North Shore businesses ready for Pirates fans ahead of home opener

The Pirates return to PNC Park to take on the Yankees Friday, and the North Shore will be packed with fans. Businesses say they'll be ready from before first pitch to long after the final out. 

"It's gonna be really busy for everybody down here on the North Shore. It's going to be a great time. We're pumped up. We're staffed up," said Dennis Junker with Bar Louie. 

From North Shore Drive all the way over to Federal Street, the Bucco faithful will drop anchor along the Allegheny River, and the businesses near PNC Park say they're ready for a full day of excitement.

"Oh yeah, we're really excited about it. So, a couple of things we do is we run an outside grill, make smash burgers and we have a beer tub that we'll sell beer out of off our patio. So, we try to keep some of the festivities outside," said Burgatory president Vic Bovalino. 

Those festivities will begin several hours before first pitch at 4:12 p.m. Owners say the key is having plenty of staff on hand and being ready early for the crowds of people they'll see throughout the day.

"We're gonna be opening at 11 o'clock. Staff usually gets here around 9 to start prepping and getting ready for the day, but it's going to be a crazy day. Employees, it's really going to be beneficial to them. They're gonna make a lot of money," Junker said. 

Opening day always brings new hope for the season and the places nearby are counting on that hope to last. 

"Early in the season, everybody's very excited, so obviously bigger crowds and that's going to depend on performance, but we're looking forward to a good year out of the Pirates. But we know at least April and May, we're going to see a lot of folks down here," Bovalino said. 

There are a small number of tickets still available for the game, but the Pirates expect this to be a sellout, which means there will be thousands of people outside PNC Park, from the Mazeroski statue, to Clemente, even to Willie Stargell.