A summer unlike any other: Events canceled across Western Pa., but options remain for warm-weather fun
The unofficial start of summertime has arrived.
The season of warm weather, sunglasses and shorts stretches out in front of us, an annual rite as the days grow longer and porch furniture reappears. But the days of filling up calendars with festivals and concerts are in the past, at least for now.
It’s summertime in a pandemic, one that has upended lives across the globe and halted the organized fun and anticipated annual events that warm weather can bring. The result is the potential loss of tourism spending in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Tourists in 2018 spent $8.5 billion in Pittsburgh and seven surrounding counties and $1.85 billion in the Laurel Highlands, including Westmoreland County, according to a state study. Both were record-setting amounts.
Tourism has experienced disruption in the recent past, noted Jerad Bachar, CEO and president of Visit Pittsburgh. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2007-09 Great Recession put a damper on tourism, he said, but the magnitude of the response to the coronavirus pandemic has eclipsed those events.
Still, Bachar said, “Tourism will bounce back, for sure.”
To all our visitors, friends, and Pittsburghers around the world – When you're ready to travel, we're ready to welcome you with open hearts. ? #LovePGH pic.twitter.com/98c07ZHZ9E
— Visit Pittsburgh (@vstpgh) March 25, 2020
There will be visitors curious about the city and the nearby Laurel Highlands, but it may be awhile before a robust tourism sector returns. Bachar said he expects tourists and travelers to start venturing out into their own and nearby communities first. Then, visitors from within a 200-mile radius will start to filter in.
“We are expecting the recovery process to happen in stages,” he said.
Painful decisions
Social distancing and limits on the size of gatherings in an effort to slow the virus have resulted in widespread cancellations or postponements of summer activities.
Kennywood and Idlewild & SoakZone have yet to open.
Country artist Kenny Chesney postponed his Heinz Field concert that was scheduled for next weekend.
The Fourth of July will be subdued as large-scale fireworks displays, including the one in Pittsburgh, have been canceled.
Organizers of countless festivals and other events have made the painful decision to stop planning for 2020 and instead look forward to next year.
“I felt like I was breaking Pittsburgh’s heart,” said Sarah Aziz, director of the Three Rivers Arts Festival.
Organizers pulled the plug in late March for the June event, but by then the planning had been mostly completed, Aziz said.
“We kept thinking, maybe we can go ahead with things by June, but it’s more important to protect the health of our city,” she said. “There’s a level of civic responsibility that we have.”
Organizers of the Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival had similar discussions before deciding this month to cancel the July event at Twin Lakes Park, said Diane Shrader, executive director of the festival.
“We couldn’t safely do it,” she said. “That was something we had to consider, was public safety. That’s always No. 1.”
Shrader had to break the news to vendors and crafters from across the country who set up on 8 acres at the park each year.
“It’s sad because a lot of them, that is their source of income,” she said. “This is something we pray never, ever happens again.”
Beyond those who rely on customers at the two festivals are the ancillary services that make money through the events themselves and the thousands who attend.
“It’s not only the festival: It’s the hotels, the vendors, the restaurants,” Shrader said. “It’s a sad time. We have to make a smart decision and move on.”
‘Slow summer’
Travelers spent about 4% more in the seven-county Pittsburgh region and about 1.4% more in the Laurel Highlands in 2018 compared with 2017, according to the Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism in Pennsylvania annual report. About 43,000 jobs in Allegheny County and 5,700 in Westmoreland are directly tied to tourism, according to the study.
Heritage tourism is a growing industry across the state that pumps billions of dollars into the economy. All of Southwestern Pennsylvania is covered by at least one of four heritage areas: Allegheny Ridge, Lincoln Highway, National Road and, the largest, Rivers of Steel.
A 2016 study by the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown commissioned by the state found that visitors to 12 heritage areas across the state spent more than $2 billion, supporting an estimated 26,000 jobs.
The Burtner House in Harrison, Allegheny County, typically sees as many as 700 visitors at its annual Strawberry Festival, which offers Civil War re-enactors and about a dozen crafters, said Jeff Jones, president of the Burtner House Restoration Society. That event, too, is canceled this year.
Also canceled was an August wine, beer and food festival, Jones said, putting a damper on the group’s fundraising efforts. The restored colonial house visible from Route 28 will celebrate its 200th anniversary next year.
“I just think it’s going to be a slow summer,” Jones said. “We just feel that people, they’re not ready to go out in crowds.”
Options remain
Summer will be a little different this year, but there is still plenty to do close to home.
The region is full of hiking and biking trails, parks and waterways that can fit any ability or lifestyle.
“People are looking for an outdoor experience, and they want to do it in a continuation of being with their family,” said Ann Nemanic, executive director of the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau.
Trails at state and local parks in the region stayed open during the pandemic and have become popular spots. Public spaces offer a plethora of outdoor activities such as rafting, camping, hiking and biking and historical and cultural attractions, said Ann Nemanic, executive director of the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau Nemanic.
“Don’t focus on the summer that could have been,” she said. “Make this the summer that’s one you will remember for all the right reasons.”
Similar opportunities are available in the Pittsburgh area on the Three Rivers and elsewhere, said Visit Pittsburgh’s Bachar.
“There’s still options, but it’s much more limited,” he said.
Both Bachar and Nemanic encouraged locals and visitors to patronize the restaurants, bars and craft beverage establishments that call the region home.
“Our restaurants and our bar community, they’re depending on people to still come and be consumers to them,” Bachar said.
And for those inevitable rainy days, many museums and other cultural attractions are offering virtual experiences.
When the weather is good and parks fill up, Nemanic asks visitors to remember patience and respect. Businesses may require face coverings, and there could be other restrictions in public spaces.
“This is unlike any summer any of us have experienced,” she said. “We want our season to be enjoyable, but we also want it to be as healthy a one as we can make it.”
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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