Pittsburgh First Night brings fireworks, local music, 50-foot rabbits

PITTSBURGH — Four outdoor stages showcasing local talent will entertain New Year's Eve revelers in Pittsburgh.

The Highmark First Night celebration starts at 6 p.m. Dec. 31, counting down the final moments of 2021 with midnight fireworks welcoming the new year.

A New Year’s Eve Parade, visual art galleries and free indoor performances are part of the arts-focused, family-friendly celebration throughout a 14-block radius of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

The evening begins with fireworks, too, and a performance from the winner of the Williams Sing-Off Competition at 6 p.m. on the Dollar Bank Stage.

The musical headliner is accomplished Pittsburgh rocker Byron Nash with his trio playing from 10:45 p.m. to midnight on the Highmark Stage, at Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street.

First Night guests can look forward to all types of art, including comedy, dance, music, magic, theater, visual art and more, as well as hands-on activities for every age.

“A highlight of this year’s event, Intrude from Parer Studios in Australia, is a true spectacle,” Sarah Aziz, director of festival management for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said. “You do not want to miss these gigantic, illuminated rabbits that will take over the Eighth Street block of the District. With the largest measuring 50 feet tall — yes, that’s almost four building stories high — the public art piece will be inflated and deflated daily, signifying when the three rabbits wake and go to sleep.”

The visual humor of the piece lures audiences into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages that form the basis of the work, says artist Amanda Parer.

Intrude, presented as part of Highmark First Night Pittsburgh and the EQT Children’s Theater Festival, will be on view in the Eighth Street Lot and Trust Oasis at 133 Seventh Street from Dec. 31 through Jan. 28.

First Night's indoor performance venues include Liberty Magic, Bricolage (937 Liberty), and the Harris Theater, all requiring a free ticket for entry due to limited capacity. Free tickets can be reserved at TrustArts.org/FirstNightPGH.

First Night events fall under the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s health and safety measures. For outdoor events, vaccines and masks are not required, however, the Cultural District is a mask-friendly place and everyone is welcome and encouraged to mask up, regardless of vaccination status. For galleries, vaccines are not required but masks are required to be worn by everyone. For ticketed events inside Cultural Trust venues, guests are required to be fully vaccinated, provide proof of vaccination and a valid ID with their reserved ticket, and mask up for the duration of their visit indoors.

Guests under the age of 12 are not required to be vaccinated, but must wear a mask and be accompanied by an adult who meets the venue health and safety requirements.

The Family Tent, at the Eighth Street Lot at Penn and 8th Street, will have kids' activities and a warm-up place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The 8 p.m. Penn Avenue parade includes Studio Capezzuti with its signature giant puppets.

Also scheduled (usually in short sessions):

• Soul Line Dancing, 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. EQT Plaza, 625 Liberty Ave.

• ZUZU African Acrobats from 6:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m., Highmark Stage, Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street.

• Baby Rave, 6:15 p.m. a child-friendly dance and music event, Dollar Bank Stage on Seventh Street between Penn and Liberty avenues.

• Pittsburgh rapper Nay Hundo, 9 p.m., Dollar Bank Stage on Seventh Street between Penn and Liberty avenues.

• Ice Creations ice carving and Steel Town Fire performance company, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eighth Street Stage.

• River City Brass band, 6:15 p.m. followed at 8:45 p.m. by singer-songwriter Jay Michaels, and at 9:45 p.m. by Trinity Wiseman (original pop-country), Heinz Hall Courtyard Stage.

• Trinity Wiseman, original pop-country, 9:45 p.m.

• Comedy Night at the Arcade Comedy Theater with Suzanne Lawrence, 7 p.m., 943 Liberty Ave.

• Saudade: A Sense of Play Immersive Theater with blindfolded audiences on 30-minute sensory journeys, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Bricolage, 937 Liberty Ave.

• A Harris Theater Time Capsule on the Big Screen, a 1930s-style succession of short movie subjects, including classic comedies, cartoons, advertisements, newsreels and a quick documentary, 7:45 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., 809 Liberty Ave.

• Parlor magic at Liberty Magic, 811 Liberty Ave. starring Siegfried Tieber, 7 p.m.

• "InVisible" by The Coloured Section Black Artists' Collective, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., 820 Liberty Gallery, 820 Liberty Ave.

• "Among Women: Contemporary Art from Serbia," 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., 937 Liberty Gallery, 937 Liberty Ave.

• "FRILLS: Glories, Excess, and Getting Weird," 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., SPACE at 812 Liberty Ave., a contemporary art exhibition featuring work that subverts common notions of extravagance by playing with the boundaries between frill and the plainness of everyday life.

Scott Tady is the local Entertainment Reporter for The Beaver County Times and Ellwood City Ledger. He's easy to reach at stady@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @scotttady.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: New Year's Eve in Pittsburgh brings fireworks, local music and art