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Photo: Mark c estes, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Begun in 1934, this annual event allows boys and girls ages 8-17 to compete in non-motorized racecars for scholarships and other prizes. Contestants qualify in regional events throughout the year before competing in the final in Akron each summer.
The Soap Box Derby is a youth-oriented gravity racer event founded in 1934 in the United States by Myron Scott, employed by the Dayton Daily News, and preceded by events such as Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. Proclaimed "the greatest amateur racing event in the world", the program culminates each July at the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship held at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio, with winners from their local communities traveling from across the US, Canada, Germany, and Japan to compete. 2024 marked the 86th running of the All-American since its inception in 1934 in Dayton, Ohio, having missed four years (1942–1945) during World War II and one (2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cars competing in the program race downhill, propelled by gravity alone.
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U of Akron is a member of the Mid-American Conference of NCAA College Sports.
WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
An annual Professional Golf Association (PGA) event, hosting a competition of the winners of major international golf events. It is held on the famed 7,283-yard South Course that was designed by Bert Way in 1929, and updated by Robert Trent Jones in 1960. Firestone is one of Tiger Woods' favorite courses, winning here a PGA Tour record 7 times.
Akron is the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once a year, recovering alcoholics from around the world go to Akron to celebrate their sobriety.
A local anime convention. Late February.