Pickle pandemonium is back for its 11th year, serving up gherkin-inspired eats, vendors, contests and the return of a bucking pickle today through Sunday.

The big picture: Dozens of local vendors are serving pickle beer, spirits, fudge, egg rolls, ice cream, cotton candy, cupcakes, pizza, meatballs, pierogies and just about every off-the-rails pickle creation imaginable — from Eat'n Park Smiley cookies and Turner's Pickled Tea to The Brinery at Two Acre Farm's root beer pickle.

• There's handmade art, live music, and games.
• Pickle riding on a custom-built mechanical pickle returns this year. Buy tickets ($12) at its Market Square location. Must be 18+ to ride.

What's new: Pickleball joins the festival lineup at Arts Landing with tournaments, beginner demos and open play.

Zoom out: The Plaza at North Shore's Pickle! At the Silent Disco is Saturday, with pickle-inspired food and drink specials. Tickets are $18.

• Find other pickle dishes and items at Taste of Picklesburgh restaurants and retailers.
• Head to the South Side Street Fest's 21+ pickle after-party.

If you go: Picklesburgh spans two bridges (Warhol and Clemente), Allegheny Riverfront Park, Market Square, Arts Landing, Sixth Street and PPG Plaza and beyond. Map here

• Hours: Noon-10pm Thursday-Saturday; Noon-6pm Sunday.
• Free to attend.

Bobbing for pickles

The next class of honorees for Pittsburgh's Walk of Fame is set, spanning arts, science, sports and business.

The big picture: The Walk of Fame honors people with ties to Southwestern Pennsylvania who helped shape American culture. Each inductee will be immortalized with a bronze star embedded at the Strip District Terminal sidewalk along Smallman Street.

The 2026 Walk of Fame inductees include:

• Charles "Teenie" Harris, the prolific photographer who documented Pittsburgh's Black community for five decades.
• Franco Harris, the Hall of Famer who won four Super Bowls with the Steelers and cemented his legacy with the "Immaculate Reception" play.
• Actress, singer and Westmoreland County native Shirley Jones, who starred in "Oklahoma!" and later as Shirley Partridge in "The Partridge Family."
• Mario Lemieux, Penguins Hall of Famer who spent his entire NHL career in Pittsburgh and led the franchise to two Stanley Cups.
• George Westinghouse, the inventor, engineer and industrialist who revolutionized the railroad industry and electric power, and founded Westinghouse Electric Company, still based in Cranberry.

Flashback: Last year's inaugural Walk of Fame class honored regional luminaries like Michael Keaton, Andrew Carnegie, Fred Rogers, August Wilson, Rachel Carson and Jonas Salk.

What's next: Lemieux will appear at the free public induction ceremony Oct. 13 at The Terminal.

Five more inductees

🤰Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato is pregnant with her first child, a boy.

• The timing, she said, was fortuitous as her administration champions a countywide paid parental leave proposal.
• "I will be so disappointed in myself as the first county executive who will give birth in office to not be able to provide parental leave for other families who are struggling every day." (WESA)

⚡Renewable energy company DESRI plans to turn Beaver County's former Little Blue Run — once the nation's largest coal ash disposal site — into a 1-gigawatt battery storage installation, roughly the capacity of a new nuclear reactor. (🔐 Post-Gazette)

🎤 Late night host Seth Meyers is bringing his stand-up act to Citizens Live at The Wylie on Dec. 12. Tickets are on sale today at 10am.

One of the region's fastest-growing robotics companies, Gecko Robotics, is expanding into manufacturing with a move to Sewickley.

Why it matters: Pittsburgh's unicorn companies are looking to grow and help transition the regional economy to more focus on high-tech companies.

The big picture: Gecko develops robots that climb and inspect infrastructure — such as power plants, aircraft carriers and submarines — and reduce costs by saving workers from having to perform inspections themselves.

Driving the news: Gecko announced yesterday at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in Carlisle that it will open a new 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility soon.

Zoom in: The new facility will serve as a manufacturing and integration hub where Gecko's robotics and its Cantilever software will help defense manufacturers build components more efficiently.

Between the lines: Gecko CEO Jake Loosararian has said local tech companies need to expand locally instead of decamping for bigger tech markets on the coasts.

What's next: Gecko spokesperson Steve Bourner tells Axios the Sewickley facility will be open within weeks.

What they're saying

Once you've had your fill of pickles...

Friday

Grab a buttery ear of fresh-roasted sweet corn, sip local cider and kick back at Soergel Orchards' Corn Roast.

• 📍 2573 Brandt School Road, Wexford
• ⏰ 5pm-7pm
• 💰 Free!

Explore "Pennsylvania's Roswell" at the Kecksburg UFO Festival, featuring guest speakers, live music, vendors, food, a parade and more through Sunday.

• 📍 5128 Water St., Westmoreland County
• ⏰ 6pm-11pm Friday; Noon-11pm Saturday (parade at 2pm); Noon-5pm Sunday
• 💰 Free!

Saturday

Celebrate the Monongahela River's folklore at Mystery on the Mon, an all-ages festival packed with live music, wrestling, puppets, short films, and art at the Glitterbox Theater.

• 📍210 W. 8th Ave., West Homestead
• ⏰ 1pm-9pm
• 💰 Free! Reserve tickets here

Sample from regional wineries and distilleries while enjoying live music, food trucks and lawn games at the Allegheny County Wine & Spirits Festival.

• 📍 Hartwood Acres Park Mansion Lawn, 200 Hartwood Acres, Indiana Township
• ⏰ Two sessions: 2pm-5pm and 5:30pm-8:30pm
• 💰 Tickets are $35. Must be 21+

Sunday

Pick your own bouquet and wander fields of sunflowers, snapdragons, zinnias and other blooms at Freedom Farms Wildflower Festival Friday-Sunday.

• 📍 434 Overbrook Road, Valencia, Butler County
• ⏰ Friday 4pm-8pm; Saturday 9am-5pm; Sunday 9am-5pm
• 💰 $20