(Homestead, Pa) – Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is sponsoring a Holiday Heritage Market 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Historic Pump House located in The Waterfront, a popular Pittsburgh area shopping district. In its second year, the ethnic artisan market is a way for the national heritage area to spotlight and promote the diverse history of the Pittsburgh region.
Free and open to the public, the event will include authentic, ethnic heritage art, such as Bulgarian-Macedonian pottery, Hungarian wood carvings, Native American beadwork and pre-colonial maps. Crafts representing the Pittsburgh region’s more recent green heritage include mosaic glassware, bottle cap jewelry and purses made from recycled materials, among others.
The event will also include a taste exploration of our region’s ethnic heritage with foods representing Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria-Macedonia and Carpo-Russyn. Soup samples will be available and other foods can be purchased. Planned art demonstrations include German sawdust carpets and German stained glass. In the afternoon, music will be provided by Joe Grkman, Jr., - of the award-winning Slovenian Polka band Grkmania, who play regularly at Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh’s Southside. Visitors can also take part in a Pick-a-Prize Auction, with chances to win items such as Bulgarian pottery and tickets to next year’s Irish Festival.
The event will be held at The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall. The building is the historic site of the 1892 Battle of Homestead. Built in 1891, the structure was barely a year old when it took its place in history as the site of the infamous Battle of Homestead. On July 6, 1892 the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Pinkerton Guards hired by the Carnegie Steel Company clashed on the banks of the Monongahela River beneath the Pump House – now considered one of the most dramatic conflicts in American Labor history. Today the Pump House is the only brick structure that remains of United States Steel’s Homestead Works. Now under the auspices of Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, the Pump House can be rented for private events.
For more information, please contact Sherris Moreira at 412.464.4060, ext. 46 or smoreira@riversofsteel.com.
The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is managed by the non-profit Steel Industry Heritage Corporation (SIHC) in partnership with the National Park Service and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. SIHC works with communities throughout the region to identify, conserve, promote, and interpret the cultural, historic, recreational and other resources associated with steel and steel-related industries. The goal of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is to use these resources to encourage community revitalization through cultural tourism, historic preservation, natural and recreational resource conservation, cultural and educational programs and related economic development. Rivers of Steel National Heritage area encompasses Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. For more information, visit www.riversofsteel.com
