Can Downtown’s glorious noisemakers get along?

Nobody — nobody — wants Pittsburgh to have less stuff going on. The weekend’s glorious weather brought out more than 40,000 marathoners and their families, with full restaurants, soldout events and a marvelous buzz all over the city.

One of my favorite moments will always be the September 2013 night when the giant rubber duck floated to the Point. With gawkers, galas, a gallery crawl and shows, Downtown traffic came to a complete standstill, but no one cared.

Passengers simply got out of gridlocked taxis and cars, in ball gowns or bluejeans, and strolled to their destinations, pausing to mingle and marvel along the way. Like the ad says, priceless.

But these mash-ups don’t always spread happiness. An apparently chronic lack of coordinated planning occasionally leads to costly clashes. In a city that’s truly world class in so many ways, it’s dismaying these failures persist.

Case in point: On April 18, the recently Grammy-nominated Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was performing Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” when, during the masterpiece’s final tragic moments, a lengthy fireworks program erupted at nearby PNC Park.

Some people actually began laughing — not the effect the doomed Tchaikovsky was after. Out-of-towners and foreign guests looked at one another, baffled.

Did I mention that the PSO was recording the concert live?

That’s an expensive fail. But it kind of robs the audience, too, when more than 2,600 patrons pay anywhere from $25 to $105 for the pleasure of being able to hear live music.

Necessary disclaimer: My husband plays in the symphony — but it’s not just the PSO that suffers, and it’s not just the Pirates’ “fireworks nights” creating conflict.

I’ve seen this happen at all kinds of shows — though it seems individual organizations sometimes work out what they can.

The Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, which produces the annual gay pride festival, had to negotiate with the Pirates a few years ago after fireworks night interrupted their concert at the Point.

“It happened once,” said Chris Bryan, Delta’s marketing and development director. “[The Pirates] have always been very gracious in working with us.”

But the June 14 gay pride march will end at the intersection of Sixth Street and Liberty Avenue, where each marching band will take its turn on the bandstand — right next to Heinz Hall, during the PSO’s season finale.

I know firsthand that this is not a peaceful coexistence. The bands’ playing bleeds into the hall, and no matter how fine the day, few concertgoers use the outdoor plaza.

In all of Downtown, there’s no better spot for a march to end? Really?

When my community group filed an application last month with the city’s Special Events office for the Allegheny Commons flea market, ace staffer Nadine Brnilovich quickly consulted the permits already issued for that spot on any Saturdays in 2015 and told me to contact their holders to see if we could co-exist.

That impressive management for one corner of the North Side’s central park is needed for all of Downtown.

That’s why the Peduto administration is looking to hire a special events manager, assistant communications manager Katie O’Malley said, “to coordinate the event experience for everybody.”

“Having a lot of events [in] Downtown is a good problem to have,” she said. “But the city has a small footprint — everything’s right on top of each other. There’s definitely a need — we acknowledge that.”

Ms. O’Malley and PSO senior vice president Michael Bielski both noted that cultural venues must plan a couple of years in advance. Booking stars and productions, choosing or commissioning new pieces and plays — these are very complicated schedules with lots of moving parts.

“There are some things we’re not going to be able to prevent,” Ms. O’Malley said.

And the quiet-seeking cultural venues can’t expect the Pirates “to ask 30,000 people to wait for our concert to be over,” Mr. Bielski said.

Like Downtown churches, cultural venues accommodate other events: The PSO, for instance, does not schedule anything to conflict with races or parades, he noted.

Mr. Bielski would seek to “protect recording weekends first, then classical concerts in general. … Next year we’re on tour from May 16 to June 5. Can the fireworks and big events [occur] while we’re gone?”

Pirates spokesman Brian Warecki said the team and the PSO are already comparing calendars to avoid future conflicts and — even cooler — are collaborating on a “sensory friendly concert” designed for people with autism.

That’s impressive progress, but this Saturday is another Pirates fireworks night. Simultaneously, “Othello” is at the O’Reilly Theater, George Benson plays the Benedum, the Byham hosts “The Chinese Nutcracker” and the PSO plays Disney’s “Fantasia.”

With luck — if not coordination — it will all be music to everyone’s ears.