Yinzers vote to reissue Mister Rogers postal stamp, and it's on sale soon

• A stamp featuring Pennsylvania native Fred Rogers won a public vote to be reissued by the U.S. Postal Service.
• The Mister Rogers stamp received 40,000 of the 500,000 total votes cast in the USPS Stamp Encore contest.
• The re-released Forever stamp features a 2018 design of Rogers with the puppet character King Friday XIII.
• The stamps and related merchandise will be available for purchase nationwide on June 1.

Both America and the United States Postal Service will celebrate their 250th birthdays this year, but only one of them will bring back Pittsburgh's favorite neighbor to help mark the date.

As part of USPS' 250th anniversary, the organization hosted a Stamp Encore contest, inviting the public to vote on their favorite 25 stamp panes from recent history. And on May 24 at the Boston 2026 World Exposition, they announced that a 2018 stamp featuring Fred Rogers, creator of the iconic children's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," won the contest.

Yinzers vote to bring back Mister Rogers stamp

Over the course of 10 weeks, 500,000 votes were cast in the Stamp Encore competition, with the Mister Rogers stamp netting 40,000 of them, USPS said.

The effort was achieved through campaigns in Pittsburgh, the organization said, with the city highlighting the stamp competition in social media posts.

"(Rogers) showed tremendous respect and compassion for everyone and knew how to nurture the best in all of us," Isaac Cronkhite, USPS' chief processing and distribution officer and executive vice president, said in a statement published on USPS' website. "It seems especially fitting that Mister Rogers is the winner because Fred Rogers was a passionately loyal postal customer and a huge advocate for the power of mail."

What's on the Mister Rogers stamp?

USPS is re-releasing the 2018 stamp, which features Walt Seng's photograph of Rogers in a red cardigan with King Friday XIII, a puppet character from "The Neighborhood of Make-Believe," according to the organization. It will be issued as Forever stamps in a pane of 20.

Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp, as well as a souvenir sheet with four new stamps. These stamps, which will feature other images from Seng with characters from the "Neighborhood," will also be issued as Forever stamps and come in a pane of four.

There are also several exclusive Boston 2026 Exposition products with Mister Rogers, including a writing kit, a premium stamp pin, a Field Notes memo pad.

When can I buy Mister Rogers stamps and products?

The Mister Rogers stamp and Boston 2026 Expo products will be available for purchase on June 1.

Where can I buy Mister Rogers stamps?

The Mister Rogers stamp and Boston 2026 Expo products will be available at post office locations nationwide and at USPS' online store.

The stamp was available early at the Boston 2026 Expo through May 30.

There are 66 post offices located in the Pittsburgh area. Locations closest to you can be found through USPS' website.

What part of Pittsburgh was Mister Rogers from?

Rogers' hometown was Latrobe, about an hour east of Pittsburgh, USA TODAY previously reported.

But Rogers moved to Squirrel Hill, a historically Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, when he got married, WBUR-FM reported. It was there that he made "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which first aired nationally in 1968.

Finch Walker is the Pittsburgh Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact Walker at [email protected]. Instagram: @finchwalker_. X: @_finchwalker.