PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates are moving their annual winter fan fest to their ballpark.The Pirates on Wednesday announced that this year's PiratesFest will take place at PNC Park for the first time ever on Saturday, Dec. 9. Season ticket holders can take part in exclusive events, including autograph and picture

PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates are moving their annual winter fan fest to their ballpark.

The Pirates on Wednesday announced that this year's PiratesFest will take place at PNC Park for the first time ever on Saturday, Dec. 9. Season ticket holders can take part in exclusive events, including autograph and picture sessions, from 9 a.m. ET until noon. Admission will be free for the general public from noon to 6 p.m.

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In previous years, PirateFest was a two-day event at the downtown David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This year's condensed schedule still offers many of the same family-friendly events, just spread around PNC Park.

Among the expected attractions: free autograph sessions for kids, games on the Riverwalk, booths on the Pittsburgh Baseball Club level, current and former Pirates in attendance and question-and-answer sessions in the press conference room.

The general autograph sessions this year will take place one day before, from 4-8 p.m. on Dec, 8, in the Rivertowne Brewing Hall of Fame Club. Tickets to those specific sessions will be sold prior to the event, with all proceeds going to Pirates Charities.

More information regarding the autograph session ticket sales and the full schedule of events will be made available by the Pirates at a later date on pirates.com/piratesfest.

Adam Berry has covered the Pirates for MLB.com since 2015. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook and read his blog.