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Light Up Night Is Back In ​Downtown Pittsburgh This Holiday Season

Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

Downtown Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night will return to the city this year. In 2020, the 60th annual celebration of Light Up Night was canceled due to risks from COVID-19. But it's back this year with one big change: the event will take place on Nov. 20, the Saturday before Thanksgiving instead of Friday, when it was traditionally held.

Organizers say moving the event to the weekend will help minimize some of the biggest challenges of the day, such as rush-hour traffic and other weekday obligations such as work and school.

“Light Up Night marks the beginning of Downtown Pittsburgh’s holiday celebrations, and we believe the move to Saturday night will allow us to expand on the experiences we can offer the community,” Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership president and CEO Jeremy Waldrup said in a statement.

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership said it will also encourage people to stay downtown on Friday nights during the holiday season. A full line up of events has yet to be announced.

Julia Zenkevich reports on Allegheny County government for 90.5 WESA. She first joined the station as a production assistant on The Confluence, and more recently served as a fill-in producer for The Confluence and Morning Edition. She’s a life-long Pittsburgher, and attended the University of Pittsburgh. She can be reached at jzenkevich@wesa.fm.