Welcome to EventApp Pittsburgh!

IMPORTANT NOTICE
 

Effective May 17, 2021, the State of Pennsylvania has issued revised occupancy guidelines on indoor and outdoor events in the State of Pennsylvania. Outdoor events are now limited to 75% of the venue capacity, regardless of venue size. Indoor events are now limited to 50% of the venue capacity, regardless of venue size. Occupancy is determined applying the appropriate percentage to the venue's posted limit set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code. 
 

 

All Special Event Applicants will be required to submit a COVID-19 Safety Plan with their application that demonstrates steps that will be taken to control attendance, meet all current state and local health guidelines, provide a safe event, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Please see the Important Documents section to the right for guidance on what is expected in a Covid-19 Safety Plan.

All original permit application guidelines are also in effect, including appication submission deadlines. 

Should setbacks in the mitigation of COVID-19 occur, the Governor, Allegheny County Executive, and/or Mayor may adopt further precautionary measures to mitigate expected effects an public health disasters. Those measures may include cancelling or limiting large gatherings, and cancelling or limiting events or gatherings that require City permits. If a State / County / City order makes an event unable to occur, the event permit will be canceled. The Office of Special Events will work with any impacted applicants to reschedule their event as best as possible. 

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The Office of Special Events is the official event and film production permitting & management office for the City of Pittsburgh.
 
Office of Special Events Hours:
8:00am-4:45pm EST Monday- Friday

NOTE: THE OFFICE IS CURRENTLY WORKING REMOTELY AND RESPONSES MAY BE DELAYED. 

Questions should be sent to SpecialEvents@pittsburghpa.gov for fastest response.
 

To support the city’s rapidly growing event industry, the Office of Special Events has streamlined the permitting process for event organizers with the launch of our new online application software: EventApp Pittsburgh.  In addition to streamlining the permitting process for events in the City of Pittsburgh, the Office of Special Events will also be responsible for the following:
 

• Issuing permits to events on public property in the City of Pittsburgh.
• Facilitating communication between event organizers and city departments and authorities.
• Handling cost recovery efforts for City services related to event needs.
• Handling permitting for block-parties and community festivals in addition to special events.
• Producing a wide array of in-house events that are either free or low-cost to the general public.

Before you get started, please download and review the Getting Started document to your right. You will find the necessary guidelines and helpful information for hosting an event in the City of Pittsburgh, as well as costs associated with various City services. All supplementary forms you will need to continue can be found to your right as well.
 
We know you have a choice to host your event anywhere and we thank you for choosing the City of Pittsburgh as the location for your event. Have an amazing time!

Application Fees & Submittal Deadlines:
Permit applications for all Special Events, including First Amendment Activity not responding to current events, must be submitted to the Office of Special Events at least fourteen (14) business days and not more than one hundred eighty (180) business days before the date and time at which the Event is proposed to commence. Applications submitted less than fourteen (14) business days before the event start date will not be approved and will not be reviewed.

Permit applications for Block Parties and Portico Free Speech events must be submitted to the Office of Special Events at least seven (7) business days before the date and time at which the Block Party is to commence. Applications submitted less than seven (7) business days before the event start date will not be approved and will not be reviewed. It is strongly recommended that organizers submit their applications as early as possible to allow adequate time for coordination of City services and to lock in their location and date.
 
Applications will be evaluated within seven (7) business days of receipt by the City of a completed application. For Events requested at least forty-five (45) days in advance of the event date, the Office of Special Events reserves the right to respond within fourteen (14) business days.
 
Please be advised that any applications or documents submitted past close of business (4:45PM EST) on any given day will not be counted as RECEIVED until the next business day. Example: an application submitted on a Tuesday at 5:15PM EST will be counted as “received” on Wednesday. Applications submitted after 4:45PM EST on a Friday will be considered received the following business day.
 
NOTE: ALL APPLICATIONS REQUIRE A CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE IN WHICH THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH IS LISTED AS AN ADDITIONAL INSURED. PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS ON YOUR CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE:
   
COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS IN PLACE
Special Event Permits will be restricted to outdoor public events in accordance with any existing state and local COVID-19 restrictions. All applications will be asked to submit a COVID-19 Safety Plan that will demonstrate to the City steps organizers plan to take to manage attendance, mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and keep guests safe.

HIGH VOLUME EVENT DATE ALERT
Due to the anticipation of a high volume of large-profile events occurring on certain days, the Office of Special Events & Special Events Committee may not be able to approve any further permits on certain days that could place further strain on Public Safety resources, transit, or public property. It is strongly suggested that event permit applicants avoid the dates listed below when submitting applications, or understand that their application may not be able to be approved: NORTH SHORE APPROVED ROUTES
While permits for events can still be written for the North Shore approved routes during the NFL, MLB, and NCAA seasons, permits cannot be written for the North Shore trails or Great Lawn on Steelers or Pitt Football game days, as well as some Pirates game days. These restrictions also apply to major stadium events such as concerts, and are subject to change. Additionally, only one event permit per day can be written for the North Shore so availability is limited. Applicants requesting to host events on the North Shore may have to wait until the NFL and NCAA Football schedules are released before event dates can be approved. 
 
EVENTS IN CITY PARKS
The City of Pittsburgh Citiparks Department has park use regulations that must be followed by all events permitted to take place in City parks. Among those is a policy to not allow the staking of tents or large infrastructure in parks. This policy must be adhered to by all event permit holders. Permit holders will be solely responsible for any damage done to irrigation systems or other underground systems resulting from the staking of tents or other infrastructure. Please see the Citiparks Park Use Policy document in the Supporting Documents section for more details. Note: Point State Park is a state park, please contact them directly for park use guidelines.