Sunday, October 05, 2008
By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh celebrates its 250th birthday with fireworks launched from 17 points around Downtown, the North Shore and the West End Bridge last night.
Thousands of people gathered on Pittsburgh's North and South sides last night to see a Zambelli Fireworks show celebrating the city's 250th birthday.
It was to be the final course in a daylong "Birthday Blow-out" that began 12 hours earlier with a flotilla cruise featuring more than 100 vessels.
Spectators at Point State Park could be counted in the hundreds yesterday morning, but their numbers quickly grew as skies turned blue and temperatures rose into the low 60s.
People began gathering on the North Shore, Station Square and Mount Washington in anticipation of the 10 p.m. scheduled start of what organizers have billed as the city's biggest-ever aerial show. Fireworks were to be launched from 17 locations.
Point State Park, located where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers join to form the Ohio, was the site of the French-built Fort Duquesne and of Fort Pitt, the British fortress that replaced it in 1758.
Yesterday's celebration included more than 30 performances and activities recalling the region's history and looking to its future. Highlights included the unveiling of a bronze plaque honoring the Forbes Expedition, which drove the French from the Forks of the Ohio, and a display of 21st-century robots developed here.
The Colcom Foundation, created by the late Cordelia Scaife May, was primary sponsor for the event. "Cordelia May loved Pittsburgh," foundation vice president John Barsotti told spectators from the Point State Park stage. "She loved the heritage, the culture, the landscape and the way we come together as a community."
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh celebrated its 250th birthday last night with a dazzling fireworks display above the spires of its Downtown skyline.
Organizers of "Pittsburgh 250," the agency overseeing the yearlong commemoration of the city's naming, have emphasized that the "community" they are honoring extends far beyond the city's municipal boundaries.
Yesterday's events included representatives from several Western Pennsylvania communities and other places with links to Pittsburgh.
Copies of the 30-inch bronze Forbes medallion will be placed in Carlisle, Bedford and Ligonier, "Pittsburgh 250" Chairman James Rohr said. Those three communities were along the trail that Gen. John Forbes and his army of 6,000 cut across the Pennsylvania wilderness. A similar medal will be sent next year to Dunfermline, Scotland, the birthplace of Gen. Forbes.
George Washington, a provincial officer serving under Gen. Forbes, played a major role in the campaign and in yesterday's celebration.
Portrayed by Michael Fuller, Col. Washington answered questions from the Point State Park stage about the naming of Pittsburgh and commented on how the city had developed. Informed that the national capital of the new United States eventually would be named for him, Washington said, "I'm looking forward to that day."
The city's official birthday is Nov. 25, the day that Gen. Forbes and his troops arrived at the ruins of Fort Duquesne. It had been abandoned a day earlier by the badly outnumbered French.
Hoping for milder weather, event organizers decided on an early October celebration, although British and provincial troops at that time in 1758 were still 50 miles away at a newly established outpost along the Loyalhanna Creek.
Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
History came alive at Point State Park as the beginnings of Pittsburgh were reenacted to celebrate the city's 250th anniversary yesterday. Part of the celebration was a ceremony depicting the abandonment and burning of Fort Duquesne by the French, and the establishment of Fort Pitt by the British.
Fearful that he would not be able to capture Fort Duquesne before the weather became too bad, Gen. Forbes briefly named the British outpost at Loyalhanna "Pittsburgh," in honor of the British Secretary of State, William Pitt.
The original Pittsburgh lost its name a few weeks later when Forbes's army pushed on to take Fort Duquesne, according to Douglas MacGregor, educator at the Fort Pitt Museum. The fort along the Loyalhanna was renamed Ligonier.
An impatient, argumentative and bold young man of 26, Washington learned forbearance during his service with the Forbes expedition, Charles Fagan said. He serves as chairman of Ligonier's 250th birthday celebration, which will be marked with Fort Ligonier Days next weekend.
From the Point State Park stage, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera offered a 30-minute tribute to regional inventions, inventors and innovators in a mini-musical that mentioned suspension bridges, alternating current, Ferris wheels, Klondike bars and the mass production of plate glass.
The Pittsburgh Born & Bred concert drew on the talents of the region's jazz, classical, country and rock musicians for a five-hour show.
While much of the entertainment took place on the Point State Park stage, other performers offered glimpses of 18th life and culture in displays and performances outside the Fort Pitt Museum.
William Lockard, conductor of the Old Economy Orchestra, described the workings of a rotary-valve flugelhorn, "natural" French horn and five-key clarinet. Musicians then used those instruments to perform "The Pittsburgh March," "God Save Great Washington" and other selections from the Harmonist Society's archives.
VWH Campbell Jr./Post-Gazette
Washington's Encampment was reenacted at Boyce Park. Involved were re-enactors and interpreters along with area Boy Scouts that are holding their Fall Camporee in the Park.
Antonio Cortes, of Green Tree, brought his two sons, Luca, 7, and Marcos, 5, Downtown for the afternoon events and had plans to return for the fireworks. The boys seemed most impressed by the colored water in the Point fountain. Pink dye is added to the water each October to call attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink is the signature color of the annual campaign.
More than a dozen foreign students, participating in a program sponsored by the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors, learned something about early American life.
Chinese post-doctoral students Ling Zhang and Yanyan Qu discovered that making wool yarn with an 18th century spinning wheel was not as easy as Kathleen Schneider made it seem.
"This must be a very old traditional culture," Ms. Zhang said. "I've never seen anything like this before," Ms. Qu agreed.
Mrs. Schneider belongs to the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, a group of Revolutionary War re-enactors. Other members of the group were explaining 18th century leather-working and gun-smithing to students from Ukraine, Brazil and Belarus.
Not far away from where the 8th Pennsylvanians had set up their displays, 13 new National Guard and Reserve volunteers were sworn into the armed forces by Brig. Gen. Roy Uptegraff. Gen. Uptegraff is commander of the 171st Air Refueling Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
In remarks about the sacrifices American troops have made over the centuries, he reminded the crowd that 215 Pennsylvanians, including 32 members of the state's National Guard, have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. He asked for a moment of silence in their memory. Their sacrifices also were honored with a 21-gun salute.
No sooner had the Armed Forces salute ended when a C-130 cargo plane flew low over the Point, wagging its wings in an aerial tribute.
The plane and its crew were from the 911th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve, based near Pittsburgh International Airport.
Len Barcousky can be reached at lbarcousky@post-gazette.com or 724-772-0184.
First published on October 5, 2008 at 12:00 am
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