New festival of all things pickled and cured to be held in Pittsburgh in July
Picklesburgh will be the newest outdoor festival that will take place July 17-18 on the Rachel Carson Bridge on Ninth Street, between Downtown and the North Side.
Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership announced today that it is hosting what it hopes will be an annual event, along with sponsors H.J. Heinz Company, Whole Foods, BNY Mellon and Future POS, a Butler-based company that supplies point-of-sale software to restaurants around the country.
The first Picklesburgh will feature 40 vendors selling all things pickled and cured, including corned beef, sauerbraten, pierogies and sauerkraut, kimchi and dilly beans. Penn Avenue’s Meat & Potatoes will be a participant with other Downtown restaurants. Whole Foods will host a pickling demo station and offer DIY pickling starter kits. Attendees will also find pickle-inspired craft cocktails and a pickle brine-drinking contest. And there will be live music, with acts announced later this season.
It was no accident that the announcement was scheduled the day before the Market Square farmers market season begins. The rise of farm-to-table goes hand in hand with canning and preserving. The use of pickles in Pittsburgh’s ethnic foods also serve as inspiration.
“We believe Pittsburghers will relish this new festival,” said Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Mr. Waldrup posed with a H.J. Heinz flying pickle mascot following the announcement. Mr. Fitzgerald pointed out that Americans eat 26 billion pickles a year, or about 9 pounds per person.
The Downtown Partnership’s decision to throw a party on a bridge is a throwback to another mascot. “We were inspired by the rubber duck bridge party,” Mr. Waldrup said. They’re hoping for as big of a turnout at Picklesburgh as the thousands that welcomed the arrival of the 40-foot-tall rubber duck, designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, which floated off the Point for several weeksin early fall 2013.
Picklesburgh is scheduled on a Pirates away weekend to attract people to the festival. There is still room for vendors and volunteers; interested parties can learn about the event at picklesburgh.com.