Saturday 12 October 2013

Pump(kin) it up! Pumpkinfest in Deutschtown

Today was the day of Pumpkinfest, a family-friendly festival held in East Park in the Northside. The event was organized by Citiparks Pittsburgh.

Pumpkins were the main theme, along with many hands-on activities, art and decoration contests, games. But I did see much more than orange veggies. 
That festival was another proof that Pittsburgh is the right place to be now, and will be the best place to be very soon.
The reason why I am saying this is hidden in the following photos, and I will explain it later in the post.

Look carefully at these photos, first: 


To me, the event was very important for many reasons, but the most important is that all the kids –from 1 to 15,16,17… everyone was playing with everyone else. There was no distinction in color or ethnicity: I had the impression the all the world was playing there, at the same time.
I think this is very important because the North Side is certainly not a simple neighborhood, and Pittsburgh itself is not a easy city, in some ways. I keep saying that there are still many things to fix here, but every day spent in Pittsburgh gives me hope for the future.
 The kids that in 2013 are playing together at the park, among pumpkins and goats, will be living and working together in 15-20 years from now. It is very likely that they will be doing that in a natural way, with no preconception, sincerely and happily, as they are doing now.

We currently keep seeing segregation in many cities and we read bad stories on the newspapers. This is hideous, but we have to face the problems of our society and try to fix them. Possibly starting from the youngest members because they are the future.
One of the principles of sustainability is to make sure that the next generations will be able to enjoy the same resources we are enjoying now, if not even more. We are responsible NOW for how well the next generations will be living.
We are finally taking care of our environment (even if we could definitely do more) but we should also think that the society as well has to be improved. We must consider how important is to make sure that the next generations will live in a cleaner world, and in a healthier society. To ensure this, we have to act now, with a steady process of raising awareness towards these themes. A city is made of people and places. We must be stewart of the environment AND of our community.

The Pumpkinfest was a great occasion for kids (and adults) to share together spaces and good times. That is a great way to raise awareness on many issues - there was plenty of stands by many community-based associations or groups involved in the care of the environment. 
I was very glad to see so many people and such a successful result. It was possible to play and learn more on many things: even how an ambulance works!
 (the dummy in the ambulance really looks like Silvio Berlusconi!)

I am glad to be in Pittsburgh and I am convinced that this city makes me a better person every day. 
I wish this could keep happening in the future, for an increasing number of people. Pittsburgh is a great lesson of "we can do it". 

So let's get inspired and let's carve our lives beautifully, as we would do with a pumpkin. And, why not, let's even be carved by the very youngest people, which are usually more reasonable than the adults...