Akron Bike Party

Last Friday I participated in my first Akron Bike Party. I had heard about the every-third-Friday-of-the-month event but this was the first time my schedule allowed me to join. I rode down to Lock 3(the starting point) with my friend Woody. The theme this month was "glam" and some people dressed up and wore make-up, colorful boas were passed out, and glam-rock boomed from a speaker on a trailer. The destination was the original Strickland's by the old airdock. The ride was at a more leisurely pace than I'm used to - but that made it easy to make new friends and take in the sites(and some photos). I'll definitely be returning in the future.

Danstravaganza Night #2

The first night of ticket sales for Danstravaganza(previous post) went so well that a second show was added at Musica. This was more of a straight up rock and roll show than overall event. It was the same three bands rocking a smaller venue - and the night was again a blast.

Danstravaganza Night #1

Danstravaganza was a benefit concert at The Tangier - the goal was to build a running track at the school Dan Van Auken taught at before he passed away from cancer last year. Dan was an avid runner and much loved by his students, family and all of his many friends. Three bands that are no longer together reunited to raise money and many items were donated and auctioned off. The event was hosted by Stephen Bishop. It was a great evening to benefit the memory of an amazing man.

Houseguest

On Tuesday evening I shot a few photos of Houseguest. They were getting ready to practice for their first shows in a few years - shows that will raise toward the building of a running track to be enjoyed by future generations of Wadsworth students in honor of friend Dan VanAuken who died of cancer last year. The goal was to have some new photos for the article about the concerts in today's Enjoy section of the Beacon Journal. Unfortunately I guess we missed the deadline - as they used a photo I took of the band 7 years ago(which happened to be one of the first "real" photo shoots I had ever done). Oh well, it was still good to see everyone together again. There are still some tickets available for the show on Sunday at Musica - 'Drummer' and 'The Man I Fell In Love With' are the other two bands - should be awesome. I will be there both nights photographing(I pretty much taught myself how to shoot live concerts at Houseguest shows).

Detroit Part One

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to document the Torchbearers Akron trip to Detroit - I'll have more about that fascinating experience in the next blog. Here I am posting some of the photos I had the chance to take when we had a bit of free time during the action packed trip. We were only there for a couple of days - but you'd find that hard to believe seeing all the pictures I took. I hadn't been to Detroit since 2003 or 04 - and I was so surprised by what I saw. Yes - the famous post-apocalyptic scenes still exist there - but the downtown area has been transformed and is bustling. More commentary later - here are some photos.

Pittsburgh, PA

After visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial we drove into Pittsburgh to catch a Pirates game. We roamed around the area near PNC Park for a while, snapping photos, and having a few drinks before heading into the game. I've always enjoyed visiting this city - I wish we had a little more time here.

Flight 93 National Memorial

Last Friday my family and I visited the Flight 93 National Memorial with students from Green Schools who are involved in the 93 Cents for Flight 93 program that has raises money for the memorial. There were also two buses of students from Washington D.C. there for the day. Todd Beamer's parents spoke to the students, Todd was one of the heroes on the plane on September 11th. The rangers also gave a detailed account of everything we know about what happened that day on the flight. Walking the memorial and reading the names of the crew and passengers on the wall made me think about if I would have had the guts to do what those passengers did - most likely save the Capitol Building and possibly hundreds of lives - at the expense of their own.

Food Truck Friday

If you work in the downtown Akron area you should stop by Child Guidance and Family Solutions' "Food Truck Friday" - which kicked off its Summer season last week. Every Friday from 11am until 1:30pm there will be roughly 5-10 food trucks to choose from. A portion of the profits benefit CG&FS so you are eating for a great cause. The event is located at 18 N Forge Street(You'll see it from Market Street) and they update the weekly truck participants on their face book page. See you there!

Open Streets Akron

Another Knight Foundation event took place over the weekend in Akron - The Open Streets Project had Main street shut down to motorized traffic between Bartges Street and the Cuyahoga Falls Ave(where the Better Block was taking place). The event was proposed my soon-to-be-mayor Gary Moneypenny who said, "....I am really excited for this event and I can’t wait to walk across the Y-bridge with fellow walkers, bikers, skaters, and runners, and take in the City from this unique perspective.” There were different activity stations set-up along the way - miniature golf, yoga, chalk drawing, food trucks, performances and more. I rode with a group of Better Block organizers and we spent a couple of hours riding and taking it all in. The weather cleared up and it was an awesome afternoon.

Akron Better Block

In Temple Square (Cuyahoga Falls Ave. and North Main area of North Hill) over the weekend the Knight Foundation sponsored the Akron Better Block. Better Block is an organization that helps select and set up areas to showcase what they could be like(usually for two days). Temple Square was made bike and pedestrian friendly, vacant store fronts were filled with local "pop-up" shops, there was outdoor seating, musical acts, a craft fair/farmers market, beer garden and more. There was definitely a festival atmosphere. North Hill's large immigrant community gave the event a cultural vibe - it looked more like something you would see in NYC. To me though it was more than a great weekend - it was a chance for some permanent change - AMATS has already recommended a road diet for North Main and protected bike lanes. I've heard that some of the pop-up shops may become brick and mortar businesses.

The Wild Flowers

The spring wild flowers along creeks, the apple blossoms blowing in the breeze, the greening of the trees, the birds chirping - it is Springtime in Akron.

Gritty and Grainy(Expired Film)

I had this roll of film sitting on my desk for a while now - I finally remembered to get it developed the other day. It was some long expired Kodak Gold 400 that I picked up an estate sale. I ran it through my trusty Nikon L35AF, Nikon's first point & shoot auto-focus camera.

Blue Heron Homecoming

On Saturday the Akron’s Water Reclamation Facility(which I believe used to be called a "wastewater treatment plant"(everything has a brand these days)) was open to the public for a festival. The parks, zoo, Canalway, schools and more had interesting and educational booths set up. There was free lunch and shuttles to the Heron rookery. ReWorks was there and set up to make it a zero waste event. The highlight, though, was the tour of the facility itself. I was impressed at the large turnout - basically so many people interested in what happens when you flush.

Jane's Walk Four

On Sunday afternoon I took part in my last Jane's Walk of the weekend - this time it was Portage Lakes led by Kaley Foster. The tour was shorter on walking than many - which demonstrated one of the challenges of the area - that it is not particularly pedestrian(or bike) friendly. The walk was long on information and discussion though - and finished with a trolley ride through the beautiful Lakes on a perfect day.

Jane's Walk Three

The third Jan'e walk I participated in took place on Saturday evening - it followed in the footsteps of the ArtWalk and was led by Suzie Graham. The ArtWalk takes place the first Saturday of each month. We started at the Summit ArtSpace, walked down Market to the Historic Cultural District, and then to Northside.

Jane's Walk Two

On Saturday afternoon I went on my second Jane's Walk - this time Kenmore - led by Greg Burke and Nolan James. Greg is a lifelong Kenmore resident and we joked that he made it the, "Kenmore Dad Joke Comedy Tour". Great leaders and neighborhood champions - not to mention the other longtime residents who showed up and could answer any question about Kenmore history you had. This "walk" was a little different as we took a trolley around the area and then would get off and stroll. This was a Jane's Walk that truly changed my perception of an area of the city. Yes, Kenmore has its challenges, but it is not that place that many believe it is. I really thought that parts of Summit Lake were a no go zone - they turned out to be one of the most beautiful parts of Akron.

Jane's Walk One

On Friday at Noon I went on the first of 15 Jane's Walks happening in Akron this weekend. This walk was about the city's infrastructure and engineering - led by Renee Whittenberger and Christine Jonke. We learned about some of the things people rarely think about - the underground utilities and drainage, bridges, and the history of it all. As with every neighbor walking tour(Jane's walk and Akron2Akron) I've come away with some interesting facts I never knew about Akron and met a few interesting people I wouldn't have otherwise.

Barberton Ride

My friend, Wes, and I met at the dog park on Memorial, rode the Towpath south, and then detoured into Barberton on Wednesday evening. We left around 5:45PM and it was absolutely gorgeous out. Riding along Summit Lake was a highlight. We were riding pretty hard but I still managed to get my camera out and snap a few photos - it was the kind of light where just about any photo looked good - even from a moving bike.