Carpool Cinema, guided tours resume at Carrie Blast Furnaces

Rivers of Steel is ramping up activities at Carrie Blast Furnaces, with this weekend’s return of Carrie Carpool Cinema and the resumption of guided tours May 1.

Activities also are scheduled to resume at two other National Historic Landmark managed by Rivers of Steel.

The drive-in-style film series kicks off with two movies filmed in and around Pittsburgh.

August Wilson’s “Fences,” staring Denzel Washington, will screen at 9 p.m. Friday, with “The Dark Knight Rises” starting at 8:45 p.m. Saturday. Short films by Braddock filmmaker Tony Buba will precede both features at 8:30 p.m.

Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children, with $3 of each ticket directly supporting conservation of the National Historic Landmark in Rankin and Swissvale. Doors open at 7 p.m., with mini-tours of the site available for an additional fee prior to movie time.

Tours highlighting the site’s iron-making technology, its workers and their culture will be offered Fridays through Sundays in May, with a full Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule beginning in June. Tour season ends Oct. 31.

“Multiple tours are offered each day beginning at 10 a.m. Advance ticket purchases are required currently to limit interaction during the pandemic,” said Carly V. McCoy, Rivers of Steel director of marketing and communications. “Tour capacity has also been reduced to 15 persons to allow for social distancing.”

Free admission

Guided tours of the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop will resume May 2, and will be offered most Sundays through October. The site sits along the Monongahela River in Rices Landing, Greene County.

The Bost Building in Homestead, the visitors center for Rivers of Steel, will reopen June 2 to small groups via advance timed ticketing. Admission to the museum galleries will be free for the remainder of the year. Hours will be 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays.

“It is our hope that by removing the admission fee for visitors to the Bost Building, that it will make this storied landmark more accessible and welcoming to all,” said Augie Carlino, Rivers of Steel president and CEO. “The new hours echo the public tour schedule at the Carrie Blast Furnaces as well, so that visitors and locals alike may extend their experience by exploring the exhibitions on display or by discovering more things to do in the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area.”

Upon reopening, “The From the Vault: Staff Picks from the Rivers of Steel Archives” will be on display in the Bost Building’s main gallery, followed by an exhibition of works by Mon Valley artist Kathleen Ferri, Oct. 1-Feb. 27. The artworks will be juxtaposed with items from the Rivers of Steel Archives.

Capacity restrictions, mask requirements and social distancing will remain in place for all Rivers of Steel attractions, to be updated as the situation evolves.

Parking for the Great Allegheny Passage trail head at the Pump House in Munhall is open to the public, with visitors encouraged to view the public art, walk the on-site labyrinth and read the text panels about its historic legacy The Pump House also is available for event rental.

McCoy noted that Rivers of Steel also has resumed workshop offerings, with topics including metal casting from novice to professional, photography and graffiti-style-writing experiences. Information and registration is available on the website.

Details: riversofsteel.com