Tuskegee Airmen Memorial among recent Pittsburgh Happenings

Tuskegee Airmen Honored

The nation’s largest Tuskegee Airmen Memorial was dedicated last month at Sewickley Cemetery, outside of Pittsburgh. The memorial is the centerpiece of an educational and commemoration project of the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial of the Greater Pittsburgh Region, Inc. The memorial consists of four large monuments; a striking 10-foot high replica of the P-51 Red Tail monument and four benches. A bronze relief depicts the busts of several area airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces. The black military pilots who fought in World War II trained at Tuskegee, Ala.

Got Art?

The Pittsburgh Office of Public Art launched Pittsburgh Art Places – pittsburghartplaces.org – a free, comprehensive and interactive website designed to showcase public art and art venues throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The site currently houses information for 200+ art places covering a 13-county region in western Pennsylvania. This is the only website that has comprehensive information about every work of public art in the region, including temporary works. Visitors can build their own travel itinerary directly on the site.

Forging Ahead

After a devastating 2010 fire that almost put the 90-year-old company out of business, Wendell August Forge, America’s oldest and largest forge is open for tours again. Guests are invited into the studio where artisans craft elegant giftwear by hand. Tour the mini-museum and learn about the exacting process required to create beautiful hand-hammered giftware. Free workshop tours are available during production hours, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and children can create their own work of metal art for a nominal materials fee of $2.

Readers’ Choice Winner

Fairmont Pittsburgh was named a winner of Conde Nast Traveler 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards. The awards highlight the best hotels and resorts around the world by magazine readers. Fairmont Pittsburgh earned the No. 10 spot among the Top 10 Mid-Atlantic hotels. The contemporary Four Diamond property is Pittsburgh’s first LEED Gold-certified hotel.

AIRMALL Upgrade

Airest Collezioni, an international travel retail operator based in Italy, has selected the AIRMALL at Pittsburgh International Airport as its first North American operation. Airest Collezioni will tap into its portfolio of global brands to bring men’s and women’s fashion and accessories, fragrances and more to the terminal at PIT. The new stores (10,000 square feet total) will be located in the Airside Terminal and are part of a $10 million upgrade to the AIRMALL at PIT, a yearlong construction project that will result in the most significant overhaul of the concessions programs since the airport opened in 1992.

Green and Greener 

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens was awarded LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the new Center for Sustainable Landscapes. Recently emerged as one of the greenest buildings on Earth, this is expected to be the first building in the world to achieve this in tandem with the Living Building Challenge and four-starts Sustainable Sites Initiative certification for landscapes.