Night Nation Run draws 8,000 for running music festival

You had to see it to believe it. Or, at least hear it. Which you could, were you within a three-mile radius of Stage AE on July 22.

Because it wasn't just the electronic dance music reverberating through the air, causing the sidewalks to pulse under your feet. It was the mass who showed up—millennials, the older and wiser, those still occupying strollers, and everything in between—who not only caused traffic to stop, but inspired a wall of curious onlookers along N. Shore Drive. iPhones in the air, waiting to capture the moment when 8,000 people shot out from the starting line under fog machines, spot lights, and enough energy to short circuit the grid as Night Nation Run officially unleashed itself on the city.

Night Nation Run

Thousands turn out for the Night Nation Run on Saturday at Stage AE on the North Shore.

"Pittsburgh has some of the best crowds we get," said co-founder Brian Graham. "They're rowdy but in a good way."

Holding court as the world's first running music festival, it averages around 30 pit stops across the United States, Canada, and Australia with future locations scheduled for Japan, UAE, Brazil, and South Africa. The "musical voyage" is comprised of a 5k course that snakes its way through said city, a route illuminated with DJ stages and vibrant flashes of neon face and body paint.

"It's the collaboration with the community and being a part of something bigger," said Sarah Vannatta, who arrived with her husband Mike and teenagers Sean and Emily.

The "bigger" is the festival's support of charity of SU2C, Stand Up To Cancer, which participants can support via merchandise purchases or fundraising efforts.

"My dad passed away from melanoma, so this was the perfect match," said DJ Oso Grande as he and DJ Chris Schambacher watched headliner and Australian DJ Brooke Evers whip the frenzy.

"Out of 10… 20!" she said of the crowd's energy levels. "Pittsburgh loves to rage."