Category Archives: Events

Paul’s Print Store Grand Opening

Paul's Print Store

I just learned about this event from a friend who were kind enough to spread the word. I love event posters. I love printed things.  Screen printing, digital printing, woodcut printing. I have long been wanting to start a series of blog posts about events with beautiful posters.

Paul’s Print Store is having a grand opening in Lawrenceville on Friday. The Paul of Paul’s Print Store is Paul Roden, one half of the duo that founded Tugboat Printshop. Tugboat Printshop makes hand carved woodcut prints. You may have seen their work hanging around Pittsburgh, or some of the posters they have created for events in Pittsburgh (here is one we wrote about in 2010) or possibly Washington, DC. (The photos on the internet and Instagram do not do their work justice, their work must be seen in person).

“Homestead” Paul Roden, 2017. Available online here.

Paul is a super nice person and I am sure the Grand Opening for Paul’s Print Store will be a swell event. Art, beer, wine and some dance hall music. And I am not just saying this because I am secretly a huge fan of dance hall music.

Earlier today I was chatting with some other bloggers on Facebook.  I was asking for advice on sponsored tweets and pondering the idea of posting sponsored content. I have been thinking about how to connect more Pittsburghers to local businesses.  The Facebook thread has me thinking out load about how this blog has been more of a community creator than a money maker and trying to explain that the connections that have come from writing about Pittsburgh have been more valuable than ad dollars.

Paul is one of those people who I have met through a friend of a friend and through the blog. Tugboat Printshop is a great example of Pittsburgh business that has been thriving, not thriving like Uber or Google, but quietly contributing to the fabric of Pittsburgh.

If you are in Lawrenceville tomorrow, stop by and visit Paul’s Print Store to toast their grand opening. If you are a lover of posters and Pittsburgh artists and just nice people be sure to follow @Prints_paul on Instagram.

Paul’s Print Store Grand Opening
Friday, October 19, 2017
6-9pm
3534 1/2 Butler Street, Lawrenceville

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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

 

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. )
Wordcamp Pittsburgh

WordCamp Pittsburgh: 1 Day Conference for Bloggers and Website Builders

Thinking about starting a blog? Want to build a website for your small business? Interested in learning more about how to maintain a website for your organization? Then your should plan to attend WordCamp Pittsburgh.

WordPress is one of the top content management systems that is used to build websites and blogs. IheartPGH has been built on WordPress since day 1. I wanted to make sure to share the information about the upcoming WordCamp because I wish this event had been around when I first started blogging. Similar to PodCamp, WordCamp is a casual conference for WordPress users. (Pittsburgh has had an active Podcamp community for the past decade).

The first WordCamp took place in San Francisco back in 2006 and has been expanding to local conference across the globe ever since. Pittsburgh has a fairly active WordPress MeetUp Group and the first WordCamp Pittsburgh was last year.

WordCamp Pittsburgh 2017

Wordcamp PittsburghThe 2017 WordCamp Pittsburgh Conference is next Saturday, September 9, 2017 at Pittsburgh Technical College in Oakdale. (Yes, I know Oakdale is a little bit far from Pittsburgh, but it is accessible from downtown by the 29 bus. It is not easy to find affordable locations for these types of events.)

WordCamp Pittsburgh

Saturday, September 9, 2017
8:30am – 4:45pm
Pittsburgh Technical College, 1111 McKee Road, Oakdale PA, 15071
Tickets $20
2017.pittsburgh.wordcamp.org

One of the reasons that IheartPGH is built on WordPress is that WordPress is free and opensource. One of the great things about WordCamp is that it is almost free to attend. The ticket price is just $20 and that includes lunch, swag and a t-shirt.

Beginning Bloggers to Master Builders

The Wordcamp Pittsburgh schedule is available online here. If you are brand new to blogging or working with wordpress or if you are an experience WordPress user, there are sessions for every level of expertise. Several of the speakers will be coming from out of town including Nara Kasbergen, who is a full-stack developer for NPR and Ben Meredith who is the guy who made the Click to Tweet boxes. You can check out the entire list of WordCamp Pittsburgh speakers here.

Follow WordCamp Pittsburgh Speakers on Twitter

I was eager to hear what some of these folks had to say! You can follow the Twitter list of the WordCamp Pittsburgh speakers here.

 

 

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

One of the best kept patio secrets in Pittsburgh, is the patio at the East End Brewing Brewery in the Larimer neighborhood. Last year they transformed the parking lot into a delightful beer garden.

The East End Brewing Brewery has always been a family-friendly spot for spending an afternoon. The patio makes this a great place for everyone to spend a hot summer afternoon with a cold beer (or root beer, which they usually have on tap). Just a heads up that East End Brewing also has a location in the Strip District, the East End Brewing Taproom, so make sure to point your GPS to the East End Brewing Brewery on Julius Street if you are looking for ice cream.

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

Well the good folks over at East End Brewing have come up with a way to make Sunday afternoons even better… ice cream. Starting this Sunday, July 9, there will be a different ice cream vendor at the brewery.

Here is the line up of tasty frozen treat vendors….

Keep an eye out for some limited-edition beer-inspired flavors of ice cream and my sources say there may even been some beer & ice cream floats.

If you aren’t an eat dessert first kind of person, the Tango Food Truck will be on site each week* so you can have something savory before a sweet treat.  *(Tango food truck will not be at the Brewery on August 6.)

Good Beer, Delicious Ice Cream, Really Nice Neighbors

I can’t say enough good things about East End Brewing. Scott Smith who is the owner as well as everyone who works there could not be nicer. This is by far one of my favorite businesses in town and they also make some great beers. If you have not yet had an ice cream sandwich from Leona’s Ice Cream, you are missing out. Last week I arrived at the market in Aspinwall, Feast on Brilliant, just as they were closing for the day. I was determined to pick up some Leona’s ice cream sandwiches. So I talked the poor clerk into letting me come inside to buy some ice cream sandwiches before they locked the door. Like Scott Smith, the owners of Leona’s are also incredibly nice people. Leona’s is also local, just down the street in Wilkinsburg, they have been an active participant in some of the redevelopment activities.

The best way to keep up on the Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing and all of the other food vendors that stop by the brewery is this “Come Hungry” calendar on their website, which is also a Google calendar you can subscribe too as well.

What’s that you say? You need a better way to keep track of tasty cool treat happenings? How about a twitter list of ice cream shops in Pittsburgh! You can find that list right here.