Pittsburgh Celebrates 250 years with Fireworks - Yinz goin'?

Yinz goin' to the big celebration? I sure am! I'll be going with my family down to celebrate this fine city's 250th Anniversary. I feel that I wouldn't be a Pittsburgher if I I didn't. We will probably try and get a spot in Mt. Washington somewhere to watch the fireworks, as my in-laws live in Mt. Oliver and should be a short drive. Pittsburgh is such a fine city and I feel that we are on the brink of huge growth!

It's been said that Pittsburgh is the best place to invest in real estate! This proves it - we are such a stable city that if you buy in the Pittsburgh region you WILL see an increase in your property value.

This article has a little bit of history of Pittsburgh too!

Pittsburgh celebrates 250 with concert, fireworks at the Point Thursday, October 02, 2008 By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette Working on a barge on the Ohio River, Mel Black, center, of New Castle places 4-inch shells into the tubes as part of the "squibbing," a term that Zambelli Fireworks International uses to refer to placing the shells in the tubes and the wiring. The 4-inch shells will produce a variety of patterns, including rings, hearts and stars during Saturday night's fireworks display.

Pittsburgh will mark its 250th birthday with a million-dollar celebration on Saturday.

The busiest weekend of the region's year-long "sesquibicentennial" will begin with a more-than-100-vessel Three Rivers aquatic parade and end with the city's largest-ever display of aerial pyrotechnics. "Imagine Pittsburgh" fireworks will be launched from 17 sites on the Three Rivers, the North Side and Downtown.

While the city's official founding date is Nov. 25 -- the day in 1758 when British Gen. John Forbes and his troops occupied the smoking ruins of Fort Duquesne -- organizers of the "Birthday Blowout" are seeking to take advantage of the more moderate October weather.

"November would not have been the best time to get hundreds of thousands of people outdoors," Bill Flanagan said. "We expect that some die-hards will come to see the flotilla in the morning and stay until the fireworks are over."

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See a map that shows some of the better locations to watch the Pittsburgh 250 fireworks display on Saturday.

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Flanagan is director of Pittsburgh 250, the organization set up to coordinate anniversary events.

Most Saturday activities will center around Point State Park at the tip of the city's Golden Triangle. The Point, where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers come together to form the Ohio, was the location of both Fort Duquesne, built by the French, and the British Fort Pitt.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is asking "Birthday Blowout" participants to bring a few nonperishable grocery items to the events. People donating food or cash at food bank trucks on Commonwealth Place will receive mini-glow sticks.

Related events include a Pittsburgh Opera open house at its offices in the Strip District on Saturday and a French and Indian War-era encampment at Boyce Park in Monroeville and Plum on both Saturday and Sunday.

Activities will get under way Friday with the arrival in Pittsburgh of the Delta Queen, a 285-foot-long steamboat built in 1927. The Delta Queen will take part in Saturday's 250th Flotilla Cruise.

The aquatic event, organized by Port of Pittsburgh Commission, will feature watercraft ranging from sternwheelers like the Delta Queen to Chinese dragon boats to canoes and kayaks. When the city marked its sesquicentennial in 1908 -- its 150th birthday -- a similar event drew more than 300,000 to the banks of what were much dirtier rivers.

Best places to view the flotilla will include North Shore Riverfront Park, between Heinz Field and PNC Park, and Point State Park.

Other morning highlights will include the 11:30 a.m. unveiling, on the Point State Park stage, of the Forbes medallion, named for the general who led the military expedition that drove the French from the Ohio Valley. The 30-inch bronze medal was commissioned by the Colcom Foundation, the principal sponsor of Saturday's activities, and will be installed near the Fort Pitt Museum at a later date.

"Pittsburgh is in for a spectacular treat," said Tim Inglis, Colcom Foundation president. "This day and night promise to be a sensational celebration for people of all ages to enjoy."

Colcom Foundation was created by Cordelia Scaife May. "She loved Pittsburgh, she loved telling people about it and she loved bringing visitors to the city," Inglis said. "Events this weekend offer those opportunities all rolled up in one."

Forbes medallions also will be installed in Ligonier, Bedford and Carlisle. They are communities along the route that Gen. Forbes and his army crossed in their journey through the Pennsylvania wilderness. A fifth medallion will be unveiled next year in Dunfermline, Scotland. It is the birthplace of Gen. Forbes and another famous Pittsburgh resident, Andrew Carnegie.

A "Pittsburgh Born & Bred" concert will offer more than five hours of music by local artists. It will start at 4:30 p.m. on the Point State Park Stage.

That same venue also will be the site for a skit by performers from Pittsburgh CLO on "The Naming of Pittsburgh." That brief performance will start at 2 p.m.

Teams of bicycle riders in the PNC Legacy Relay are scheduled to travel from Washington, D.C., to Point State Park in 24 hours. They will leave Washington Friday afternoon and arrive in Pittsburgh about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Local bike riders and walkers are invited to join them for their arrival in the renovated park at about 2 p.m.

Restoration of and improvements to Point State Park and completion of the Great Allegheny Passage, the biking and hiking trail that will eventually link Pittsburgh and Cumberland, Md., were two of Pittsburgh 250's signature projects.

While work remains to finish both, enough has been done for both to play their parts in the birthday celebration, Flanagan said. "We want to get local people out on the trail and into the park," he said.

While organizers expect to spend about $400,000 on the "Birthday Blowout," the total cost of the event is closer to $1 million. Flanagan said the difference between the two numbers represents the value of donated equipment, materials and services.

Consol Energy, for example, is providing a dozen barges for the fireworks show.

With 17 launch sites, the 10 p.m. Zambelli Fireworks finale will have the largest number of firing locations ever used in the United States, according to producer Ida D'Errico.

Fireworks will be set off from barges moored on all three rivers, the West End Bridge, PNC Park, five Downtown buildings and three "surprise" locations.

The show will be accompanied by music performed by Pittsburgh artists.

"Fireworks are always magic, and this display will far exceed anything put on before," D'Errico said.