Held 10 AM to 3 PM April 23
(Munhall, Pa) – Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is sponsoring a Spring Heritage Market 10 AM to 3 PM April 23 at the Historic Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, located in The Waterfront - a popular Pittsburgh area shopping district. The ethnic artisan market is a means for the national heritage area to support and promote the diversity and cultural history of the Pittsburgh region.
Free and open to the public, the event will include authentic, ethnic heritage art, such as Bulgarian-Macedonian pottery, Moroccan purses, Native American beadwork and Irish collectibles. Crafts representing the Pittsburgh region’s more recent green heritage include pop industrial art, handcrafted jewelry and baubles made from recycled materials, among others.
The event will also include a taste exploration of our region’s diverse culture with foods representing Cuba, Bulgaria-Macedonia, England and Hungary, among others. Sample soups, teas and chocolate and purchase other foods, such as homemade cookies and breads from The Rise Above Bakery and Cafe or Easter treats from Dorothy’s Candies.
Music will be provided by Mostefa Hnadi,owner of Global Market Retail, on the doumbeck drums in the morning and in the afternoon 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 the Pittsburgh Irish Festival.
The Historic Pump House is also on a trailhead of the Great Allegheny Passage via the Steel Valley Trail, and Golden Triangle Bike Rentals will be offering free bicycle rentals for brief path explorations. The market location is the historic site of the 1892 Lock and Strike. 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
