Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces plans for virtual First Night

Ring in 2021 at the place where you’ve spent most of 2020.

At home.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust on Monday announced its First Night celebration as: “Highmark First Night Pittsburgh 2021 at Home.”

The annual New Year’s Eve celebration on Dec. 31 can be viewed on KDKA-TV.

The station’s “Pittsburgh Today Live” hosts Heather Abraham and David Highfield will host a one-hour, special edition of the Trust’s signature New Year’s event.

Performances include the Williams Sing-Off competition, Fire and Ice, a VIP experience, the countdown to midnight, fireworks and raising of the “Future of Pittsburgh Ball.”

The final details are still being worked out, said Sarah Aziz, director of First Night for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

She said organizers are aiming to offer all the things people love about First Night but in a different way, “reimagining it for television,” she said.

“This year has been hard on everybody,” Aziz said. “But we didn’t want to end the year without doing something.”

She said the television special is something that will be accessible to a lot of people. It also will be a local version of New Year’s Eve, versus the national shows that are also on that night.

“We are trying to look at new opportunities, such as having something that might not have been seen well from a crowd that viewers will be able to see well on their television,” she said. “We are looking for a silver lining. We will get through this and I believe we will have festivals again.”

This NYE, the party is coming to you! Ring in 2021 in pure Pittsburgh style as @KDKAHeather and @DavidHighfield of @KDKA @PGHTodayLive join the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for a one-hour, TV-only special edition of @Highmark #FirstNightPGH.

LEARN MORE ▶️ https://t.co/KlxPHXJ0ZR pic.twitter.com/ep4JSP1i6R

— Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (@CulturalTrust) November 16, 2020

The winner of the Williams Sing-Off, a contest of singers in grades six-12, will be recognized during the show. Ice Creations will put on an ice-carving show, using chainsaws and power tools. Steel Town Fire will provide fire juggling, fire breathing and fire dancing.

Though the parade with hundreds of puppets from artist Cheryl Capezzuti, local bands and fire trucks won’t be happening, a similar event will take place, Aziz said.

“We are trying to figure out something and if anyone can find a creative way to do a parade, it is Cheryl Capezzuti,” Aziz said. “She will make it fun somehow.”

“The Future of Pittsburgh Ball,” first raised in 2007, will be done virtually. The 1,000-pound ball’s outer shell is more than six and a half feet in diameter and it has more than 1,000 LED lights arranged in the shape of Pittsburgh’s three rivers. In the two minutes it takes to rise, the ball climbs nearly 75 feet. The light show gradually increases in intensity.

And there will be fireworks because “it’s Pittsburgh,” Aziz said.

Some events might be prerecorded, Aziz said. Specifics on other performances and featured artists will be announced on Dec. 4.

As a fundraiser, the trust offers “First Night Friends in a Box” for $50 to $125. It includes items from Pittsburgh businesses such as Fancypants Popcorn, Milkshake Factory, Sinful Sweets Chocolate Co. and PGH Candle, limited edition Cultural Trust postcards, a deck of specialized playing cards from the Liberty Magic venue with instructions on how to do your own magic trick and a curated Spotify playlist. The box, which can be purchased here, will be delivered in time for the evening’s festivities.

“We want to make it feel a little special for those celebrating First Night at home,” Aziz said.