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Correspondent photo \/ Ben Davis …
\nSocial influencer Johnny Pittsburgh gifted a painting of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 to the city of Struthers, which hosted a whistle-stop event July 12. From left are Struthers Mayor Catherine Cercone Miller, police Chief Tim Roddy and Safety Director Anthony Lariccia.\n<\/p>\n
STRUTHERS \u2014 Social media influencer and artist Johnny Pittsburgh gifted a painting of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 to the city of Struthers.<\/p>\n
Johnny was invited by Struthers police Chief Tim Roddy to attend the Big Boy whistle-stop event July 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just posts things about the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area \u2026 and I love Pittsburgh so I started following him years ago,\u201d Roddy said. \u201cSeeing that the train wasn\u2019t going to Pittsburgh \u2026 I thought, \u2018let me see if he wants to come up here.\u2019<\/p>\n
The painting of the Big Boy was meant to be a present to Struthers as a thank you from Johnny Pittsburgh for inviting him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe painting was something I just thought of as a gesture to give back for the invite,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cI do a lot of creative things, so I figured that was a way to kind of give back to the city for having me as a guest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny has been interested in creative arts since he was young, with his online presence being a recent development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a creator forever. So, my whole life I\u2019ve been into art, music and painting,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cThe Johnny Pittsburgh sort of persona, if you will, is fairly new, I\u2019d say about three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of Johnny\u2019s content is \u201chyper local\u201d as he put it, focusing on areas in and around Pittsburgh, whether it be landmarks or the city\u2019s environment<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of it is paintings of Pittsburgh, whether it\u2019s the scenery or, you know, Art Rooney, or Steelers, or some locations around town,\u201d Johnny said.<\/p>\n
What became the online persona of Johnny Pittsburgh comes from an idea that Johnny himself had 10 years ago, when he created an online forum to share stuff about Pittsburgh on the internet. <\/p>\n
\u201cTen years ago, I started a page called Pittsburgh for Life, and it was really \u2026 a conduit to bring people together online. Like kind of a new media to just share stories, and share history, sports, arts, food, you name it. Everything going on in Pittsburgh,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cI decided about three to four years ago for me personally to be the face of the page.\u201d<\/p>\n
Struthers Mayor Catherine Cercone-Miller explained that Johnny Pittsburgh was invited to the Big Boy event as a way to promote it to more people, and to promote the city overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to think of anything that we can bring here just to add into the mix,\u201d Miller said. \u201cObviously everyone\u2019s into TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Chief Roddy follows Johnny Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got him on the roof so he could do a live feed from there, and he presented us with this beautiful painting, Miller said.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time that Struthers has reached out to an influencer to promote the city. Miller said they gave Cleveland-based influencer Sir Yacht, real name Joey Kinsley, a tour of Struthers to promote it online.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took Sir Yacht all around Struthers in an hour. Got him T-shirts, we took him to Donavito\u2019s, to Selah, we walked down along the river,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe gave him a really quick tour in like an hour and a half, and he posted this whole video on Facebook, and TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Big Boy painting is displayed in the mayor\u2019s office. Miller said that it will be moved somewhere else in city hall to so the public can see it. <\/p>\n
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