Lawn chairs and vendors lined Foreland Street and Allegheny Commons as Northside residents gathered for the third annual Northside Music Festival.
Organized by Ben Soltesz, the festival held performances from more than 75 bands over the course of the threeday event, backed by a lineup of food trucks and cuisines from local vendors like Kona’s Ice of Pittsburgh West and PGH Crepes.
Festivities began around 6 p.m. on July 10, with music from local rock bands like the Redlines who performed at the Iron City Beer Stage on Foreland and indie artist Danny Golden who performed on the festival’s second stage, WYEP stage at Allegheny City Brewing.
Saturday saw a mixture of different performers across different genres like pop singer-songwriter Lindsay Liebro, and celtic punk band Bastard Bearded Irishman.
A mix of longtime festival goers and newcomers attended, including Jim Cook, a North Hills resident, who was joined by a friend for Saturday’s festivities. Cook says he heard about the festival from NEXTpittsburgh, a local publication.
“They [NEXTpittsburgh] sent me a list of what’s going on in Pittsburgh this weekend,” Cook told the Chronicle. “I saw it and I said, ‘I have to go.’” Cooks says he enjoyed his time at the festival as it was a way to get out of the house and see “the fresh air and the people.”
The last day of the event started at 11 a.m. and was Gospel focused, mainly taking place at Allegheny Commons. Rob Geyer, who attended Sunday’s Gospel event, talked about how he believes the festival is a “positive presence” for those on the Northside. He hopes the Gospel music “emanates” throughout the area for all to hear.
“It [the festival] gives a nice counter to some of the dark experiences that happen here,” Geyer said. “It just brings a nice light to some areas that need it.”
Noel Kowalkowski, who attended Sunday’s event as a presenter for the Urban Impact Foundation, a local nonprofit organization serving local teens in areas of the performing arts and education, says she also felt the impact of the community.
As she looked around the festival, she spoke about her love of seeing the community come together and having something that is “just Northside.”
“The Northside has so much because we have like Deutschtown and we have a bunch of different kinds of people and a bunch of different artists and art,” Kowalkowski said. It’s nice to see us all here together and to have something and just show off the Northside.”
