The upcoming winter weather that could dump a foot of snow in Pittsburgh has caused a major shift for the Pirates’ fan fest this weekend.
PiratesFest 2026 is taking place at the David L. Lawrence Convention
Center on Saturday, but will be without many key faces on a potentially promising roster.
The Pirates announced on Friday that due to the expected severe weather, many parts of the fan fest have changed.
“Due to the winter storm threatening much of the country, Pirates player appearances and PiratesFest event times will change,” the Pirates announced on Twitter. “Several originally scheduled players are unfortunately unable to make it to and from Pittsburgh.”
The Pirates announced that Bryan Reynolds, Brandon Lowe, Dennis Santana, Joey Bart, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Ryan O’Hearn will not be in attendance.
All six players were scheduled to take part in autograph sessions, which quickly sold out. The Pirates are refunding all the donations that were made to Pirates Charities in order to secure the autograph tickets, but the autograph sessions will still occur.
“All autograph sessions will still take place as planned, with current Pirates players and alumni participating in each session,” the Pirates posted. “However, several sessions will not have the originally scheduled participants. All new session participants will be announced, and fans will be updated as information becomes available.”
Pirates fans will miss out on meeting key offseason acquisitions like Lowe, O’Hearn, and Garcia. The Pirates haven’t announced if other players not scheduled to participate in autograph sessions will not be in attendance Saturday.
“Donations for ALL autograph sessions will be fully refunded. Accounts will be automatically refunded in the coming days. Fans who donated for an autograph session are asked to keep their tickets to still take part in their scheduled autograph session time. Tickets will not be cancelled, but donations will be refunded.”
The Pirates stressed that the announced decisions were made after consulting with “trusted area weather services” and out of an abundance of caution for players, fans, staff members, and others.
Season ticket holders are able to enter the gates at 9 a.m., while the general public can scan their ticket at 10 a.m. The Pirates moved up the end time of PiratesFest by one hour and will end at 5 p.m.
Ace Paul Skenes will miss PiratesFest due to the Cy Young Award dinner, becoming the first Pirate to win the Cy Young since Doug Drabek in 1990. Konnor Griffin also not be in attendance as he is on his honeymoon this week, his mom posted on Twitter.
PiratesFest invites fans to get involved with talking to players, autographs, walking around the facility, taking part in Q&A’s, and begins the unofficial start of baseball season in Pittsburgh.
