Tag Archives: Fort Ligonier Days

Best of the Fall Fests: Fort Ligonier Days & Brady’s Run Gear and Beer

In case you need a reason to get outside and experience fall in western PA this weekend – here are 2 great fall festivals that are just a short drive from Pittsburgh.

Fort Ligonier Days – October 12-14, 2012 @ Downtown Ligonier

  • Parade (Saturday Morning)
  • Reenactments of the battle of Fort Ligonier
  • Festival food – in my opinion some of the best festival food around
  • Craft vendors, kids activities and more
  • Read more about Fort Ligonier Days food in the Tribune Review here
  • Festival Facebook Page – facebook.com/FortLigonierDays

 

Gear & Beer Fall Fest – October 14, 2012 @ Brady’s Run Park

  • Hosted by the Ohio River Trail Council – proceeds will go toward bike trail development connecting the Montour Trail in Coraopolis to the Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway trail.
  • Activities include a mountain bike ride, 15-mile, 35-mile or 50-mile road bike ride, 5K run/walk, kayaking and canoeing, Calland Arboretum Trail Tour, auctions, raffles, children’s bike rodeo & live music
  • Food, drink and free wine and craft beer tasting with proper registration!
  • More details – including race registrations – are available here – be sure to scroll way down on the page for the registration links.
  • Read more about the Gear & Beer Fest in the Tribune Review here.

The Perfect Fall Weekend – Radio Round Up – Oct. 10, 2010

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Image via Wikipedia

You can listen to IheartPGH every Friday morning on WDVE at 6:45 am – here is a rundown of what we talked about this morning.
Celebrate 15 years of PUMP and the PSL (Pittsburgh Sports League)
Friday, October 8
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Noon-5pm
Pumpkin Carving Contest, Doggie Costume Contest
Fort Ligonier 2006.
Image by ryanophilly via Flickr

Fort Ligonier Days
October 8-10, 2010

Saturday morning – parade
Reenactments of the battle of Fort Ligonier
Food, Crafts, Fall fun

Saturday, October 9 4-11pm, Joe Grushecky and Houserockers @ 9pm
Kids stuff, local vendors and more

Parades, Reenactments, Festival Food and Fall = Fort Ligonier Days

i heart this bike
Image by IheartPGH via Flickr

I was thinking surely there has to be a few posts in the Pittsburgh blogosphere about Fort Ligonier Days – but nothing.  I think this is one of the biggest and most spectacular community history celebrations in Western PA (and any where else I have been I try to stop at the local festivals when I am away from the burgh.  I can tell you the the Venice, FL Sharks Tooth Festival is nice but it is no Fort Ligonier Days.

All of the festival details are available here: http://www.ligonier.com/fld.html

5 Reasons to attend Fort Ligonier Days:

A member of the Shriner Syrian Corvette group ...

Image via Wikipedia

1. Parade – this is a serious parade – it is a few hours long and there are tons of marching bands and elaborate floats as well as the Shriners in their hats and shoes and funny clown cars.  If you are smart you will put out your chairs along the parade route on Friday night – don’t worry no one will steal them.  If not you can still sneak in and find a spot to sit along the parade route.

2. Fall – if you want to see leaves and Western Pa in all of its perfect fall splendor – Ligonier is really the place.  Take the turnpike to the Donegal exit and drive into Ligonier along rolling hills, split rail fences, and autumn leaves. Continue reading →

Fort Ligonier Days – 250th Anniversary of the Battle

Fort Ligonier 2006.Image by ryanophilly via FlickrEach year thousands of people head to Ligonier – just a quick 60 minute drive from Pittsburgh for a huge celebration that commemorates the battle of Ligonier which was one of the battles of the French and Indian War.   The fort is still there and you can even watch a reenactment of the battle. I try to make it to Fort Ligonier Days each year for the parade on Saturday Morning and the food – it is the most amazing festival food I have ever found.

I definitly don’t want to miss the 250th Anniversary celebration at this years Fort Ligonier days.  The fun starts on Friday morning, the parade is on Saturday and the events run through Sunday.

All of the details with a complete schedule is available here.

You can watch the battle reenactments at 2 & 4 on Saturday and Sunday at the Fort.

The other reason to make the drive to Ligonier is the fall foliage – this is the perfect time of year to see the spectacular colors of leaves.  I will be looking for candy corns and pumpkins and some apple cider too.

While you are in Ligonier you MUST stop in to see Joe’s Bar – this place is spectacular, a different kind of spectacular than the leaves, but spectacular. Joe’s has one of the largest collections of taxidermy in the US – see pictures here.  More pictures here and here. Continue reading →