Above: The Deutschtown Music Festival will be on July 6. (Courtesy of DMF).

by Kelsey Shea

Some of the best bands in Pittsburgh are headed to the Northside this summer for the first ever Deutschtown Music Festival.

Meeting of Important People, The Harlan Twins, Locks and Dams and Chet Vincent and The Big Bend will all perform in Historic Deutschtown along with nearly 40 other bands on July 6.

Organizers Ben Soltesz of Spring Hill and Cody Walters of Historic Deutschtown hope to give people outside the neighborhood “an opportunity to experience Deutschtown’s burgeoning music scene.”

Inspired by the success of the Deutschtown Bar Crawl and similar events in Lawrenceville Soltesz and Walters thought that Deutschtown’s existing music scene, which touts James Street jazz, Park House bluegrass and the Pittsburgh Banjo Club, would translate well into a music festival.

“My hope is to inspire new people to come and see how awesome our neighborhood is and for some of our other venues to take on having live music,” said Walters. “We have already had some success as Max’s Allegheny Tavern is thinking of having some future shows in the Rattskeller and Verdetto’s (who unfortunately couldn’t be a venue for July 6 due to vacations) is really excited to start having bands there.”

Beginning at noon, bands will perform at a variety of indoor and outdoor venues across the neighborhood including, the Elks Lodge, Artists Image Resource, Bistro To Go, James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy, the Park House, Max’s Allegheny Tavern and other spots along East Ohio Street.

There will also be a main stage on Foreland Street for the largest acts and food trucks in the neighborhood and places where drinks can be purchased. Admission to the festival is free.

“The idea is to get people who aren’t on the Northside to come here to see the place,” said Soltesz. “Once we started reaching out to bands, they just loved the idea and want to come play here on the Northside.”