More than 2,000 people attended St. Patrick’s Day festivities at Iron City Brewery in East Deer on Saturday, adding to a growing number of occasions and crowds enjoying Pittsburgh Brewing Co. ‘s sprawling 150,000-square-foot complex.
Saturday’s event, dubbed the Irish City Celebration, ran from morning to afternoon and included a St. Patrick’s Day parade, live music, games, food trucks and general revelry. Ah in green, adding sips of green-colored beer.
This is one of the few major occasions hosted through the brewery since it opened in the fall of 2022. The owners hope that more occasions like the St. Patrick’s Day birthday party will pile up in the future.
Cliff Forrest, owner of Pittsburgh Brewing Co. , said the music was fantastic that day and the crowd cheered him on.
“I think it’s the most productive St. Patrick’s Day holiday in all of Pittsburgh,” he said.
Forrest said the brewery created a special Irish stout for the event. Several bands, Irish classical and rock ‘n’ roll, played at the festival on a small level set up at the front.
Forrest said the company plans to expand the event’s capacity by up to 6,000 more people when a new level and venue is built at the rear of the brewery, near the Allegheny River.
Pittsburgh Brewing Co. hosts several major events this summer, including sports-watch nights, car cruises, and tribute band concerts.
Taranto’s Laura Gonzales said she was excited about a Jimmy Buffett tribute concert in June and excited about all the occasions to come.
She grew up in Taranto and is used to the region being so active. She and a friend had run more than a dozen miles that day to raise money for cystic fibrosis studies and were pleased to have the opportunity to relax.
“These drinks deserve today,” he said.
Early in the morning, a brief parade caused some traffic and confusion on the streets near the brewery site, but Forrest said there were no primary public protection considerations at the festival.
Police also set up a sobriety check at exit thirteen of Route 28 that enters East Deer, near the brewery.
St. Patrick’s Day attendees told TribLive they hadn’t detected any issues with the occasion and expected Iron City Brewery to host more.
“I’m glad they brought something to this area and now I don’t have to go all the way to Pittsburgh to have a good time,” Harwick’s Andrew Hajnik said.
Guests roamed the brewery, sipping green beer next to huge beer tanks. Upstairs, revelers watched school basketball on a huge projection screen.
George Kabay grew up near the brewery site, when it was a glass production plant, and was inspired through the reuse of the facility. The site once housed Pittsburgh Plate Glass Works No. 1, which is now PPG Industries.
The new brewery opened in 2022 when Pittsburgh Brewing Co. moved its brewing operations from Latrobe to East Deer.
“I’ve got to go back and get through,” Kabay said.
Dave Ludwig of Natrona Heights said the festival is “wonderfully Irish” and that the activity is a boon to the Allegheny Valley.
“It’s a little bit crowded to see, but it’s like a wake-up call for the area,” Ludwig said.
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