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Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How do you get a ride on a Goodyear blimp?
How do you get a ride on a Goodyear blimp? It's not that easy. You can't just buy a ticket and show up at Wingfoot Lake. Blimp rides are not for sale. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s airships maintain busy schedules, providing television coverage for sports and entertainment events and making high-profile appearances. Few passengers get to take rides. 'The majority of blimp flights are reserved for Goodyear customers, by invitation for specialcircumstances or for those who purchase a blimp certificate at a charity auction,' the Akron company explains in its media kit. Akron-based Wingfoot One, christened in 2014, has provided video of the NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup Finals, Daytona 500, PGA Championship and College Football Playoff National Championship. Wingfoot Two (2016) is headquartered near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Wingfoot Three (2018) takes flight near Los Angeles. Obviously, space is limited on blimps. The gondolas normally seat eight passengers and two pilots. Passengers need invitations, and the demand is high. Corporate partners, media members and charity auction winners are among the common recipients. Your best bet may be to win a blimp ride at a charity event. Goodyear directs the public interest in blimp flights toward nonprofit groups in the communities near its airship bases. 'Goodyear donates passenger flight certificates to charities across the U.S. to auction, which turns thepublic's interest in flights into funds that directly benefit the charities,' the company notes. Nonprofit charitable organizations can submit a request for a 'ride certificate' at Goodyear's website. The Akron company said it has helped groups raise more than $1.5 million over the past five years through auctions or raffles of blimp flights. Local history: Akron runaway balloon caused panic in sky Requests will be considered if Goodyear determines that a nonprofit group's mission and reputation are consistent with its own, and the charitable organization: ∎ Holds current Internal Revenue 501(c3) designation documentation or similar. ∎ Is willing to provide Goodyear with adequate promotional placement within its materials. ∎ Provides the required information through the request form. Groups should submit ride certificate requests about four to six months before an event date. A committee will review each request, and it could take four months to make a decision. Even if approved, the flights are dependent on good weather and other commitments, so it could take awhile to land a flight. Until that day arrives, prospective riders will just have to admire the blimp from the ground. Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@ This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How do you get a ride on a Goodyear blimp in Akron?
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why does Akron have the 330 area code? It used to be something else
March 30 used to be Feb. 16 in the Akron-Canton area. Calendars didn't change. Our phone numbers did. Northeast Ohio residents will celebrate 330 Day on March 30 as a loving tribute to regional telecommunications. March 30 — or 3/30 — coincides with the area code 330. As older citizens can attest, the penultimate day of the month used to pass without commemoration. The 330 has been around for less than 30 years. We used to be 216 just like Cleveland. Gather around, children. Ohio's area codes began in 1947 as part of AT&T's nationwide numbering plan. AT&T, formerly the American Telegraph & Telephone Co., used to be a regulated monopoly that oversaw all phone services in the country. Initially, the Buckeye State had only four area codes under the Ohio Bell Telephone Co.: ∎ 216: Northeast Ohio. ∎ 419: Northwest Ohio. ∎ 513: Southwest Ohio. ∎ 614: Central Ohio. After AT&T broke up in 1984 as part of an antitrust settlement, the five Midwestern operating companies — Ohio Bell, Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell and Wisconsin Bell — adopted the name Ameritech. Akron used the 216 area code for nearly 50 years. Did anyone ever celebrate Feb. 16 — or 2/16 — as 216 Day? Not really. We were too busy hanging out at the mall. By the mid-1990s, Ameritech faced a crisis in Northeast Ohio. The growing popularity of fax machines, pagers and cellphones meant that 216 would run out of numbers by late 1996. At the time, there were about 2.5 million landlines and 200,000 cellphones in the region. Ameritech decided to divide area code 216. The southern portion, including Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Kent and Medina, would become 330. About 900,000 land-based phones and 100,000 cellphones and pagers got the new area code. In addition, hundreds of thousands of fax machines and computer modems had to be reprogrammed. Companies scrambled to notify customers and clients about the switch. It wasn't easy. For example, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. had 5,500 phones and 130 fax machines at its headquarters in Akron. Ameritech phased in the change March 9, 1996. When it became official June 29, callers who incorrectly dialed 216 received a recorded message telling them that the area code had changed. There was a lot of grumbling, but people eventually got the hang of it. We've been 330 ever since. Well, most of us. The surge in cellphone use necessitated the addition of another area code — 234 — as an overlay to 330 in October 1999, about the same time that Ameritech merged with SBC Communications. Today, Ohio has 15 area codes. So far, there has been no push to hold 234 Day parties on Feb. 34. Oh, wait. Yeah, never mind. Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@ This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How did Akron get the 330 area code?
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Akron at 200: A new president, civil rights and paid parking
As Akron celebrates its bicentennial in 2025, we're looking back at two centuries of headlines. Visit every Sunday morning throughout the bicentennial year for a look back at the week in Akron history. Here's what happened this week in local history: 1825: Northeast Ohio settlers learned about the inauguration of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, on a springlike day at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Flash-forward to 1843: Adams traveled by canalboat from Cleveland to Columbus, stopping for breakfast in Akron as the vessel slowly worked its way through the locks. Most of the town's 2,000 residents greeted him. 1875: Black residents gathered in Galilee Fishermen's Hall in Miller's Block to celebrate the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, the law guaranteed Black people equal treatment in public transportation and public accommodations. The audience cheered as James Robison recited the language of the measure. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law in 1883. 1925: Northern Ohio Traction & Light of Akron announced it would add five streetcars on the East Market Street and Exchange Street lines. The extra service would mostly come at night and take care of the 11 p.m. shift at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The utility planned improved transfers so passengers wouldn't have to return to their starting points to catch a ride. 1975: Akron was replacing its 1,450 parking meters with newer models. The old machines accepted only nickels. The replacements would take pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. There was a catch. The old meters granted 30 minutes or 60 minutes of parking — depending on location — for 5 cents. The new machines required 10 cents for the same time. 2000: Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle continued to expand in the Akron area, announcing it would take over eight Apples stores in the region. A $30 million renovation was planned for the locations. The supermarket chain planned to add 100 employees at each store. Two years earlier, Giant Eagle had taken over seven local markets operating under the IGA name. Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@ Mark J. Price: The 50 best concerts I ever saw in Northeast Ohio This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: This week in Akron history for March 2, 2025
