Arabia Mule HHC
Senator John Heinz History Center & Fort Pitt Museum

November 14, 15 & 16
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

What’s green, tastes great on a sandwich and has been eaten by humans since 2400 B.C.E? The pickle, and it might as well be Pittsburgh’s food mascot (move over pierogi!). Whether you prefer them dill or sweet, celebrate National Pickle Day with free family festivities at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

The perfectly pickled party is just one of three fun-filled days taking place at the History Center and the nearby Fort Pitt Museum, where visitors of all ages will receive free admission throughout the day at both destinations on November 14th, 15th and 16th.

At the History Center in the Strip, step up to perfectly preserved 160-year-old pickles–remarkably still green in their original glass jars–inside the recently opened exhibit, Pittsburgh’s Lost Steamboat: Treasures of the Arabia. View a variety of historic pickle displays, including one of the world’s oldest Heinz pickle pins from the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where some one million people were given the iconic keepsake.

Ready to get in a pickle? Savor samples from the Pittsburgh Pickle Company, vie for fun prizes during a pickle scavenger hunt and take a docent-led tour of Treasures of the Arabia. Learn all about the fantastic food (both a vegetable and a fruit, it’s known as a gherkin in the UK and Australia) from an H.J. Heinz re-enactor, and find out how the local industrialist created one of the longest-running and most successful promotions in history.

On November 15th, all visitors to the History Center will receive a free Heinz pickle pin. While there, be sure to check out the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum on the second and third floors.

Over at the Fort Pitt Museum, explore the 12,000-square-foot destination in Point State Park, which explores the vital role that Western Pennsylvania played during the French & Indian War, the American Revolution and the founding of Pittsburgh.

Jennifer has worked at the Mattress Factory, Brooklyn Museum of Art and Dahesh Museum of Art and is co-author of Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania. She also is co-coordinator of Handmade Arcade. Musically, she is in a band called The Garment District and is a founding member of Brooklyn's The Ladybug Transistor.