Pittsburgh has a tradition of innovation that, if developed, can help it thrive in the future as much as it has in the past, said football Hall of Famer Franco Harris at yesterday's toast honoring the city's 250th anniversary.

A blond waitress set down a chilly Iron City in front of Mr. Harris as he studied his speech inside the VIP lounge at Jerome Bettis' Grille 36 on the North Side. Then camera lights turned to Mr. Harris, and the crowd at the bar turned from their stacks of nachos and Buffalo wings to listen to the former Steelers running back.

It doesn't matter where Steelers fans live, he said. They will forever be part of the Steelers Nation, and forever connected to Pittsburgh.

"Let's raise our glasses and toast the 250th birthday of our hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania," Mr. Harris said, raising his beer to cheers from the crowd. "Here's to Pittsburgh and 250 more years of changing the world."

The toast at 4:15 p.m. was part of a celebration that city event planners had asked Steelers fans in Steelers bars and clubs across the country to join, just before yesterday's kickoff in the game against the New England Patriots in Boston.

Pittsburgh can regain its powerhouse status, Mr. Harris said, if it creates the kind of economy that allows young people to find jobs and members of the Steelers Nation scattered throughout the country to move home.

"I'm looking at it getting back to its roots of encouraging immigration here and also encouraging innovation here because that's been our roots and our foundation," Mr. Harris said after the toast.

Pittsburgh has wonderful sports teams, one of the best cultural districts of any city its size, and good medical and educational institutions, he said.

"But now we have to make a place where new ideas can be nourished and thrive," Mr. Harris said. "Hopefully those ideas will create new industries, which is what we've done before."

For now, however, good-paying careers -- not just jobs -- are hard to find in Pittsburgh, said Jonah Allen, 26. To keep young people from moving away, he said, the region needs to create more careers in engineering, agriculture, medicine, computers and other technology.

Mr. Allen, who currently works as a cab driver, said he plans to study electrical engineering at Community College of Allegheny County, and then at either the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon University.

"After I get done, there's not going to be anything here for me," said Mr. Allen, to a nod of agreement from his girlfriend, Catherine Rose, a 23-year-old Pittsburgh native and Duquesne University graduate who now works as a nurse in Washington, D.C. "All the jobs are down South or overseas."

It doesn't help, they said, that Pittsburgh has little interesting nightlife. Most bars are crowded and loud, and most bands play rock, pop or country -- nothing much like the quiet lounges in Washington where they can listen to reggae, soul, blues or jazz and still hear their companions speak, they said.

For slightly older members of the Steelers Nation, however, this city is an affordable place to settle down, said Kevin Roach, a ticket seller for the Pittsburgh Pirates who lives in Robinson. Many of his friends left town after college for jobs in Washington, D.C., and Florida, but would love to come back.

"There's no culture there, no tradition," Mr. Roach, 27, said of Florida.

And Pittsburgh is a great place for families, said Mr. Roach's fiancee, 28-year-old Jennifer Scanlon of Mt. Lebanon.

"It does seem like there's been a lot of growth in Pittsburgh, more nightlife and more jobs," said Ms. Scanlon, an admissions and membership manager for the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. "A lot of people want to raise their kids here."

PLENTY TO CELEBRATE