Sights & Sounds – Sept. 18
The Pink House, home of Wagner’s Chocolates, Finleyville, will hold a Chocolate and Wine Pairing Launch beginning promptly at 6:40 p.m. Sept. 19. The event will end around 8:15, but the shop will be open for chocolate and ice cream purchases until 9.
Special inaugural event price is $29 (regular price, $35).
Seating is limited. Payment is required to reserve a seat. Pay by credit card by calling 724-348-2238 (fully refundable up until 24 hours in advance).
The Pink House is located at 3760 First Avenue, Finleyville (south of Trax Farms on Rt. 88). For more information, visit www.thepinkhouse.biz.
Pennsylvania Bavarian Oktoberfest will celebrate its 15th anniversary Sept. 20-22 in Canonsburg. Two stages will provide continuous entertainment, showcasing German performers and local talent offering contemporary rock, oldies and country. German cuisine and beer, ethnic and American foods, crafts and amusement rides will be available.
Lebo Brew Fest, now in its fourth year, will take place 4-7 p.m. Sept. 21. This year, the event moves to the Academy Avenue parking lot, behind the Saloon, near Rollier’s Hardware (just off Washington Road).
Sample beer from Frank Fuhrer Wholesale Co. and hear music by Good Brother Earl. Food will be available from Bado’s Pizza Grill and Ale House, Pitaland and Walnut Grill. There will also be a raffle.
Proceeds will help provide maintenance and programming for the Mt. Lebanon Veterans Memorial in Mt. Lebanon Park. Volunteers from the event’s new partner, Veterans Breakfast Club, a local non-profit organization that helps veterans share their stories, will be on hand.
Tickets, which are $30 and include a commemorative glass, can be purchased online with a credit card at www.mtlebanon.org or in person at the Municipal Building, 710 Washington Road, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. No tickets will be sold at the gate and no one under age 21 will be admitted.
RSVPs for an Oktoberfest Craft Beer Tasting event sponsored by The Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair must be received by Sept. 20.
The event, which will include 35 varieties of beer from 20 breweries, will take place 7-10 p.m. Sept. 28 at St. Thomas More Family Life Center located on Fort Couch Road in Upper St. Clair.
For a $35 per person donation, attendees receive a souvenir tasting glass and can sample American and European brews. There are also raffle prizes available. A limited number of tickets will be sold for this event, which is open to those who are at least 21 years old (with ID). Tickets are available at www.cfusc.org
Rumfish Grille/Beach will host its first Oktoberfest Sept. 21 at the new Rumfish Beach located in the Great Southern Shopping Center in Bridgeville. The restaurant will feature Pigs n’ Pilsner with pigs on the spit and ice cold Pilsners on special. Pigs & Pilsner will begin at 5 p.m. Music is to be determined but will be festive then turning to a disc jockey at night.
No cover charge if arriving before 9 p.m.
Horror Realm, Pittsburgh’s modern horror convention, celebrates its fifth anniversary Sept. 20-22 at the Crowne Plaza Pittsburgh South, Bethel Park, featuring horror-themed merchandise, popular and independent horror movies, a VHS viewing room for horror films that have never been released to DVD; question and answer panels with celebrity guests and horror authors; a costume contest; entertainment and a themed party on Saturday evening.
Main convention hours are 4-10 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. The film room and VHS screening room will run until 2 a.m. nightly.
Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door. Weekend passes are $35; single day (Friday or Saturday) $15; two-day (Saturday/Sunday) $20 and Sunday admission is only $10. A discounted room rate of $109 plus tax per night is offered to attendees.
To kick off the convention weekend, Haunted Pittsburgh is offering a special downtown ghost tour at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 especially for attendees of Horror Realm. The tour starts at the City-County Building on Grant Street and a ghost guide will lead participants on a tour of some of Pittsburgh’s most haunted sites and regale them with tales of the strange and unusual. Tickets for the ghost tour are $15 and must be purchased in advance at http://www.hauntedpittsburghtours.com/2010/08/horror-realm-private-tour-order-here.html.
For more details on guests, tickets, hotel reservations and convention event schedule, visit www.horrorrealmcon.com.
Penn Brewery’s annual Oktoberfest will take place Sept. 20-22 and 27-29 at the Brewery’s Troy Hill location.
Seven varieties of fresh Penn beer on draft, traditional German food as well as some American-style food; live entertainment and souvenir tent.
No cover charge and free parking in the gravel lot across the street from Penn, at Sara Heinz House (after 7 p.m.), Schiller Academy and North Catholic High School, and in the large lot at the end of the 16th St. Bridge, between Chestnut St. and South Canal St. (lot closes at midnight).
Hours are 5 p.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays (over 21 only after 8 p.m.), and 4-10 p.m. Sundays. Oktoberfest events are cash only, except meals in the main dining room.
For more information, visit www.pennbrew.com, or call Linda Nyman at 412-237-9400 ext. 104.
The 30th annual Penn’s Colony Festival & Folk Art Marketplace will be held Sept. 21-22 and Sept. 28-29 on 12 acres of easy walking, tree-lined grounds at Penn’s Colony Village, 365 Saxonburg Blvd., Saxonburg, Butler County. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays, rain or shine.
Tickets for this family-friendly event are $7 for adults (ages 16-59); $6 seniors (age 60 and over); $5 children (ages 8-15); free for children age 7 and younger.
Festival grounds are minutes north of Pittsburgh in South Butler County, off Route 228 East.
For directions and festival overview, visit www.pennscolony.com. For questions, email penns@consolidated.net or call 724-352-9922.
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will launch its Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts with a Rubber Duck Bridge Party, 5:30-10 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Roberto Clemente Bridge (also known as the Sixth Street Bridge), Downtown Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will close the Roberto Clemente Bridge for a variety of festivities, including the appearance of the four-story high, three-story wide Rubber Duck, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s largest Night Market on the bridge with food and art vendors, and special guest appearances (TBA). Mikey and Big Bob from KISS FM with DJ Scottro will open the event and play tunes into the evening.
The Rubber Duck Bridge Party will run in tandem with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Fall Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District.
Legendary puppeteer Caroll Spinney, best known for his roles as the Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street, will sign autographs and sketch at the ToonSeum booth during the Pittsburgh Comic Con at the Monroeville Convention Center. Spinney will be appearing all three days, Sept. 27-29.
On Sept. 29, Spinney will be on stage with Oscar for a Q & A session, hosted by ToonSeum Executive Director Joe Wos.
Tickets are $20 each and children under 8 are free. Tickets can be purchased at the door or at www.pittsburghcomicon.com.
A portion of all print sales will benefit the ToonSeum, a non-profit museum of comic and cartoon art.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will kick-off its 2013-14 season at a “Once Upon a Time” gala concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Heinz Hall. The concert is bookended by a Gala party and Soiree, which will be held at Heinz Hall and the Fairmont Hotel respectively.
Tickets, ranging from $40-$110 for the gala concert only, are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 412-392-4900, or by visiting www.pittsburghsymphony.org.
The Once Upon a Time Soirée includes valet parking, pre-concert cocktail hour, preferred seating for the concert, and a post-concert celebration with symphony musicians at the Fairmont, including hors d’oeuvres, an open bar, live music and more. Tickets are $175 to $225 per person and are also on sale now.
All proceeds from the Gala concert and parties support the PSO’s Education and Community Engagement programs.
Pittsburgh Fashion Week is returning for the fourth year, Sept. 23-29.
For a schedule of events, information or to purchase tickets, visit www.pittsburghfashionweek.com.
South Park Theatre will hold its annual gala brunch at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 29 at The Georgetown Centre.
Call 412-831-8552 for reservations.
“Listen Locally,” a series of chamber music concerts, returns to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall for its second season. The series premiere, featuring Arabesque Winds, an award-winning woodwind quintet, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30.
A special reception with Arabesque Winds and other performers from upcoming concerts will immediately follow the Sept. 30 concert. Desserts will be available.
Tickets for the series are $15 and may be purchased in advance at the ACFL&MH during library hours or at the box office that evening. Contact Lynne Cochran, Music Hall director, at 412-276-3456 ext. 7 for more information.
Bethel Park Volunteer Fire Company will hold and open house and car cruise from noon-4 p.m. Oct. 6 at its Brightwood Road station.
Other activities include: Sparky’s birthday celebration; disc jockey; fire truck, ambulance and police car displays; antique fire truck display; firefighter challenge for kids; vehicle rescue demonstration; fire safety house and other community vendors.
The event is free.
The Wright House Museum of Western Expansion, Venetia, will hold the following events:
• Colonial Tavern and Games of Chance, 2-5 p.m. Sept. 28. Taste beverages, sample food and play a game of dice, tops or darts at the “Bloody Dirk Tavern,” one of the few traveling historical taverns to ever exist. Suggested donation is $5.
• Halloween event: Dinner with the Colonial Dead, 4 p.m. sharp, Oct. 5. Converse with some of the dead heroes of the colonial past. The event will include drinks and food from colonial days. Ghosts and ghouls will visit, offering comments on the past, present and future. Cost is $30/adults by reservation only. Seating is limited.
• Colonial Dinner, 4 p.m. sharp, Nov. 10. Get a taste of the bygone days. Costumed re-enactors and historians will serve food and drinks from colonial days. Cost is $30/adults by reservation only. Limited attendance.
• Annual Soup and Stroll, Dec. 8.
For more information, visit peterscreekhs.org. To make reservations, call Cindy Hart at 724-941-5710.
Castle Shannon Revitalization Corporation will host its second annual Castle Shannon Fall Festival 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 28 on Willow Avenue (between Park and Poplar avenues).
Admission is free and attractions include live entertainment, artisan crafts, local foods and children’s activities.
An Apple Pie Contest will be held and two pies must be entered – one for judging and one for the silent auction.
For more information, visit www.csrevitalization.com or the Castle Shannon Fall Festival Facebook page.