Pittsburgh Preparing For Eventful Summer

English: The source of the Ohio River at “The Point” in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The Allegheny River (left) and the Monongahela River (right) join to form the Ohio here. The West End Bridge crosses the Ohio in the foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Olympic hopefuls, furry friends and an internationally acclaimed salsa band are just a few of the attractions projected to draw tourists to Pittsburgh this summer.

VisitPittsburgh, a tourism industry nonprofit, gathered business professionals Thursday at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel to coordinate this summer’s events.

Craig Davis, VisitPittsburgh’s president and CEO, said the idea of the third annual luncheon is to get those in the hospitality industry on the same page.

“When we bring it and put it all on one script, you get into a situation where — perennial favorites coupled with big conventions and Buccos baseball — these are reasons for people to come into town,” Mr. Davis said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/05/09/City-preparing-for-eventful-summer/stories/201405090081#ixzz31F2vQAZ4

10 Reasons Why Pittsburgh Owned 2013

From a giant rubber duck to cutting-edge restaurants to a yarn-bombed bridge, our city had the world buzzing this year.

By anyone’s standards, 2012 was a landmark year for Pittsburgh, capped off by “The Dark Knight Rises” hitting theaters and unveiling the ’Burgh as the fabled Gotham, not to mention National Geographic imploring the world’s travelers to train new eyes on our formerly smoky city.

Little did we know, that was just the beginning. As we get ready to tuck this year away, let’s take a look back at how Pittsburgh owned 2013.

Brace yourself, Portland.

See the list here:  http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Pitt-Girl/December-2013/10-Reasons-Why-Pittsburgh-Owned-2013/

All Around Pittsburgh, They Are Raising The Jolly Roger

Handkerchief code (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the Pirates enter the last weekend of home games, play-by-play announcer Greg Brown’s signature call, “Raise the Jolly Roger” — based in dark pirate history — is raising the jolly spirits of the new Pirates Nation.

Fans are buying Jolly Rogers by the thousands, with Pirates retail sales now equalling those of the Steelers, even with the NFL season underway. Retailers are gushing. Fans are celebrating. And the entire region is marching toward the playoffs under skulls and crossbones.

And it all started decades ago, when Mr. Brown had a crazy idea as a Pirates front-office employee.

He thought the historic pirate theme could be exploited, so he marched to a team executive’s office, knocked on the office door, and entered to find the exec’s face buried in paperwork, glasses balanced on the bridge of his nose.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/all-around-town-they-are-raising-the-jolly-roger-704146/#ixzz2fSISs2Hl