Rain, Rain Go Away - We Wanna Go To Arts Fest!

As I mentioned in my last post, the Three Rivers Arts Festival, hosted by Dollar Bank and the Cultural Trust, is a go! With the big opening night on Friday filled with the new Point State Park fountain and headlining band, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, I'm thinking this year will be the best yet.

Although when Eric and I were down there on Friday we were not able to make it in time to be able to walk around to explore the art booths (I had us on a strict schedule of fountain, food, music) we do plan to go back on Wednesday for our mama's birthday. She's never been to the Arts Fest and is an avid fair goer and visual artist herself, so we're taking her and letting her pick her own present. She's stoked. :)

If you are unfamiliar with the Arts Fest, let me help you. I talked about it briefly last year but basically it is ten straight days of music, food and various kinds of art from mostly local artists. You can check out their daily schedules to help you plan your day, but to be honest, unless you see a specific performer, musician or artist at a certain time then the best you can do is just go down and soak it all in at once. Seriously, this is certainly the kind of thing you can just show up to without any kind of plan and have a fantastic time. See the map below for an idea of where everything is set up.

How could you go wrong with strolling through Point State Park and the Gateway Center grounds looking at (and possibly buying) art, making some art of your own in the Giant Eagle Creativity Zone, listing and watching performances on the three stages and/or eating some fair food? Sound like a great time to me, and judging by the popularity of this event, year after year, the rest of Pittsburgh too! Check it out, especially if you haven't before and be sure to walk to the very end of the Park to see the newly renovated fountain as well. Enjoy!

The main stage - Dollar Bank Stage - at the far end of the first lawn in Point State Park.

Hey guys - I finallllllllly saw Donora!!!!!! If you remember me wishing for this in a previous post.

Alex and Jade of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, this year's headlining band.

They invited this lucky kid, Nelson, up on stage with them for a song during Friday's show.

What I think of first when I think of Arts Fest - street performers everywhere!

Map from the Arts Fest website so you know where everything is located :)

Welcome Back, Point State Park fountain!

Invitation to the reopening ceremony on Friday night. 

I think it's fair to say that all of Pittsburgh is rejoicing now that the Point State Park fountain is finally complete! After a project that went into the planning stages in 2001, yesterday brought to close a highly anticipated and historical event. The fountain is not only fully renovated, but it's bigger and better than ever. The water from the fountain rises in a column up to 150-feet with smaller columns on the sides. A ceremony, dedication and the first 'official' flip of the switch happened last night to mark the beginning of the Three Rivers Arts Festival and the beginning of a new Pittsburgh.

Although the ceremony started about a half hour late and then at least seven people were asked to speak on behalf of the organizations who made this restoration happen, the fountain went off without any difficulty and made quite the splash on said speakers and other dignitaries thanks to a big gust of wind. Clearly the fountain was just showing them all who everyone really came to see. Good show, fountain.

Entrance way to the Point.

Brass band playing during the beginning of the ceremony.

Color guard during the National Anthem, sung by the CLO Mini-Stars.

In case you wondered what 150 feet of water looks like.

After the ceremony, the Arts Fest, also being held through the rest of the week at Point State Park, officially started. More to come about that on Tuesday. And as the sun went down over the city, a light show on the fountain began.

The Pittsburgh-based company, Lightwave International, debuted "Pittsburgh: Spectral Ascending" a collaboration with artist, Yvette Mattern. The light installation consists of six laser projectors on the top of PPG Place, aimed right to the center column of the fountain. The light installation will be show again tonight and Sunday night, so you still have a chance to make it out and see the new plaza area around the fountain, as well as the fountain itself and the light show, all while enjoying all of the fun that comes with the Arts Fest as well.

Photo by my beautiful friend, Breanna Elison.

Waiting for the light show to begin. Photo by Breanna Elison.

Isn't this such a fantastic photo? Lights on top of PPG Place beaming down to the fountain. Photo by Breanna Elison.

Lights on the fountain. Perfect ending to a beautiful night. Photo by Breanna Elison.

For my out of town readers, you may be asking why a fountain is so important. But it's not just any old fountain. Point State Park, and this fountain specifically, are the point were the three iconic rivers of Pittsburgh meet. Basically, where all the rivers merge into each other is the spot where the fountain is placed. The layout of Pittsburgh is obvious because of this point and the scenery of the city just didn't look complete for the past few years without the fountain adding to the view. It's a tourist attraction and a local favorite.

And as one of the speakers said, Pittsburgh is no longer a city in transformation, it is a city transformed. Or something close to that. The rebuilding and unveiling of the Point fountain just brings that idea home. We've waited for this to be back and now we can enjoy it for many years to come. It is as iconic as our bridges and adds that missing element to our landscape. Welcome back, fountain!

So Many Arts!

Well for the past week, downtown has been invaded by people coming to and from the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The festival, which boasts of being one of the biggest of it's kind started on June 1st and will wrap up tomorrow night.

The festival sponsored by Dollar Bank.

All of Point State Park and the Hertz Gateway Center have been taken over by vendors for food and art booths and a great creativity zone for the kids, all while tours are being given of the entire Cultural District. To say the least - this event has entirely taken over my main stomping grounds and is showing the greatest side to downtown.

Ashley Hodder working on "The Catch of the Day." Photo by CityPaper.

The festival which is "Celebrating creativity and promoting environmental responsibility," is doing a great job of keeping people entertained and well fed, all while making sure that everyone in attendance is making conscience efforts to be "green." All throughout the festival, there are trash and recycling containers that are greatly decorated and show how things can be reused, called the 3R's: Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose. As well as a tent dedicated to collecting ideas about how to better Pittsburgh and polling to see how people got to the festival via "The Green Machine" hoping it will all make people more aware of how to be more green! My favorite art was actually not for sale and was a giant fish made out of a bunch of trash that was found in the rivers. It was super cool, but kind of annoying to see the kinds of things people throw in the river without thinking of how it could effect the environment.

Since it's opening, I have been to the festival about three times. The first time was solely to eat, while on Tuesday afternoon it was to see my friends Caleb and Shawn play on the Dollar Bank Stage, which was an awesome experience for them and a great entertainment session for everyone stopping by and then on Thursday to actually take in the whole festival with Eric, who found an awesome digital art print of one of his music idols, Johnny Cash. Although I probably won't be heading down anymore this weekend - if you have yet to head down or just need a bit more family fun in your week, tonight and tomorrow are you last chances to experience it all. Have fun!