An ice maze, a hit-making rapper, and one music legend honoring another are among the highlights of this year’s First Night Pittsburgh.
Downtown’s annual New Year’s Eve party, organized by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and sponsored by Highmark, takes over the streets and venues of the Cultural District 6 p.m. to midnight Tue., Dec. 31.
Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to attend the free, family-friendly event, which for the first time includes several ticketed indoor shows.
Attractions include live music, dance, comedy, magic, visual art, film and drag, as well as kids’ activities and fireworks.
For some, the big news will be the third First Night appearance of the popular ice maze, by Pittsburgh-based Ice Creations. The maze, weighing some 60,000 pounds and with walls 5’6” tall, will be constructed in the Trust’s “Backyard” space at 8th and Penn Avenue. For the first time, it will be accompanied by a LEGO station where visitors can build a vehicle to race down the adjoining ice-luge racetrack.
Other outdoor attractions include the traditional community parade down Penn Avenue, featuring everything from local marching bands and fire companies to marchers decked out in giant wearable puppets. Children’s fireworks at 6 p.m. will complement the fireworks set for midnight following a performance by FRZY, the Pittsburgh-born rapper known for songs like “Gold In It” and “You Ain’t Got No Money.”
First Night was organized by the Trust’s chief programming and engagement officer, Brooke Horejsi, and interim vice president of programming and manager of DEAI initiatives Sarah Aziz.
Aziz said the ticketed indoor events were added in response to the demand for more stage shows at First Night. Tickets for these events runs $10 to $20. (For most of its 31 years, First Night required attendees to purchase $10 buttons, and big indoor shows required reservations but no further fee; the overall event was made free in 2021.)
Early shows at the Byham Theater include Roger Humphries Celebrates the Music of Ray Charles, for which venerable, Pittsburgh-based jazz drummer Humphries assembled a 16-piece band to recreate the arrangements he played as a member of Charles’ own big band in the late 1960s.
Other ticketed shows include local favorites the Zuzu African Acrobats; Alumni Theater Company; and nationally touring magician Luis Carreon. Local comedians Ed Bailey and Day Bracey, hosts of TV show “Ed & Day in The Burgh,” offer an hour of stand-up comedy (with adult content) at the Byham.
And, in another first for First Night, there’s a drag show, hosted by Pittsburgh’s First Lady of Drag, Kierra Darshell, with two performances in the Greer Cabaret Theater.
There’s much more both outdoors and in-, all of it free. A complete schedule is here.
