It is the deep, generous part of August, the stretch where the evenings finally cool off enough to sit outside past dinner and the whole city seems to move down to the river.

The Pirates have the Mets in town all weekend, and around that a lot of the best stuff is free and outdoors: Penn Avenue throws its monthly art crawl, Bakery Square screens a movie on the lawn, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy brings the swing to Hartwood Acres for nothing on Sunday.

If you want weirder, there is roller skating and food trucks on the riverfront Friday, a 21+ night loose among the dinosaurs, and a bocce tournament turning the Acrisure plaza into a North Side block party. Wear sunscreen, pace yourself.

In today's What's On Pittsburgh:

Let's get to it. - Madison Johnson

⚾ The Pirates host the New York Mets at PNC Park all weekend, three games with the rivers and the skyline doing their usual thing beyond the outfield wall. First pitch is Friday at 6:40, with a Saturday game and a Sunday afternoon finale to follow.

💃 fireWALL Dance Theater premieres BEHIND THE WALL at the Greer Cabaret Theater downtown, a Friday and Saturday run of contemporary dance built around the walls we put up and the ones we finally step out from behind.

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Pittsburgh's longest-running art crawl takes over Penn Avenue in Garfield, studios and galleries from the 4800 to 5500 blocks open late with art, live music, and the good sidewalk crowd that a real First Friday brings out.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History hands the building over to grownups for a night, a drink in hand among the dinosaur hall and the gem room, no kids and zero field-trip energy.

Allegheny RiverTrail Park runs its First Friday food-truck night with a twist, bring your skates or rent a pair from Wicked Skatewear, roll it out to a DJ with Trace Brewing beer and a row of trucks handling dinner.

A daylong charity music festival takes over Market Square with UB40 featuring Ali Campbell headlining a reggae-and-rock bill, and the money raised going to Café Momentum and its work with justice-involved young people.

The Heinz History Center's Italian American Program throws its bocce tournament in the Acrisure Stadium plaza, part serious bracket and part North Side block party, with the food and the trash talk to match.

Squirrel Hill's Frick Environmental Center opens a free morning of unstructured outdoor play, the kind where kids build with sticks and mud and nobody hands them a screen.

Bellevue and Avalon host a neighborhood 5K and one-mile walk that keeps every dollar local, splitting the proceeds between a Bellevue nonprofit and the Northgate cross country team.

Bakery Square sets up a big screen in the courtyard for a free outdoor movie, complimentary popcorn included, so grab a blanket and stake out a patch of lawn before the light goes.

The swing revivalists behind that late-'90s big-band moment headline Hartwood Acres for free as part of the county summer series, with food trucks and two local breweries open well before the horns kick in.

The Midwest emo cornerstone plays the Roxian in McKees Rocks, and true to form the band hosts an afternoon group bike ride before the show for anyone who wants to earn the encore.

🛋️ Wayfair is opening its first Pennsylvania brick-and-mortar store in the Pittsburgh region, the online furniture giant's move into physical retail landing here.

🚆 Amtrak is adding a second daily Pennsylvanian round trip between Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City, launching later this year.

🦏 A Pittsburgh-area company, PixCams, built AI-driven cameras that watch African wildlife around the clock, helping rangers track black rhinos and spot poachers in real time.

🍺 City Paper's food column previews Barrel & Flow, the Black-brewed beer festival USA Today readers named one of the country's best, plus the return of Pittsburgh Restaurant Week.

🍕 A '90s-frozen Pizza Hut in Irwin is going viral for keeping its retro look intact, faded Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and New Kids on the Block murals and all.

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