'SpaceBurgh' festival will return to Riverview Park for 2nd year

Pittsburgh’s second annual space festival — known as “SpaceBurgh” — is returning this weekend to Riverview Park.

The festival brings together STEM, robotics and astronomy in a citywide celebration of space, according to the event announcement.

SpaceBurgh will last from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the park in Perry North, which houses the historic Allegheny Observatory, and it’s free for attendees. There will be tours of the observatory offered.

Marketed as a family-friendly event, SpaceBurgh will feature sci-fi authors, live performances, science shows and demos, crafts and more.

Kids can create rockets out of recyclables and use giant telescopes, while families enjoy various food trucks and exhibits. There will be stormtroopers — the fictional Star Wars soldiers — and robots roaming around as well.

“It’s part science fair, part county fair and part cosmic carnival, all with a distinctly Pittsburgh heart,” the announcement said. “Think of it as Pittsburgh’s galactic block party, where space science and space imagination meet.”

Pitt Space, West Virginia University, Westminster College and the Moonshot Museum will be featured. Partners of SpaceBurgh include STEM Coding Lab, STEMNetX, Mars Robotics Association, TeraBridges Robotics and Quasics Robotics.

“People don’t always realize how easily they can find a role in things like space exploration and space culture that is meant just for them, their skills, and their abilities,” said Melissa Dalessandri-Fetterman, executive director of SpaceBurgh, in the announcement. “Our city has an amazing collective of space and STEM organizations positioned to help them reach their goals, if they were only aware of these incredible options.”