Allegheny County

Three Rivers Arts Festival coming to Pittsburgh’s Cultural District this weekend

PITTSBURGH — The annual Three Rivers Arts Festival is taking it to the streets. The festival which is typically held at The Point, will now span the Cultural District with a completely new layout, blocking off several roads and bringing guests off the lawn and into the city.

We will block from Ninth Street to Seventh Street and from Fort Duquesne to Liberty, with Penn being closed,” said Sarah Aziz, the director of the festival.

Aziz said this year, due to the new “get off my lawn” regulations issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the festivities are moving up the road.

“All the same things that you love, just in the Cultural District,” Aziz said.

If the festival remained at The Point, the new regulation would have shortened the festival from 10 days to three, and Aziz said that just wasn’t an option.

“It impacted the number of artists we could have, the number of music (acts) that we could present on the stage, and just the overall economic impact of the festival.”

Officials said while it’s hard to predict the turnout, they are optimistic, as pre-COVID numbers were between 300,000 and 500,000 visitors.

“Folks will come down and not only support the festival buying art at the booths and stuff, but they’ll also go into the restaurants,” said Aziz.

While officials are touting the festival as a big reopening for the town, Aziz said masks will be required indoors.

“We do ask that folks wear masks if they go into any galleries or go to see a performance at the Trust Arts Education Center,” said Aziz.

As for the lineup, officials said it will be grand.

We’ve got 10 headliners over the 10 days. We’re going to kick it off with Corey Henry and we’re going to wrap it up with Femi Kuti & The Positive Force,” said Aziz.

The festival starts this Friday and runs until June 12.

Aziz said while this will impact traffic, they will have an up-to-date interactive site to let guests monitor traffic flow and parking rates throughout the events.

Click here for more details.