Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

Homestead's Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area will host an evening of "food, fun and film" this Saturday at the historic Carrie blast furnaces in Rankin.

The event is a fundraiser for the restoration of the so-called "Carrie Deer" --- a scrap metal stag's head created by guerrilla artists inside the abandoned mill in the late 1990s --- and a show of support for the historic site itself.

Special guest hosts for the event are actor and writer David Conrad and WQED-TV producer and filmmaker Rick Sebak.

Following a special VIP reception at 6 p.m., the gates open to the public at 8 with food and beverages from local eateries, as well as the debut of a documentary about the Carrie Deer. The documentary by filmmakers Sharon and Ken Brown of Glyph Inc was sponsored by The Sprout Fund and Rivers of Steel.

. . .

The Carrie Deer was created beginning in 1997, when a group of artists entered the grounds of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin and Swissvale to explore the abandoned mill as a potential site for their urban art. Inspired by the site, they erected a 40-foot sculpture out scrap they found on the site.

The sculpture survived 16 years of threats from scrap collectors, vandals, graffiti artists, weather and public officials and emerged as a key focal point of revitalization for the National Historic Landmark site.

VIP tickets were $125 each and are now sold out. A spokeswoman said VIP activities will include tours of the site dramatically lit by solar-powered lighting from event sponsors Clear Story and Zero Fossil, as well as a "meet the artists" event spotlighting the creators who spent a year building the sculpture in the earliest days of the Industrial Arts Cooperative.

Also on-hand will be local bluegrass/rock band The Beagle Brothers, demonstrations of welding and metal sculpture, and an improvisational dance performance. Sponsors include Kevin Sousa's Superior Motors, Olivia Crocker's Dorothy 6 Blast Furnace Cafe, Braddock's The Brew Gentlemen Beer Company and Munhall's Stay Tuned Distillery.

General admission tickets are $10. For more information, visit the website.