Where Are Fireworks in Akron Ohio?

Today on the Akron Podcast, we've got your fireworks schedule.

We've got some news about what's going on with local radio as well as where can I cool off, the live events calendars coming up along with how can I get a discounted ride in the event I have a little too much to drink.

What's going on with Giant Eagle and a potential bus strike and unfortunately, two teenagers involved in a shooting.

It's the Akron Podcast for July 3, 2020 6th.

Happy Birthday America.

Our website, akronpodcast.com hey, America is turning 250 years old and sure we got a lot of things we could do better in America.

We also have a lot of things that we're doing, you know, that other, you know, for example, in some Middle Eastern countries, if you get caught stealing, they chop off your hands, you know, so I, I don't think America is so bad when I hear that.

But what about fireworks, Dave?

I kind of miss Covid.

When Covid was going on, I could, I could walk to fireworks.

That was awesome.

But now they're going down in Akron at lock three.

They officially start at 9:45.

And this is, you know, the wrap up of the All American Burger and Barbecue Festival that's been going on since the second.

So I mean it's got all sorts of food.

I mean, you name it, it's there.

Some really plan on, you know, loosening up a belt buckle when you're done there.

Now on the third, Cuyahoga Falls is doing a America at 250 with of course celebrating 250 years.

But they're going to have the Cleveland Orchestra there.

Tickets are $24 all the way up to $94.

You can find that@cleveland orchestra.com in Brunswick.

Also on the third, this is the time listed is approximate, so they mean somewhere around 9 o'.

Clock.

And they start at dusk at Brunswick High school.

That's at 2584 Center Road in Brunswick.

If it does rain, that'll be the 11th.

Then I'll have a link in the show notes out at Akron Podcast.

If you're around Hiram, the community gathering is at the Charles A. Henry Field at Boy, I cannot pronounce this.

Mal Missour Stadium on the campus of Hiram College with food vendors and live music.

And that is at 9:30.

If you're in Hudson, you can look at Barlow Farm Park.

There's all sorts of festivities going on from 6 to 10:30.

Basically, as always, the fireworks are going off around dusk.

If you're in Massillon.

Hello Massillon.

It's going to be at the Duncan Plaza amphitheater again around 9:45 if you're in Medina Medina High School.

If you're at Wadsworth, then it's going to be at the 102 Main Street Suite 20.

That's kind of in downtown Wadsworth.

And then on the fourth again, Akron is going to have ours at Lock three.

If you're an alliance, you are.

Why are you listening to this show if you're in alliance?

But nonetheless, again, you've got a Union Avenue festival going on there in Aurora, you got.

So I guess you could just drive.

The problem is you can't drive to all these places.

I guess you could catch some on the third and then some on the fourth, but in Aurora it's at the Pioneer Trail ball fields.

So Stowe.

Excuse me.

Also on the 4th because they're having their firecracker run and parade and that will be at the Holy Family Church.

Lots and lots and lots.

I could go on.

Fairlawn has some on July 11, which is a little late, but I'll put a link to this out in the show.

Notes I am glad to see this is back.

This is the eighth year for that and that is you can actually get a free Lyft ride in Summit county over the July 4th weekend.

It's actually pretty cool.

It's dubbed the Arrive Alive Program and it provides up to $20 in Lyft credit to Summit county residents available from 6pm on July 3 to noon on July 6 to get the discounted rate.

So realize that's kind of misleading.

The headline here in the Beacon Journal says a free Lyft ride.

Yeah, as long as it's $20 or less.

I don't know about you when I'm using Uber and Lyft, you know, unless I'm going four blocks, I'll still take 20 bucks.

But just for the record, but to get the discounted rate, use the code summitthenumber4th2026 so summit 4th, 2026 all one word when you book your Lyft ride.

This program again, is in its eighth year and is offered in partnership with the Summit County Prosecutor's Office and the Summit County Sheriff's Office.

It has been insanely hot this week.

And if you're like, man, I can't find any relief.

Remember, Akron has some public pools.

There's Perkins woods pool, that's at 899 Diagonal Road, and the kind of new Reservoir park pool that's at 1735 Hillside Terrace.

The hours are 1 to 7pm Monday through Friday and noon to 5 on Saturday for both pools.

Now, if you want to check it out, visit Akron Rec desk.

Well, hold on.

Akron.recdesk and rec is R E C D E S K dot com and you can register for a free open swim membership.

The city's four splash pads are scheduled to be open starting as well, which they are.

And of course, that's all weather permitting.

So there's one at the Elizabeth park splash pad that's at 68 Lodd Street Firestone Park Community center, that's at 1480 Girard Street Joy Park Community center, that's at 825 Fuller street and Patterson Park Community center at 800 Patterson Avenue of course, there's some in Cuyahoga Falls at 2025 Monroe Falls Avenue that's the Waterworks family Aquatic Center.

And I'll have links to all the pools.

There's a decent list here.

So if you're dying to cool off, you know, definitely check these out.

If you're using public transportation to get around Akron, you might want to invest in a bike.

The union that represents Akron Metro bus workers voted to authorize a strike on Tuesday evening.

Members basically are saying that they haven't had a raise in three years.

And so we're talking about 300 bus operators, vehicle maintenance workers and clerical workers.

And they basically just said, we haven't had a raise in more than three years.

They want to increase our out of pocket health care costs by $2,000 a year.

And they don't think Juneteenth is important enough to make it a holiday.

Enough is enough and we're not taking any more.

So they are going back and forth, but negotiations are planned to resume on Wednesday, so we'll see what happens.

But if you're a bus rider, you might want to start working on a backup plan just in case.

Oh, this is a fun one.

If you haven't heard, you know, iheartradio is like 100% human.

Yeah.

And then laid off thousands of people.

And there is a little bit of a shake up here locally.

Keith Kennedy, who's been on WKDD Forever 98.1, is moving to Magic 105 to do the morning show.

He will still do a kind of afternoon show on wkdd, but I just thought that was funny how they've been going on and on about, oh, we're, you know, we're gonna be doing this we're human thing.

And then they laid off just boatloads of people.

Stansbury host of the Stansbury show, creatively named on 106.9 was basically released.

And Scott Davidson was released from all of his gigs with iHeartMedia, including at Sunny 101.7 in Canton and 105.7 in Cleveland.

We're 100% human.

Sure.

Mm.

They're part of the major staffing reductions and cost cutting moves across the country at iHeartMedia radio station.

The cuts are intended to provide $150 million in savings.

According to radio inc.com two media representatives of iHeart didn't respond to emails.

Shocking.

Including what the morning show will be on wkdd.

Kennedy said that it's gonna be a great show.

That's gonna replace him.

Sure it is.

So that's gonna be fun.

And to which we kind of go, who's listening to radio anyway?

What is interesting is iHeart's podcasting division is doing actually really well.

But some of your favorite radio hosts might be looking for a job.

Growing up, I remember going to Kroger's, the grocery store, and they've been out of our area for years, if not decades.

Well, they're coming back.

Kroger is going to buy Pittsburgh based giant Eagle for 1.65 billion, acquiring its 197 supermarkets and 11 standalone pharmacies across northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.

And if you, depending on how old you are, Kroger was here for 60 years.

And then in 1984, they were, I guess, losing money and they left.

And then Giant Eagle became the predominant grocery store.

Of course, there's still Acme Fresh Market.

They stay on mission with the return of the Kroger rivalry here.

But it would be nice if we had a bigger chain taking on just because that always helps with pricing.

But if you're a big fan of Giant Eagle, they're going to keep the name, which is weird.

This is expected to be completed somewhere in 20, 20, 27.

All right, so this happened over on the 1200 block of Packard Drive.

And this is so sad.

Basically you got a 15 year old boy, the, his friend, a 14 year old boy came over to his house and his, his dog, the 15 year old's dog kind of ran at him.

And this is where again I go, where are these kids getting the guns?

So the 14 year old takes out a gun to shoot his friend's dog and shoots the dog and accidentally shoots the 15 year old who later died.

It just seems like every teenager is packing heat.

And just when you think it can't get any worse the following evening they were having a vigil for this 15 year old at the 14 year old's house and basically all sorts of nonsense just went into play.

They were throwing bricks at the 14 year old house.

They actually tried to set his house on fire.

There were smashing windows.

It was kind of crazy.

And they were approaching the house with a lantern, I guess, and they saw the person there with a gas canister.

And a third caller said they heard 22 shots fired.

It was like 10 shots a break and then like 10 more.

It's crazy.

In fact, even the 911 operator was like, was that shots now?

When the cops arrived, the large group had already dispersed.

An officer saw a woman attempting to put out the fire with a water hose.

Fire crews arrived and put the flames out and apparently nobody was hurt.

But the mother says the of the 14 year old says her dispatcher, you know, told the dispatcher that her pregnant daughter might have been the next target.

She says, where my son was at his dad's house.

They just set his house on fire and shot it up.

I guess they're on social media saying that they're on their way to my daughter's house and I'm not sure if they're on the way to my house.

So the mother of the 14 year old asked for officers to check on her daughter, which the dispatch said they did.

There were no arrests so far.

But holy cow, we go from this unfortunate shooting and I oh, it's just guns aren't the answer.

Kids.

And where are all these kids getting the guns now?

The city has kind of put things into action.

A little more than 24 hours after the shooting, the city of Akron is tripling.

We might want to look into quadrupling its investment in the street train program which sends trained in quotation marks here, credible messengers into neighborhoods to build relationships with young people, de escalate conflicts and connect residents with resources before violence occurs.

For the past year and a half, the pilot program has operated with one full time and one part time credible messenger.

So the last time I checked that's one and a half people and they're going to triple it.

So that would be 1.5 to 4 and a half, something like that.

The team is focused on walking targeted neighborhoods, meeting residents face to face and intervening in conflicts before they escalate.

We might need more, I'm just saying.

City leaders say early results from the pilot have been encouraging.

According to data shared by the city, neighborhoods where street team members were actively working saw nearly a 60% reduction in in shooting victimizations and 30% decrease in felonious assaults.

So that's good to hear.

We might just want to tell our kids, don't shoot each other.

It's a novel idea.

With the Akron city council approving 600,000 in funding over the next year, the program will expand from two credible messengers to four, allowing the street team more neighborhoods across the city.

And you might just want to ask your kid, hey, do you have a gun?

There's a novel idea says we each have responsibilities.

Parents have responsibilities.

Yeah, yeah, we do.

Our young people have responsibility to not engage in dangerous behaviors.

So we're going to continue to do this Kind of an all of the above, whole of the community approach to preventing violence and increased safety.

That's from the Mayor would love your comments.

Just go out to akronpodcast.com voicemail all right, let's see what's coming up.

On July 11th, DC Young Fly will be at the Goodyear Theater.

If you've not seen a concert or an event at the Goodyear Theater, that's like one of the best places.

Nothing against the Civic.

The Civic is amazing, but Goodyear is the thing I love about it.

The parking is free.

The parking is closer.

It's a great event.

We're so lucky to have both the Goodyear Theater and the Civic, you know, in Akron.

Tim McGraw on the Pawn Shop Guitar Tour 2026 will be at Blossom, so bring your comfortable shoes because that's a trek.

I just saw Sammy Hagar there.

Evanescence will be at Blossom Music Center.

That's July 30th and that's the world tour with Spirit Box and and the Nova Twins.

For more information, go to akronpodcast.

Com events.