Pittsburgh’s Color Park is a very unique site – a colorful, vibrant, and expressive area nestled in the South Side segment of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. It is known by most locals and visitors to Pittsburgh as a funky and photographable place, with the Downtown views making a beautiful background to the bright graffiti art.
How did this Park come to be?
The Color Park was created in the spring of 2017, after Pittsburgh artist Baron Batch and Friends of the Riverfront collaborated to create it. Prior to the creation of the Park, Batch had been tagging parts of the Trail with graffiti as part of a larger art project, including where the Color Park now exists. His artwork was reported to the police as vandalism, and he experienced significant legal trouble as a result. But inspired by the idea of transforming a dull, industrial section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail into something more inviting and artistic, Friends of the Riverfront invited Baron Batch to help design this Park.
Batch invited members of the community to come and lay down layers of bright paint, bringing a gray area to life with color. He then encouraged artists of all kinds – from expert graffiti artists to novices – to add their art to the Park. Regular refreshes of the park were planned in order to give new artists a fresh canvas for their work. However, due to scheduling conflicts and COVID-19, the first refresh did not occur until 2023. It is still planned that this refresh event will occur each year.
Color Park remains a place that encourages expression and art. To learn more about the Color Park, take a look at our FAQs.
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