First Night organizers move events indoors to avoid freezing weather

A frigid forecast is moving Pittsburgh’s popular New Year’s celebration indoors.

Organizers of Highmark First Night Pittsburgh announced Thursday that they’ll be shifting most of the scheduled performances into theaters and arts centers Downtown as temperatures are expected to be in the single digits on Dec. 31.

“The conversation with our ops team and with our public safety team, we just felt like it was the right thing to do for guest services. We just want everyone to have the best First Night that they can,” said Sarah Aziz, First Night director.

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While some acts will remain outdoors out of necessity, such as Ice Creations and the fireworks show, others will head to warmer areas indoors at places like the Benedum Center, the August Wilson Center and the Trust Arts Education Center.

"These are extremely cold temps that are in our forecast and 90% of our activities were already inside so to bring remaining activities inside and just make it more comfy and fun for our guests, we just felt it was the right thing to do," Aziz said.

"We just felt like having people stand outside for a half an hour and enjoy our wonderful parade was just going to be a bit too brutally cold this year so we're bringing it in, we're making it a puppet party," Aziz said.

An updated schedule can be found at TrustArts.org.

Organizers also said that because of the schedule changes, Sixth and 10th streets between Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Penn Avenue will be open for the duration of the evening. All other road closures remain the same.

Cox Media Group