‘I just had to see it’
Pittsburghers catch up with with Heinz History Center’s newest addition
On a gray Saturday morning in the Strip District, locals and tourists alike headed to the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Outside, on Smallman Street, Beth Gard, 49, struggled to snap a photo with the newly installed Heinz ketchup bottle.
“I’m originally from Pittsburgh, but I’m visiting from South Windsor, Conn.,” Ms. Gard said. “I read that they were moving the bottle so I had to come see it.”
Ms. Gard was interested because Heinz is an “iconic Pittsburgh brand,” she said. Growing up, it was the only ketchup her family used.
“When I think of Pittsburgh, I think of Heinz,” she said. “Now that the stadium is Acrisure, it’s different. But I’m handling it better than most Pittsburghers.”
The 7,000-pound, 35-foot tall bottle was installed Thursday at the corner of 12th and Smallman streets — near previously installed goal posts from Three Rivers Stadium.
The bottle was one of two that flanked each side of the scoreboard at Acrisure Stadium, then named Heinz Field, for two decades. The bottles would tilt as if pouring every time the Steelers advanced inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, a part of the field known as the “red zone.”
The bottles were removed last year after Kraft Heinz lost the naming rights to the North Shore stadium to Acrisure, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based fintech company. Since then, one of the bottles has been refurbished and returned to the stadium, where it is displayed outside Gate C, which is dedicated to Heinz as part of a five-year sponsorship deal.
SusanKamppi, 57, came down to the Strip District from Baldwin, specifically to see the bottle in person.
“From seeing it inside the stadium, I just had to see it for myself,” Ms. Kamppi said. “I thought it would be bigger; it seemed bigger in the stadium.”
Heinz was a staple in the Pittsburgh native’s household, Ms. Kamppi said.
“It was our food and it was always on our table,” she continued. “You know you’re from Pittsburgh when you had Heinz.”
Draped in Steelers gear, Donna Washabaugh and Stan Bureck made their way toward the bottle.
Ms. Washabaugh, 63, and Mr. Bureck, 67, began to take photos to send to their children who live out of state — “They couldn’t be here so we’re bringing Pittsburgh to them,” Ms. Washabaugh said.
“We’re Pittsburgh all the way,” she continued. “Heinz 57 was loved in our house and was always on our table. I just had to get a photo.”
The bottle is actually the second to be collected by the history center, according to officials.
A large HEINZ sign topped by a pouring ketchup bottle sits atop one side of the center’s building.
TerriNardi, 65, asked her family totake a photo. As Ms. Nardi turned towardthe bottle, she decided to do adifferent pose than most — performinga headstand beneath the bottle.
“It’sgood ketchup and it’s Pittsburgh,”said the Baden resident, who washeaded to the Steelers game later inthe day. “Seeing this bottle was definitelyon our to-do list.”
Ms. Nardi’s nephew, Ray Lasko, 53, came back to Pittsburgh from Cleveland for the holidays. Mr. Lasko grew up in Ambridge and is glad the bottle has been given a new life.
“It’s good that they’re preserving it,“he said. ”If they hadn’t done this, we would have put it in our house.”