Home >  Lifestyle

Thursday, April 04, 2002

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

It's like a metaphor for spring, as Pittsburghers start to come outdoors after being cooped up inside for way too long.

That relatively new movement here picks up more momentum next week with the kickoff of a promotion called "Experience Pittsburgh Outdoors" that aims to encourage us all to do just that.

A coalition of groups has compiled a calendar of more than 150 open-air activities that start Monday with the Pirates home opener baseball game and goes through May 19 and the Pedal Pittsburgh bicycle ride. In between are bird walks and a "BioBlitz," rock climbing and farmers' markets, concerts and sea kayak trips, and much more.

"The options that we have here are phenomenal compared to other places," says Bill Kolano of Kolano Design, which Sustainable Pittsburgh has hired to help spread the word about this region's historically under-appreciated outdoor amenities.

Later this month, Sustainable Pittsburgh will officially debut an "Experience Pittsburgh Outdoors" video CD. Funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the fast-paced, five-minute video will be used to sell our rivers, hills and trails to outsiders who may be considering moving here.

But in the meantime, Sustainable Pittsburgh and its partners decided to compile and promote a master list of outdoor activities for people who already live here, who might be, as Kolano puts it, "somewhat blind to what's in our own back yard."

Their printed schedule, which Kolano hopes a local publication will help distribute, ranges from regular events such as the Pittsburgh Marathon (May 5) to special ones such as the run of circus shows outside Heinz Field by the internationally acclaimed Cirque du Soleil (beginning May 9). The schedule culminates with a flurry of activities during what's being called "Great Outdoor Week," starting the weekend of May 11.

Since part of Kolano's mission is to promote Sustainable Pittsburgh's and Port Authority's "Ride, Rack & Roll" program allowing bicycles on public transit, events accessible that way will be so marked on the schedule. A survey of the transit program, which started last year, showed that people most want to use it to access outdoor activities.

Beth Newman, Sustainable Pittsburgh's amenities coordinator, says she'd like to see the overall outdoors promotion "grow in scope to be ongoing, and not just this six-week campaign."

Other partners are the Western Pennsylvania Field Institute, the steering committee of the Venture Outdoors (VO2) festival (one of the season's biggest outdoors events, on May 18) and the Community Design Center.

Kolano says there also has been "great cooperation" between the offices of Mayor Tom Murphy and Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey. Of course, many have recognized that there is much more at stake than just having good times: Outdoor amenities are key to a region's quality of life.

"It's one of the first things people look for when they're being recruited for a job or thinking about moving to a city," Kolano says. Pittsburgh long has been associated with dirty air and water, but that's changed dramatically. With not only a varying terrain but also a varying climate, the region actually has a wide range of outdoor assets worth celebrating.

The groups that have taken up this charge planned to announce the upcoming promotion at a press conference today at the new Schenley Park Visitor Center, which is one of the latest developments on the outdoor front. Another is the new public launch points for canoes and kayaks on the three rivers that are to open to the public next month.

In addition to the video, this promotional push is to include the release of another CD that will contain the interactive outdoor resources map that can be found on the Internet site, www.greenpittsburgh.net. Started two years ago by 3 Rivers Connect, the site is part of the international Green Map System.

It's yet one more piece of the region's outdoors amenity puzzle. The point of Experience Pittsburgh Outdoors is "we're gluing all this together," says Kolano. "It's all one message: that we want residents of the area to rediscover the outdoors."