🐟 A scaled back Fish Fry season
Plus, will the real Pittsburgh please stand up?
By Rossilynne Culgan
Welcome to Wednesday.
It’s the beginning of Lent, and that means Fish Fry season is here. It’s going to look different in 2021 (like just about everything else), but there are still some opportunities to indulge in fried fish this year. You might say it’s just … scaled back. (Hah, sorry, we had to). More on that below.
Here’s what else we have for you today: Another storm prediction, the latest on the pandemic’s economic impact, some trippy Pittsburgh doppelgängers, and a heartwarming tale from the check-out aisle.
What Pittsburgh is talking about
Sun … is that you?! | Tag #theinclinepgh to be featured in our Instagram of the Day. (📸: @lewisatlarge)
4 things to know today
⏰ Are we living in Groundhog Day? Because there’s another winter storm in the forecast for this week. As of now, the National Weather Service predicts “snow early Thursday before changing over to a wintry mix of sleet, rain and snow overnight” and continuing into Friday. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
📉 The region’s leisure and hospitality industry is in dire economic straits amid the pandemic, a new report from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development says. It’s the third-largest industry in the region and includes museums, hotels, and restaurants. (90.5 WESA)
➡️ Pittsburgh officials want a town in Puerto Rico to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the location where renowned Pirates player and humanitarian Roberto Clemente’s plane crashed while on an aid mission in 1972. (KDKA-TV)
⚾ Pittsburgh has a strong connection to baseball’s historic Negro major leagues, where Black athletes competed before Major League Baseball was integrated, with teams like the The Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Read up on the history lesson here. (The Tube City Almanac)
4 things to make you smile
🏙️ Will the real Pittsburgh please stand up? Check out these uncanny doppelgängers. (Odd Pittsburgh) P.S. If you’ve ever wondered why the Mon and the Allegheny are different colors, we’ve got the answer.
💛 This woman literally gave a stranger the coat off her back after a chat in the check-out line at the Brentwood Giant Eagle. (KDKA-TV)
🎤 Pittsburgh singer Miss Freddye is raking in the award nominations this year. (TribLive)
🍪 Girl Scout cookie sales look different this year, too. Here’s how to place your order online. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
It’s o-fish-ally Fish Fry season
Nice to sea you. Photo from Emil’s Lounge on March 6, 2020. (📸: @rossilynne)
Do you have super vivid just-before-the-pandemic memories? I sure do.
In true Pittsburgh fashion, one of my last “normal” memories involves a fish fry. My family and I rushed to North Braddock VFD on a Friday evening in early March, trying to make it in time. Just as we pulled up, we learned they were sold out.
Don’t worry, I assured everyone, we’ll go to the Swissvale Fire Department Fish Fry and get right in. Wrong again. We waited in a long line (guys, remember waiting in lines, like, next to people?!) and were soon informed that they’d sold out, too.
So then we headed down the hill to Emil’s Lounge in Rankin where we waited in another long line and were rewarded with the holy grail: gigantic fish sandwiches. It’s a memory I cherish not just for the fish but for the family time, too.
Though it pains us, The Incline is skipping our fish fry bracket this year and planning to pick it up again next year when we hope life will be back to “normal.”
But in the meantime, we wanted to give a shout-out to the winner of last year’s Ultimate Fish Fry Bracket — St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in McKeesport. They’re hosting a takeout-only fish fry this year; be sure to place your order asap.
You can find a fish fry near you with this Code for Pittsburgh map and filter it for takeout options. North Braddock VFD and Swissvale Fire Department have takeout options this year, so maybe I can finally get my hands on their fish sandwiches. 🤞
📺 Are you still watching?
These days, we all pay for subscriptions for everything from razors to “ugly” produce to cat toys. We pay for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Quip, Hello Fresh, Winc, and so much more.
But when it comes to paying for news, it seems that’s non-negotiable for folks. Sure, this newsletter doesn’t arrive in a cute Birchbox package (wouldn’t that be interesting). But if you see value in the digital package you receive in your inbox (and you’ve told us you do!), we hope you’ll become an Incline member.
Things to do
Submit your events to our calendar.
Today
🎞 Mark Black History Month by exploring the story of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who moved back to Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors were bulldozed to make way for a sprawling city (Online)
➡️ Tune in for Athletes Against Antisemitism, a virtual event hosted by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh on combatting anti-Semitism, racial justice and moving forward in unity (Online)
Tomorrow
🎭 Catch a reimagined "Romeo and Juliet" from Pittsburgh Public Theater, this version centered on Black culture and characters — multiple dates (Online)
Friday
🖼 Get timed tickets to see the acclaimed SWOON exhibition at Contemporary Craft’s new location — multiple dates (Upper Lawrenceville)
🐦 Learn about this year's finch superflight and how the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is using new technology to track winter movements of evening grosbeaks (Online)
Saturday
🐧 Hear from Charles Bergman, award-winning author and photographer, as he shares his quest to see every penguin in the world in this Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium program (Online)
Sunday
☮️ Take inspiration from great works of art in a 30-minute live, guided meditation session from the Carnegie Museum of Art — multiple dates (Online)
📜 Learn unknown facts about Sojourner Truth's life and how Prime Stage Theatre created a streaming production of "Sojourner" by Richard LaMonte Pierce (Online)
Monday
➡️ Explore the hidden Jewish neighborhoods of Pittsburgh in this Doors Open Pittsburgh event (Online)
Tuesday
📊 Be inspired by Afua Bruce, chief program officer at DataKind, a global nonprofit that harnesses the power of data science and AI in the service of humanity, in this Carnegie Science Center Career Connections chat (Online)
One more thing ....
We recently stumbled upon these Schitt’s Creek-themed candles by local company None of Your Business. I need to smell the “Ew, David” and “Roland Schitt” candles.
Thanks for reading to the bottom, thanks for shopping local, and thanks for being you. 💛
— Rossilynne at The Incline
