ITEM: Pittsburgh Seen Returning Birthday Gifts

Our intrepid reader Elise emailed us to say that she saw the Pittsburgh Region down at Kaufmann's Macy's returning a bunch of gifts from its 250th Birthday Party. We called up Macy's and, while they couldn't confirm that Pittsburgh had returned any gifts, they did say that they got a one-of-a-kind, slightly used Festival of Lights in stock. According to Elise, the Region managed to exchange several gifts for store credit and then wandered away to look at shoes.

We called around and friends of the Pittsburgh Region say that it was appreciative of all the attention, and enjoyed the celebration, but was by and large disappointed by the gifts that it received. One of Pittsburgh's closest friends "Bill," who agreed to talk to us if we only used his first name, said that the Region liked the picture book of signs (which it regarded as "kitschy"), the renovation of Point State Park, and the tickets for "East of Liberty," but most of the other gifts were not as well received.

"We went out for coffee a couple weeks ago, and Pittsburgh said to me, 'Bill, what am I going to do with a reenactment of Washington's Encampment? I mean it's nice and all, but where the [expletive deleted] am I going to put it?' I know the Region didn't want to be rude and turn down the generous gift, but it already has about half a dozen reenactments that it doesn't even use." Still, "Bill" or "Mr. F." as we call him, tells us that Pittsburgh felt that the gifts were better than the homemade clown sweater that it received for it's 225th birthday from its Aunt.

Friends say that the Region had similar sentiments about items like the Jay Bee Model Circus and The WPA History of the Negro in Pittsburgh, worrying that "every time people come over to visit, [the Region is] going to have to leave them out in a conspicuous place so they think [the Region] likes the gifts." Pittsburgh complained about Mellon (nee Civic) Arena for years as it was "a gift," and leaped at the chance to get rid of it the first opportunity it got.

"Bill" thinks that Pittsburgh may try to re-gift several of the items to Cincinnati, who is celebrating its 190th birthday in 2009. For last year's celebration, Cincinnati only gave Pittsburgh a $5 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble, which Pittsburgh called "absolutely [expletive deleted]-ing useless."