Podcamp, and the proposed BarCamp have the right idea, but are once a year events, perhaps more heavyweight than what I'm thinking.
To that end, would an organized, say, once per month tech lunch/hackathon in Pittsburgh be of interest? Having no personal font of wealth and no connections, I assume we'd either meet somewhere for buy-it-yourself lunch, or "free for all" if we begged meeting space.
Does this sound interesting to you, or perhaps to someone you know? Thoughts, interest, or disdain welcome!