ALLEGHENY COMMONS — The Northside Music Festival is back for a third year, filling the streets of Allegheny Commons with live music and local cuisines from July 10-12.
The free three-day event will feature more than 70 musical acts, as well as kid-friendly activities like face paint and a bouncy castle, all located within a walkable distance at the heart of the Northside.
The festival has two main performance stages: Iron City Beer stage on Foreland and WYEP stage at Allegheny City Brewing, though there are also smaller stages and street performances throughout the event.
According to Ben Soltesz, the festival’s organizer, everything will remain largely the same, though a stage he added last year on Jane Street near East Ohio Street will be removed to sustain walkability.
“We’re kind of just going to keep the footprint that we have, you know? “ Soltesz said in an interview.
Soltesz remarked that he’s made the mistake of expanding too much in the past with his previous music festival, the Deutschtown Music Festival, that lasted from 2013-2022. With the Northside Music Festival, he plans on keeping it localized to the community.
“There’s another event, the Millvale Music Festival… It’s a very large festival, and that’s great, but they have a whole community in a town that kind of does it,” Soltesz said. “So I think what we’re doing over here just fits really well with the neighborhood and the community.”
Gospel Sunday’s event will also have a small change this year, only having one session from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. after being split into two sessions last year.
Response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Soltesz, and is one of the reasons he keeps coming back each year to host.
“The community has been really supportive, and it’s actually why we keep doing it,” Soltesz said.
Soltesz says he conducts outreach and provides free parking to immediate neighbors prior to the event to ensure they are properly accepting of the festival and its activities.
“We are really coming into some people’s front and back yards for a day and a half, and it’s a lot to ask for folks,” Soltesz said. “But we’re Northsiders, and we’re resilient, and really appreciate the support that we get from those Northside neighbors.”
To Soltesz, the Northside Music Festival is “for Northsiders” and has no plans on moving anywhere else.
“I was happy to continue this as the Northside Music Festival, and I wouldn’t ever want to do it anywhere else,” Soltesz said.
For more information, or to volunteer for the event, visit northsidemusicfestival.com.
