In an enclosed area, nine goats — and their leader and protector, Hobo the donkey — crunched and munched the foliage away as part of a project to improve a city park and celebrate forest conservation.
The fifth annual Goat Fest at South Side Park on Saturday featured at least a dozen food and art vendors and games, drawing hundreds of people to the baseball field in Pittsburgh’s Arlington neighborhood to watch the farm animals chow down on invasive plants.
The goats — Roxane, Kama, Mae, Cinnamon-Sugar, Doc, Reuben, Butter Bailey, Ozark and Angel Face — were part of Hobo’s posse. Over the next few weeks, they will clear a designated plot of land as part of the park’s master plan to restore the greenspace and integrate the park into the surrounding neighborhoods.
“Most of the time, they’re eating things that would take a lot of human effort and energy to tear down, and the goats do it happily and socially,” said Kitty Vagley, a member of Friends of South Side Park.
Hobo and his goats are the “foundation” of the park’s reforestation plan, Ms. Vagley said. She said plants such as Japanese knotweed have become a problem in Pittsburgh forestry efforts and can overwhelm the native greenery.
By eating the knotweed, the goats do the heavy lifting to eliminate the invasive species.
After the goats clear the area, Ms. Vagley said, volunteers will replant the native species in South Side Park.
The goat diet isn’t limited to Japanese knotweed. They eat poison ivy, vines and other unwanted flora, and serve as an alternative to clearing foliage without toxic pesticides. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has put out a guide to identifying invasive plants and how to manage them to limit their harm to the area’s biodiversity.
While the goats are mainly used for greenery clearing on public land, they can be rented out by private landowners for a base fee of about $500 and an added $2,500 per acre they chew. But they are rented out through 2023, said Gavin Deming, executive director of Allegheny GoatScape, the nonprofit that provided Hobo and his gaggle of goats Saturday.
Hobo and his goats were in a fenced-off area Saturday afternoon, munching away while visitors petted and took pictures inside the malodorous enclosure. The animals, while naturally friendly and domesticated, had been socialized with people and tolerated the petting and other interaction, event organizers said.
“We like to keep them close to Pittsburgh; they do a lot of work in city parks, and I think they’ve become a favorite,” Mr. Deming said.
The event was free and garnered about $2,500 in donations, Ms. Vagley said, that would be reinvested in hosting the goats next year and in the park’s forest-conservation efforts.
With the rising cost of food and event tickets, the free event was ideal for her family, said Cara Intrieri, 40, from Monroeville, who went to Goat Fest with her son.
“Even activities like this can take a lot out of the budget,” Ms. Intrieri said. “So having more free events in the community is what’s going to be driving people and drawing people to something where the kids are surrounded with a positive environment.”
Many of the hundreds in attendance participated in EScape Goat, a puzzle game. Those who solved the puzzle received tickets for a prize raffle. Other visitors opted for simpler activities like cornhole, cruising down a giant inflatable slide or getting their face painted by Vincent Van Goat.
Amanda Williams, 42, of Pittsburgh, brought two of her four kids, Peter and Ella, to Goat Fest. It was their first time at the event, and they were so impressed that they plan to come back next year.
“Where else are you going to go to see a goat?” she said.
The festival was sponsored by South Side Park, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Duquesne Light Co., the REI Co-op, insurance firm GBU Life and the accounting firm Deluzio & Company.
And as families explored the vendors and learned more about the friendly creatures, attendees said they hoped the festival would become a summer staple in Pittsburgh.
State Rep. Summer Lee of Swissvale, who is running for Congress in the November general election, attended the event with her nephew.
She seemed to be impressed, saying, "I imagine this is something that really has the potential to keep growing.”
Nick Pasion: npasion@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @nicholaspasion.
First Published: July 31, 2022, 2:12 a.m.
Updated: July 31, 2022, 12:13 p.m.