Pittsburgh's holiday season is shaped by its three-rivers geography, the lighting of downtown's Light Up Night, and the long tradition of holiday market programming at Market Square. The compact downtown, built around the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, gives the city's seasonal events an unusually walkable layout.

• Light Up Night: The kickoff of Pittsburgh's holiday season turns the downtown into a single coordinated event with the lighting of all major buildings, the official Christmas tree, and fireworks over the rivers.
• Peoples Gas Holiday Market: The Market Square wooden-chalet market runs throughout the season in an authentic European Christkindlmarkt format.
• PPG Place Ice Rink: The downtown ice rink in front of the city's glass-skyscraper landmark is one of the most distinctive urban skating venues in the country.
• Eastern European Holiday Table: Pittsburgh's Polish, Slovak, and Croatian heritage shapes a distinctive Christmas Eve tradition of pierogi, kolbassi, and the meatless Wigilia supper, with the Strip District's bakeries and neighborhood ethnic clubs anchoring the season.