{"id":1992,"date":"2013-03-06T13:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:40:32","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:40:32","slug":"why-there-are-no-more-rock-concerts-in-point-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/06\/why-there-are-no-more-rock-concerts-in-point-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Why there are no more rock concerts in Point State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bridge <\/a>
Bridge Jumpers (Photo by Anthony Kaminski, Pittsburgh Press). <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\""100,000 <\/a>
“100,000 Pack Point on Holiday” (The Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 3, 1974) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The story behind these photographs of bridge jumpers could have had a happy ending. It was tragic instead.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 2, 1974, a rock concert sponsored by radio station WKTQ brought 100,000 people to the Point State Park, Downtown.<\/p>\n

Thousands of rock fans stood on the Allegheny shore waiting for the start of the free barge performance. Pirates fans joined the crowd later, after a Labor Day double-header defeat of the Phillies.<\/p>\n

Because of the Pirates game, which drew 45,181 people to Three Rivers Stadium, and the rock concert traffic, Downtown descended into madness. It was \u201csnarled for hours as many motorists, unable to find parking places, parked where they stopped. Cars were parked on the Fort Duquesne Bridge, and on sidewalks, in alleys and bridge ramps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the concert was scheduled to start, dozens of fans put on a show of their own. They started jumping from the bridges into the river, some from the Fort Duquesne Bridge.<\/p>\n

Dave Buzarelli, 21, was one of them. He jumped into the Allegheny River, came to the surface once and then slipped beneath the water. He was presumed drowned. Later, his swimming companion said that Buzarelli screamed for help but no one noticed him.<\/p>\n

“The more than 60,000 who jammed and littered the park, however, were oblivious to the apparent drowning,” The Pittsburgh Press reported.<\/p>\n

The concert was termed \u201ca disaster.\u201d\u00a0 A representative of the Allegheny Conference and Community said \u201cthere will be no more rock concerts in Point State Park.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The story behind these photographs of bridge jumpers could have had a happy ending. It was tragic instead.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesWhy there are no more rock concerts in Point State Park<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[963,1024,972,986,1040,1244,1047,1048],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mj832rdWVi1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1627&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/12\/05\/dec-10-1969-three-rivers-stadiums-steel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":0},"title":"Three Rivers Stadium\u2019s steel","date":"December 5, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On the materials that went into 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