Pittsburgh's Rivers of Fire

09/09/2026

🌶️🔥 WE’RE EXCITED TO WELCOME FRESH THYME MARKET AS A SPONSOR OF THE 2026 PITTSBURGH’S RIVERS OF FIRE! 🔥🌶️

We are incredibly grateful to have Fresh Thyme Market joining us as a sponsor for this year’s festival!

Fresh Thyme is all about bringing people closer to good food — with a focus on fresh, natural and organic products and a commitment to supporting local farmers, brands and businesses whenever possible. That makes them a pretty great fit for a festival built around small-batch makers, bold flavors and celebrating the people behind the products. 🌶️❤️

And if you shop at Fresh Thyme here in the Pittsburgh area, you already know they make a point of putting local products on their shelves alongside national brands.

Support from sponsors like Fresh Thyme helps us continue to grow Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire and bring together independent hot sauce makers from Pittsburgh and around the country for a weekend devoted to great food, creativity, community — and, of course, plenty of HEAT! 🔥

A huge THANK YOU to Fresh Thyme Market Fresh Thyme Market for supporting this year’s festival and helping us make year two of Rivers of Fire even bigger!

09/09/2026

🔥🌶️ BUY A TICKET. GET A CHANCE TO WIN A HOT GRL BOX!🌶️🔥

Planning to join us for Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire this year? Here’s a little extra incentive to grab your ticket early!

Purchase your festival ticket between September 10 and September 17, and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win a HOT GRL BOX— a fiery 3-pack featuring hot sauces from three different female hot sauce makers! 🔥💃🌶️
Includes sauces from:
Is It Spicy? Sauce Co.
Tinkertown Provisions
Hammajack Hot Pepper Sauce
(All 3 WILL be at Rivers of Fire this October!)

We’ll randomly select THREE WINNERS, and each winner will receive their own HOT GRL BOX!

HOW TO ENTER:
Purchase a ticket to Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire between Sept. 10–17, 2026. That’s it! Your ticket purchase automatically enters you in the drawing.

🔥 3 random winners
🌶️ 3 HOT GRL BOXes up for grabs
🔥 3 sauces in each box — each from a different female hot sauce maker

And remember — buying your ticket in advance also saves you $5 off the October 10 ticket price!

📅 Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire
🔥 Friday, October 9 — FREE Preview Night
🌶️ Saturday, October 10 — Main Festival
📍 Velum Fermentation | Pittsburgh’s South Side

🎟️ GET YOUR TICKETS:
PittsburghsRiversOfFire.com

Already bought your 2026 ticket? Don’t worry — anyone who purchased before September 10 will also be included in the drawing.

09/07/2026

Going for more awards!

We have expanded our entries into a few more hot sauce competitions for 2026. We are looking to share our sauce with some more people, and to add to the collection of accolades.

Pittsburgh Rivers of Fire
Blaze of Glory by Blaze for the Brave
The International Flavor Awards
The Scovies

We may still find a few more to toss our name into the ring.

As always we will for sure be returning to Old Boney Mountain Hot Summer Nights!

09/04/2026

Fermentation fans, THIS one is for you! 🌶️🫙🔥

We’re excited to welcome local Community Cultures to Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire!  Community Cultures encourages and empowers people to embrace fermented products as an exciting way to explore health, creativity, and our relationship with food.  Owner, Trevor Ring, brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the craft, and he regularly teaches local classes about the history, ingredients and processes for preparing various fermented products.

And they aren’t just coming to talk about fermentation! Community Cultures will be bringing some truly unique fermented products from spicy sodas (fermented with water kefir) to fiery fermented veggies, for you to taste and purchase at the festival. 

This is your chance to discover flavors and fermented creations you may not find anywhere else, chat with Trevor, and maybe take home something delicious
and unexpected!

Come for the hot sauce, stay for the fun, and leave with something unique and fermented! 🌶️🫙🔥

08/28/2026

THE RESULTS ARE IN!!!

OK, so we actually had 33 votes on this story which was surprising to me AND just happens to me my favorite number! ☺️ Therefore I am going to take that as a sign that our “best hot sauce on pierogi” competition at this year’s Rivers of Fire is going to be as EPIC as I expect it to be!!!! (make sure you get there to vote! Voting will be on Friday, October 9, 5 to 9 PM and Saturday, October 10, noon to 3 PM)

For those who responded “with hot sauce”, I have great news: on October 9, 5 to 9 PM and October 10 noon to 3 PM you’ll be able to sample and vote on the best hot sauce paired with pierogi!

For those who responded “with no hot sauce”, I have great news for you: at the same times and even beyond 3 PM on October 10, you can purchase handmade pierogi from a local Ukrainian church at our festival! No hot sauce required! (but there will be SOME filled with some jalapeño!)

For those who responded “ that’s not enough hot sauce!” I have EXCELLENT news for you: you can vote for hot sauces in four different categories on Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10 AND you can sample hot sauces from 22 different hot sauce makers ON Oct 10! 😳😳😳. Put as much sauce on your pierogi as you desire!
🥟🔥🌶️🥟🔥🌶️🥟🔥🌶️🥟🔥🌶️🥟🔥🌶️🥟🔥🌶️

08/28/2026

We’re incredibly grateful to Backroads Pepper Company for helping make Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire even hotter this year! 🌶️🔥

Based in Imperial, PA, just west of Pittsburgh, Backroads Pepper Company is a newer local hot sauce maker joining us as a vendor for the first time this year — and we’re thrilled to have them at the festival! But they graciously offered to be an even bigger part of Rivers of Fire by becoming a sponsor. ❤️

Thanks to their generous sponsorship, we’ll be bringing live music from local musician Skylar Scholl to perform for part of our FREE Friday night “warm up” event at Velum Fermentation! 🎶🔥

Skylar was an original member of the local band The Roof (who I enjoyed watching in person many times!) and we can’t wait to have him help us kick off our festival with some live music.

A huge thank you to Backroads Pepper Company for supporting Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire, the local craft food community, and the small businesses that make this festival so special.

We can’t wait to welcome Backroads to the festival for the first time — and we’re even more grateful that they chose to help make the weekend bigger and better for everyone! 🌶️❤️🔥

08/25/2026

Let's GOOOOO Dean!!!

Let's cheer on last year's Pittsburgh's Rivers of Fire, League Of Fire Hot Sauce & Hot Pepper eating contest, Champion, Dean Leverette!!!

On 29 August, Dean will be representing the Americas, competing for the INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP BELT!!

See details in the League Of Fire post!

🔥🇺🇸 THE AMERICAS CHAMPION IS HEADING TO RIETI! 🇺🇸🔥

The lanyard IDs are being prepared and the international cast is coming together for our 3rd Intercontinental Title Belt Match, taking place at the incredible Fiera Mondiale del Peperoncino in Rieti, Italy, on 29 August 2026! 🌶️🏆🌍

And representing the Americas is a man who has already earned one of the biggest titles in League of Fire...

🇺🇸🏆🔥 AMERICAS CHAMPION - DEAN LEVERETT! 🔥🏆🇺🇸

Dean arrives in Italy carrying the Americas Championship Belt having won it at Blaze for the Brave in 2025 and representing not only the USA, but the entire Americas region on the Intercontinental stage. 🌎🔥

He has already proven that he can conquer a championship field by previosuly winning the Lake Erie Belt at Harvest912 Pepper Palooza and Pittsburgh Belt at Pittsburgh's Rivers of Fire as well but now the challenge goes GLOBAL.

On 29 August, some of the toughest chilli-eaters from around the world will come together to battle for one of League of Fire’s most prestigious prizes:

🌍🏆 THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP BELT! 🏆🌍

Standing across the table will be champions and elite competitors from across the world, including reigning Intercontinental Champion and European Champion Giancarlo Gasparotto on home soil. 🇮🇹🔥

But Dean isn't travelling all the way from America to Italy just to make up the numbers...

He'll be coming for that Belt. 😈🏆🔥

Can the Americas Champion add the Intercontinental Championship to his collection and take the Belt back across the Atlantic? 🇺🇸🌍🏆

All will be decided in Rieti.

🔥 DEAN LEVERETT - AMERICAS CHAMPION 2025 (Lake Erie 2024, Pittsburgh 2025)
🌎 REPRESENTING THE AMERICAS.
🏆 COMING FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE.

RIETI... GET READY! 🇮🇹🌶️🔥

Fiera Mondiale del Peperoncino
Conjured Vaporz
UK Chilli Queen
Arturo Rencricca

08/25/2026

🔥🌶️ New Vendor Shout Out! Florida heat is making its way to Pittsburgh! 🌴🔥🌶️

We’re thrilled to welcome Andre The Farmer to Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire for his FIRST appearance at the festival — all the way from Florida!

Andre is a home food forester, gardener, educator and social media personality who has built a huge following by showing people how they can grow their own food and create a more sustainable relationship with what they eat. 🌱🌶️

His passion for teaching goes far beyond gardening tips. Andre encourages people to “dig deeper” into where their food comes from and how they can grow it themselves — even with limited space and without a lot of fancy equipment.

And of course, he’s bringing his Sweet & Spicy Pepper Sauce, which he originally created from peppers and produce grown in his own garden. Inspired in part by his Bajan and Grenadian roots, his sauce comes in both HOT and NOT SO HOT versions.

We absolutely love what Andre is doing, and we can’t wait for Pittsburgh to meet him!

Come meet Andre the Farmer & try his pepper sauces at Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire on October 10 at Velum Fermentation!”

08/24/2026

🌶️ 🔥We’re thrilled to WELCOME BACK Lendora’s Habanero Hot Sauce to Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire this year!
Created in memory of Lendora Dale, this Virginia-based hot sauce company has a story rooted in family, love, healing and a passion for cooking. After losing her mother in 2019, Lendora’s founder found comfort in gardening — and when the peppers and herbs in her garden thrived, the idea for a hot sauce was born.

Today, Lendora’s makes flavorful, all-natural sauces designed to enhance your food, not simply overwhelm it with heat. Their lineup includes their signature Habanero, Hot Pickle and Pineapple Habanero sauces, with more flavors joining the family. 🌶️🍍🥒

You may have met her at last year’s festival. If not, we can’t wait for you to taste the story, heart and flavor behind Lendora’s for yourself!

Come meet them at Pittsburgh’s Rivers of Fire on October 10 at Velum Fermentation! 🔥