Pittsburgh Dish

Falling for the North Side '07

Got gourds?

Photo by Katie Sullivan

Organizers of this year's Central Northside Neighborhood Council Annual Harvest Party on the North Side are looking for a few good ghouls and goblins to help out at their annual event for kids. The party will be held on Oct. 27 at Alpine Gardens on Alpine Street in the Mexican War Streets from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

If you'd like to donate pumpkins, apples or candy or would like to help out at craft tables, contact Karin Olander, Community Outreach Specialist at the Central Northside Neighborhood Council. Email: karin@centralnorthside.com; Phone: 412-231-7742.

Sadly there will be no parade this year due to a lack of staff and volunteers.

Arbor Day on the North Side

Kids dug the community garden

Photos by Frank Kownacki

Rain drops didn't dampen the spirits of the 50 or so North Side neighbors who showed up for an Arbor Day celebration Saturday at the Green Millennium Children's Garden. Kids planted trees under the supervision of Eric French and Garden Lady Laura Winter. Later, the small fries sat at a table and glued things that kids glue. The children's garden is located on Sherman Street in the Mexican War Streets. It's purty!

Hoe Down

Get dirty with Garden Lady Laura Winter at the Green Millennium Children's Garden this Saturday, April 28. Children's events from 1 to 4 p.m.; Adult fun 4 to 8 p.m. The garden is located at 1313 Sherman Ave. in the Mexican War Streets on the North Side.

Falling for the North Side

Kids celebrate Autumn.

Photos by Katie Sullivan

The Central Northside Neighborhood Council Annual Harvest Parade kicked off a perfect fall afternoon this passed Saturday for dozens of North Side kids. Perfect weather and the chance to dress up as super heroes and fairies brought out dozens of neighborhood tots to the Mexican War Streets.

A costume parade, led by tutu-wearing Cora The Love Piggy, started at Alpine Gardens. Afterwards, kids strolled down the street to join "Garden Lady" Laura Winter and a group of volunteers in the Green Millennium Children's Community Garden on Sherman Street for pumpkin carving, treats and a pumpkin seed spitting contest.

Welcome to Spittsburgh!

Dish welcomes photos from events happening all over the city. This is a citizens' media site and you are the reporters. Let us know what's happening in your neighborhood! Email us at editor@pittsburghdish.com.

Fall festival on the North Side

Location: 1313 Sherman Avenue near North Taylor in the Mexican War Streets

Time: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Yum: Apple cider, hot chocolate, snacks

Fun: Games, pumpkin decorating

Pittsburgh's dirty

So, so dirty.

While Mayor Bob is redd-upping the city in preparation for the baseball all-star game, er, for the good its citizenry, Dish could help but notice dirt of a different kind.

Taped to a tree in the Mexican War Streets on the North Side is a call for dirty people to participate at a nearby community garden. Spring is the time for planting kisses and peonies and the garden group hopes to persuade locals to put their libidos to work for the good of the neighborhood. Filthy folks should call Jana (412) 237-9922 or Lynette (412) 231-1981 for further details.

"Sounds like someone's lookin' to get laid," said one young man after reading the sign.

Dirty minds are welcome. Bring your bulging bulbs.

........................................................................................................................

Dirt of the Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka kind

"In downtown Pittsburgh, Attack Theatre creates a passionate event for one night only. The first-ever Dirty Ball transforms a loft space on 9th Street into a feast that celebrates the elegant and decadent.

Throughout the evening, polish your moves with the experts of Attack Theatre, practice your dances in a virtual pleasure-dome of computer generated effects by artist Buzz Miller and confess your dirty little secrets to an audio installation by Alexi Morrissey.

Dance the night away to music provided by Justin Hopper of PANDEMIC, dee-jaying Brazilian booty bass, Venezuelan sex disco, Bosnian hip-hop, South Asian bhangra and other dirty sounds from around the globe.

The evening starts off Down and Dirty in the Penthouse with an exclusive pre-party hosted by Scott Bergstein and Jessica Coup, featuring a wine tasting by Sonoma Grill and sommelier Uri Markovitz, exquisite food, and a sneak peak at one of the city¹s most exciting new residences.

Attire for the evening is anything goes - your best cocktail dress, your circa 1975 blue leisure suit, your dirtiest jeans, your leather pants. Use your dirty mind and imagination.

Tickets for the Dirty Ball are $40 (pre-sale) and $45 (at the door). Tickets for Down and Dirty in the Penthouse are $125 and include admission to the Dirty Ball. Tickets can be purchased at ProArts 412.394-3353 or www.proartstickets.org. All event proceeds benefit the programs of AttackTheatre. Attack Theatre is a tax-exempt organization.

Sponsors for the Dirty Ball include: Sonoma Grill, Yuengling, 91.3 FM WYEP, Susan DiGirolamo Attorney At-Law, 17th Street Café, Preservation Technologies, Telerama Internet, Hilton Hotels, Typhoon, Reed-Smith LLP, Radisson Hotel of Pittsburgh.

Since 1994, Attack Theatre has created community with artists and audiences through the process and production of personal, accessible dance-based performance. Blending varied art forms with dynamic contemporary dance, Attack Theatre creates passionate portrayals of everyday life.

For more information about Attack Theatre or the Dirty Ball, call 412-441-8444 or contact@attacktheatre.com."

Down and Dirty in the Penthouse (Pre-Party) – 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Join Scott Bergstein and Jessica Coup for a wine tasting, exquisite food and a sneak peak of one of the city’s exciting new residences.

$125 (includes admission to the Dirty Ball)

DIRTY BALL

8 p.m. – midnight

121 Ninth Street, 9^th Floor (Downtown Pittsburgh)

$40 (pre-sale), $45 (at the door)

North Side Community Garden fundraiser kicks off

You don't need to get dirty to help out.

Laura Winter, the Garden Gal of the Mexican War Streets, is asking for a little help to raise money for the Green Millennium Children's Garden on Sherman Avenue on the North Side.

Winter, the director of the project, is tapping into a fundraising program from Angie's List, a service that offers consumer-based report cards on contractor work--from plumbers to clowns who perform at parties. For every review offered, the kid's garden fund gets $5. You can submit up to 10 reports per person. There is no fee to do this. Think back to contractors you have hired and rate their performance. Subscribers to Angie's list will benefit from your experience of a roofer who bungled the job or a landscaper who left your garden lush.

The deadline is Apr. 2, but in order to keep the fundraiser active, Angie's List must receive 25 reports within the first week. Winter needs 200 reports to reach their goal of $1000. You can submit reviews online or download a hardcopy and slip it through Winter's mail slot at 1226 Monterey Street (across from the Monterey Pub).

Here are some things to consider:

Your contact information will not be sold to any third party.

Anyone in the area (within a 40 mile radius of downtown Pittsburgh) over the age of 21 can submit a report to help your group raise money.

The reports must be filled out completely and follow the guidelines on the first page of the info packet, in order to be paid for.

The fundraiser is an easy one, but will not work unless people submit reports.

The group must raise at least $50 to receive a check.

Here's what to do:

Think of some services you have hired around the house. If you have old receipts or business cards, get them out! Examples of applicable services include: handymen carpet cleaners house cleaners landscapers plumbers, remodelers, roofers, exterminators home builders locksmiths pool maintenance, anything for your home or garden!

Click on http://www.angiecash.com/AngieCash/

Click on Rate a company

Click on I’m new to this! (If you have submitted a report before, click on I’ve rated a company before)

Click on the City drop-down arrow and select Pittsburgh

Click on the Organization drop-down arrow and select GMCG

Fill out your contact information (you only have to do this once)

Click on the Category drop-down arrow and select the Category

Fill out the company contact information (address and phone are REQUIRED)

Fill out the company review - please don't forget the details...Job Cost and Comments. (Minimum of 75 and 150 characters are required for the comments.)

Click on the box to verify no relationship with the service provider you reported on. You cannot be related to, working for, or in competition with anyone in the company.

Click on Submit Report (and submit another!!)

Bottoms up

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy volunteers put the bright in Brighton Road.

With all the bottoms up this morning on the corner of West North Avenue and Brighton Road, passersby might have checked their watches. Happy hour? So early? But soon after WPC volunteers broke ground on a street side patch of land, it became clear the focus was azaleas not Brandy Alexanders.

On hand was WPC volunteer coordinator Chris Farber who said that the North Side has the highest concentration of community gardens. She said WPC provides plants and landscape design but it's up to volunteers to provide care and feeding of each garden.

Cheers.

Interesting in volunteering? Contact Farber at (412) 586-2324 or cfarber@paconserve.org

Hoe Down

Free Beer and Barbecue to Benefit the Green Millennium Children's Garden

1313 Sherman Ave., North Side

Saturday, May 28

4 p.m.--Keg tapped

4 p.m.-6 p.m--Imbibe and work

6 p.m.-7 p.m.--Barbeque

Join in a beer blast, er, garden party to help Laura Winter get the Green Millennium Children's Garden off (in?) the ground. Winter, a Penn State master gardener, has developed a kid's garden across the street from from Old Allegheny Gardens described by the Post-Gazette as "arguably the best community garden in the city." Each week volunteers worked side by side with children and adults planting marigolds in cinder blocks, turning soil, burying bulbs and harvesting juicy red tomatoes. Green thumbs and black thumbs are always welcome. It's good dirty fun.

(photos: Children's garden (above); Old Allegheny Gardens)