The Official Pirates Breakdown Guide to PirateFest 2016

It’s that magical time of year where Pittsburgh Pirates’ fans crowd the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. It’s PirateFest 2016!

I’ve been attending PirateFest since I was 10-years-old and in that time I’ve seen it grow from a small event to get some autographs to a weekend convention inside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. In my nearly twenty years of attending PirateFest, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to maximize the fun and make the best use of your time. Today I am going to give you a list of what to do and what not to do at PirateFest.

Do:

Q&A:

Go to every question and answer session. The Ask Pirates’ Management Q&A will be especially interesting this season with the Andrew McCutchen trade rumors. In 2015, the Neil Walker trade made the Q&A very tense as fans really grilled Neal Huntington about the Jon Niese return. The fans weren’t sold on Niese and his performance proved them right as he was traded midseason. That pretty much confirms it was a bad trade.

The face of the franchise is much more popular than a solid second baseman and the mere rumors of a McCutchen trade lit a fire under the fanbase. Huntington and Frank Coonelly will be torn apart by the fans and that’s probably well deserved.

Merchandise:

I know right now many people aren’t super thrilled with the direction of the Pirates. However, there are still plenty of people that will likely be asking for Pirates swag for Christmas. PirateFest gives you a great chance to check out a lot of new merchandise. Jerseys, caps, t-shirts and more are available. Plus most of the stuff is discounted compared to when it’s sitting inside the PNC Park Clubhouse Store.

For serious collectors, there’s also a great selection of game-used jerseys and other items. You can even buy lineup cards for particular games from the last couple seasons. Outside of PNC Park’s auction area, this is the best chance to buy game-used memorabilia.

Don’t:

Autograph Lines:

This is 100 percent personal preference, but in my opinion, the wait for autographs make them not worth it. For the more marquee players, you could be waiting upwards of one to two hours. You end up missing a huge chunk of the event and experience while you’re waiting in line. Autographs are wonderful and I see their appeal, but I think there are better and more efficient ways to get them. PirateFest is a fun event to celebrate the Pittsburgh Pirates, it should not be spent waiting in line.

I understand that for many, PirateFest is simply a time to get their favorite player’s autograph and that is awesome. If you want to do that, you should. PirateFest is whatever you want it to be. I just believe that time spent waiting in line is time spent missing the many fun and unique events that PirateFest has to offer.

Pay for Convention Center Food:

The Convention Center food is fine for a quick snack or for people with way too many young children to realistically walk the streets of downtown, but if you’re alone or with a few people, there is zero reason to pay for food there.

Weather pending, take a walk and explore downtown, you will find some fantastic food that is more than worth the money. One of my highest recommendations is Tako. It features some of the best and most unique Mexican food in the entire city. It can be a bit crowded at times, so I’d call ahead and see how busy they are. You can also take a seat the bar and access their entire incredible menu. I cannot recommend Tako enough.

My other recommendation is Proper Brick Oven & Tap Room. A truly great pizza place that has some of the most delicious and interesting pizza selections. It’s also in close proximity to the Convention Center, so you can walk there, grab an incredible pizza and get back to PirateFest in a relatively quick amount of time.

The only thing that matters is you have fun and do whatever you think is best. PirateFest is going to be fun, no matter how you decide to spend your time. I like to think of myself as a PirateFest expert. I’m at least a PirateFest veteran for sure. Do whatever you think is best and have fun.

If you see a bald, bearded man in a Pirates Breakdown polo, walking around, it’s me and please feel free to say hello! I would love to meet as many of you as possible. That’s the only thing about PirateFest that matters. You get to be around a large group of fellow Pirate fans for likely the last time before Opening Day. So savor the moment because it’s going to be a long and probably cold winter without baseball.

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