Pittsburgh Light Up Night

Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night® is a spectacular celebration of the holiday season held in downtown Pittsburgh and sponsored by Duquesne Light. In 2010, for the first time, Light Up Night celebrations will take place during two nights, November 19 and 20^th. Along with tree lightings and holiday exhibits there will be many other fun events including the Joe Negri Quartet, the Alderdice Marching Band and a performance by Donnie Iris. There will be a Bridge Party on the Roberto Clemente Bridge and a Highmark March through downtown. There will also be a huge Fireworks Finale by Zambelli Internationale launched from the Warhol Bridge at 9:30 Friday, November 19th. The fireworks will be synchronized to the sounds of the season and broadcast live on local radio stations. There are always a variety of children’s activities during Light Up Night and Macy’s unveils their holiday window displays.

In 2010, for the second year, the Light Up Night March, which is a parade of bands, will make its way through downtown on Friday November 19th. Five regional high school bands will be featured totaling 500 musicians. It will start on Grant Street around 6:15 p.m. The end of the parade will be at Market Square for the Market Square Season of Lights display.

Pittsburgh’s Market Square Season of Lights

The newly renovated Market Square will make its holiday debut on Light Up Night with more than three miles of lights.

PPG Place Plaza and Ice Skating

Light Up Night marks the opening of the outdoor skating rink in downtown Pittsburgh at PPG Place. You can make it a new family tradition of ice skating around the 65 foot Christmas Tree in the center of the rink.

At One Oxford Center on Light Up Night, there is an official tree lighting with Pittsburgh mayor. Following the tree lighting are great activities for the family such as, visits with Santa Claus, face painting, live musical performances, live reindeer, and horse-drawn carriage rides.

The whole family can enjoy the festivities at Fifth Avenue Place. One of my favorite events during Light Up Night is seeing Santa, his elves, and reindeer as ice carvings. At the corner of Fifth and Liberty avenues ice carving shows begin every hour starting at 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. You can see and touch the icy, life-sized Santa and snap photos with his frozen elves and reindeer.

On Saturday night, November 20^th, 2010 at 5 pm there will be the Duquesne Light Horse-drawn Carriage Parade. 20 horse drawn carriages decorated for the Christmas holiday will follow in a parade through downtown Pittsburgh. This is a new event for the 2010 Light Up Night and I can't wait to see it in person.

Market Square

• CAPA Choir Ensemble
• Etta Cox and Al Dowe Trio
• No Bad Ju Ju
• The Stickers

Clemente Bridge

• The Granati Brothers
• Johnny Angel and the Halos
• Donnie Iris and the Cruisers

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) is donating its Light Up Night license fees, along with a match of up to $1,500 to WTAE-TV’s Project Bundle-Up. But, that’s not all—the PDP will also donate fifty cents of every dollar received from the sale of Light Up Night glow necklaces during Light Up Night.

Local Artist Linda Barnicott Commemorates Light Up Night’s 50th Anniversary with New Painting of Market Square

Linda Barnicott, an artist who is well-known for her portraits of Pittsburgh has commemorated the 50th50th Anniversary Celebration of Light Up Night with her latest painting “The Golden Glow of Light Up Night®”. Mrs. Barnicott sells her holiday cards in PPG Place to benefit the American Cancer Society. To date, her artwork has earned $500,000 for the American Cancer Society. This year’s card design is her classic holiday painting, “Wishing Under the Horne’s Tree.”  For more information about Linda and her work, visit www.lindabarnicott.com.

The first Pittsburgh “light up” was held on April 9, 1959 when every light in the “Golden Triangle” of the downtown area was turned on until midnight. It began at 9:30 p.m. in an effort to stimulate business in Downtown department stores and theaters. The holiday season kick-off was known for many years as “Preview of Christmas” which was held in November. In 1960, the Preview of Christmas changed to Light Up Night. On November 21, 1960 at 6 p.m., all the downtown lights of downtown Pittsburgh were turned on.

Light Up Night seems to grow bigger every year. The year 2000 was a record‐breaking year for Light Up Night; an estimated 100,000 people attended the celebration. Make sure to check out Pittsburgh's My Macy's Holiday Parade on November 27, 2010. If you're into astronomy and looking for something fun and educational to do while you're in town, check out the famous Allegheny Observatory.