Park ’til Dark and Pour at the Park in South Park took place on Saturday May 20th and were both huge successes! The main goals of these events are to raise awareness for our work, to connect and interact with park users and to fundraise for our organization. Between the two events we interacted with over 600 people and grossed $27,806, which will all be poured directly back into your nine Allegheny County Parks with our ongoing work. Whether you sponsored the events, bought a ticket to Pour at the Park, donated to Park ’til Dark, attended an activity or conversed with a staff member, we thank you for your attendance and support!

While we know we still have improvements we can make to the day, we are so thrilled with the interaction, collaboration and impact of spending the day in the park together. Our biggest takeaway was how much fun it was to enjoy the park with you. We learned a lot about why you love your parks and it means the world to us! We hope to use this knowledge to continue to improve all nine of your county parks in the future.

Below is a brief recap of the events so you can learn more about our efforts and excitement. You can also check out our event pictures on our Facebook for both Park ’til Dark and Pour at the Park to see more of the day’s fun.

Park ’til Dark 

Despite this spring’s sunny weather, Park ’til Dark was a rainy day that we made the best of. It sure helped to know how much our parks and region needed the rain, so we were all to happy to adjust. Even so, the most popular activity was our Mushroom Exploration with the Western PA Mushroom Club which was attended by 20 people who were keen to learn all about the fungi growing throughout South Park. Other events included Forest Bathing with Dr. Doug, Sunrise Yoga with South Hills Power Yoga, a 3.2 mile trail run with South Hills Trail Runners, and tours of South Park Theatre and the demonstration garden surrounding the theatre with Penn State Master Gardeners.

Of the day’s nine events we had planned with community partners, only 4 of them – the BOLD Leisure Walk, Allegheny County Park’s Dek Hockey Clinic for children, Bankshot Basketball, Bocce and Bagels with Special Olympics and our Walk & Learn with Venture Outdoors Again – were unable to occur due to the weather. The rest of the events were attended by eager park goers who embraced the rainy conditions.

In addition to the community activities we also featured a drop-in zone in partnership with the Bethel Park Farmers’ Market. There was live music by Dave Shepherd and 16 vendors featuring their delicious foods, drinks, desserts, pantry staples and community services. Lots of folks stopped in for lunch or snacks or hung out to walk around and support these great neighborhood establishments.

Pour at the Park

This year’s event at South Park was our biggest Pour at the Park yet! We had over 400 people attend, including 62 children, 37 designated drivers, and 5 awesome volunteers from Friends of South Park and PittServes. The sun came out in the evening and shined brightly throughout the event, allowing guests to wander inside and outside the Museum and fairgrounds.

We were so fortunate to have 18 vendors representing our region, which resulted in a diverse and delicious collection of drinks for everyone to enjoy. These drinks included a mix of beer, wine, cider, mead, spirits and non-alcoholic drinks – so there was something for every palate. We also featured food from 4 local restaurants, with each of them offering delicious appetizer size portions for tasting. All waste was managed by Pennsylvania Resources Council, who worked hard to make the event Zero-Waste.

The atmosphere was playful as live music from Dave Shepherd followed by the Shelf Life String Band filled the air. Guests mingled, purchased raffle tickets, laughed, played, sat in community and watched as the children from the event took over the tents with Mad Science to learn about electricity. It was a jam-packed three hours of fun for all!

Thank you!

We are so grateful to everyone who helped to make Park ’til Dark and Pour at the Park possible in South Park! We would especially like to thank our Presenting Sponsor, Flora Park Garden Center and all our sponsors – Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Allegheny Health Network, Mascaro Construction, Horhut Tree Experts, Green Mountain Energy, Giant Eagle and NexTier Bank. We would also like to thank Allegheny County, Allegheny County Parks and Easy Street Promotions for all their help in planning and organizing the event. Lastly, we want to thank all our vendors, community partners and event attendees! We hope that you had a great time, tried something new in the park and connected with your community.

We hope to see you at our next event in North Park on Saturday October 14th! If you have ideas on fun activities we could do together or how we can improve, please email or call us to let us know.