Not yer grandpap's Penn Av

by Diana Nelson Jones/March 31

This month's "Unblurred" event Friday on Penn Avenue in Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship will coincide with a new event: The GAGI [short for Geek Art/Green Innovators] Festival. There is a morning component at the Union Project, 801 Negley Ave.

Meagan Maher, an intern at Friendship Development Associates sends word about this stockpile of strange, arty, visionary and fun events running Friday. She promises chickens and robots on the same stage.

The festival is organized by Passports: The Art Diversity Project and the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative. It celebrates green industry, technology innovations and other interesting projects from throughout the region at shops and businesses along Penn Avenue in the aforementioned neighborhoods. You can see more about it and get the full schedule www.pennavenuearts.org and at http://www.gagifestival.blogspot.com/ or call (412) 596-6521.

The Union Project presentation, from 10 a.m. to noon, is called "Birds, Bees and Robots," an ecology playdate for kids from kindergarten to fifth grade. Pittsburgh Dance Alloy and the Dilworth Elementary School World Beat Drummers will perform. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts will lead art activities. There will be a solar-powered flower, puppeteer Flora Shepherd will read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss, and healthy snacks will be served.
 
From 5 to 11 p.m.,  galleries and businesses between the 4800 and 5500 blocks of Penn Avenue will be open and showing exhibits, solar powered inventions, live music, dance, fashion and robotic eveningware. There will also be a twilight farmer's market.

The "Eco-Tech" Information Center at 113 N. Pacific will feature Pitt's 80-ft. Mobile Science Lab, where you can eco-solutions from vendors.

After the festival, you can be a guest on a live talk show sharing your experiences from the festival at the Waffle Shop at 124 S. Highland Ave. in East Liberty from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

To find out more about Friendship Development Associates and its monthly first Friday "Unblurred" event, visit http://friendship-pgh.org/paai/unblurred/