Security: Oversee event space area to ensure no accidents occur and that safety and security protocols are met.
  • Hangers: Move the artwork from the staging area to the appropriate display area and curate/hang the art.
  • Green Team: Help keep Art All Night Green! Manage the recycling and trash receptacles.
  • Art Sales Table: No sales take place, but staff the table in order to collect contact information of interested buyers so they can be given to the artist when they pick up their artwork after the show.
  • Sales Table: Assist in the selling of merchandise.
  • Volunteers: Help the volunteer captains manage incoming volunteers and ensure all volunteers receive their t-shirt upon volunteer check-in.
  • Kitchen: Collect food donations as they come in for the volunteer team, keep food area neat and clean up at the end.
  • Stage: Assist bands and performers at the stage area.
  • Take-down: Remove art from the displays at the end of the show on Sunday at 2 pm.
  • Art Pick-Up/Check-Out: Checking artists’ IDs to make sure the right person has the correct piece of art.
  • Tear-down: Take down the display panels, pack our supplies, and clean the building on Sunday afternoon.
  • Children’s Activities: Help facilitate the children’s activity areas. This includes interacting with children to get them involved in art projects.
  • Interactive Art Assistants: Aid and monitor attendees in d.i.y. art projects.
  • Artist Assistants: Help facilitate onsite artists. Duties may include moving canvases and art supplies.
  • Onsite Art Clean Up: Assist with cleaning up lots and lots of paint, washing brushes and moving canvases late Saturday night.
  • Art Auction: Help out with a live auction and enter bids into a computer system.

Advice from Art All Night: Art is everything my parents told me not to do

At the 2013 Art All Night there was a giant timeline and visitors were asked to add their Art All Night memories to the board.   While there were lots of interesting memories stuck on to the board, this post-it note jumped out at me. In case you can’t read the post-it…

  • Green Note: “Art is everything my parents told me not to do”
  • Grey Note: “SAME HERE! It’s a damned shame I listened to them.  I’m 56 now and finally I’m enjoying art + LIFE”

Read our previous posts about Art All Night here: 20082009, 20102014.