River Revel Brings the Great River Creature Parade to Riverlife’s Last Splash

Pittsburgh, PA — Puppets, musicians, artists, families, and river creatures of all shapes and sizes will come together on Pittsburgh’s riverfront on Saturday, October 10, when River Revel, featuring the Great River Creature Parade, joins Riverlife’s Last Splash at Shore Thing.

Created by Pittsburgh artist Cheryl Capezzuti in collaboration with Shiftworks Community + Public Arts, Riverlife, the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, and community participants, River Revel celebrates Pittsburgh’s rivers through puppetry, pageantry, music, making, and collective participation. The free event runs from 12:00 to 5:00 PM, with the Great River Creature Parade beginning at 3:00 PM. For more information, visit https://shorething.riverlifepgh.org/event/the-last-splash/.

The celebration culminates several weeks of collaborative making, connecting neighborhood-based creative experiences with Pittsburgh’s riverfront. In September, Capezzuti and fellow performers introduced Waldorf School families and visitors to River Revel through puppets, music, and informal processions. During the October 2 Penn Avenue Unblurred event, participants returned to Waldorf to create a large, multi-person river creature puppet for the parade.

On October 6, the project moved to the river, where community members gathered with Capezzuti at Shore Thing to create a collection of backpack-style river creature puppets. On Saturday, those creations will join the Waldorf puppet, creatures from Capezzuti’s collection, musicians, performers, and community participants at The Last Splash.

Everyone Is Invited to Join the Parade

At The Last Splash, visitors are invited not only to watch River Revel, but to become part of it. Participants can try on puppets, create their own river creatures, meet musicians and puppeteers, and join the Great River Creature Parade, followed by a puppet dance party along the riverfront.

No previous participation or puppetry experience is needed. Anyone can arrive on October 10 and join the celebration.

Building Connections from Penn Avenue to the Riverfront

“River Revel grew from a question: What does it mean to live in a river city when the rivers are not part of your everyday life?” said Sallyann Kluz, Executive Director of Shiftworks and a former board member of Riverlife. “We are interested in how artists and artmaking can build connections between communities and the rivers that so strongly define Pittsburgh.”

Rather than creating a single riverfront event, the partners developed opportunities for people to encounter River Revel in different places and in different ways—beginning along Penn Avenue and ultimately bringing the making, the people, and the puppets together at the river.

The 2026 pilot is also laying the groundwork for a larger vision: a season of neighborhood-based creative activities culminating each year in the Great River Creature Parade.

“We imagine River Revel growing into a truly community-led tradition,” said Kluz. “This pilot gives us a chance to test the idea at a small scale and learn what it can become. Cheryl is a remarkable community-builder, and her work shows how something playful and joyful can bring people together around a shared place.”

River Revel is funded in part by the City of Pittsburgh’s American Rescue Plan Act arts programming funds, with additional support from Riverlife and Shiftworks Community + Public Arts.

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About Cheryl Capezzuti

Artist Cheryl Capezzuti has used found, discarded and donated materials for more than 20 years to make puppets for parades, pageants, traditional and experimental theater, installations, gallery exhibitions, children’s programming and commissioned work. In addition to her Puppets for Pittsburgh project, Capezzuti is also an exhibiting sculptor, a master teaching artist, a commissioned puppetmaker, a maker of small theatrical works and a giant puppet fitness enthusiast. She is on the Visual Arts Faculty at Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh. For more information, visit https://studiocapezzuti.com.