Hey there, Akronites, welcome once again to Around Akron with Blue Green and yes, we have an amazing show ahead of us today.

I'm going to meet up with a local muralist.

Then it's over to the Akron Roller Derby.

Then it's off to the Downtown Akron Partnership to talk about their skating nights on the Plaza.

And then I'm going to visit the homeless charity and village.

Now, to kick this show off today, I'm headed to downtown Akron to talk with Matt Miller.

He's not only an amazing muralist, he's also an amazing artist.

Let's go see what Matt Miller all about.

[Matt Miller]: Talking with the clients, Hazel Tree, they wanted to instead of refreshing that old mural, they kind of want to do a ten year plan of giving a new artist the opportunity to kind of highlight that space.

But we wanted to do something that paid homage to the original mural, which, if you remember, was the tree and the roots spelled Akron.

To me that was kind of with the emphasis being on the roots, that was kind of a foundational point for my career, for Hazel Tree, for Akron and public art as a whole.

And so my new tree is a more lush, vibrant, kind of abrupt theme with Life Tree.

You know, the fruits, the fruits after the initial growth.

And we really just wanted something bright and colorful that welcome to the neighborhood and then to have some fun with it, I hid kind of the words Westhill in the branches at the top, and we really just wanted something, you know, to to showcase the life and vitality of that neighborhood.

And there's a thriving theater community there.

And now with the rezoning of live work spaces, they're really pushing the do it yourself kind of entrepreneurial spirit and community.

And so for me, the tree was a symbol of that life, that vibrancy and the growth that that is coming to the neighborhood.

I think always my work has been almost a therapeutic outlet for myself.

And now looking at my younger work, it was a little more dark and troubled, maybe.

And I still have all those same issues, but I found a way to translate that maybe into more positive feelings with my artwork.

And yeah, I mean, it's my medication for sanity, you know, and my work is, symbol based it can be or cryptic and some elements, they really are just, kind of diary entries for me.

They're me working through the ups and downs of my own life.

And I found in the working process I'm kind of able to, you know, exorcize those demons and bring some positivity to myself.

And I think working with the bright colors kind of, you know, helps with that mental shift.

For myself.

Some things I am working on right now or just wrapped up.

I just finished a mural for The Green Dragon Inn, actually a series of murals, and it is an awesome little board game bar on Market Street here, right by Summit Artspace.

Definitely worth checking out.

And I think they've got some big things coming that I'll be a part of as well.

Participating in the new Akron T-Shirt Club, which will be I believe, every month or every other month.

There will be a new t-shirt released by a different Akron artist under this umbrella of the Akron T-Shirt Club.

And there's some really brilliant artists and heavy hitters on the list, so that's worth checking out.

I'm always looking for new bands to work with.

I love doing album artwork and band merchandise.

One of my favorites right now is Flock of Moons, and they have a new album coming out soon, and I'm doing some artwork for them.

And, yeah, really just, whatever I can get my hands on.

But, things are coming.

I think I still get excited when I see somebody wearing my t-shirts on the street, you know, or, I've been surprised, I'll get people message me on Instagram that have gotten my artwork tattooed on them, and that just blows my mind.

You know, I tattooed for a while, and the day to day of it was just a challenge that I couldn't stay on top of.

But then to see people picking my artwork, to then go to tattoo artist to have it put on them, it's just pretty mind blowing still.

I'm doing it all myself and I am self-taught with that.

So it's also primitive at best at this point, but it's definitely something that, I'd like to explore more and push farther.

In the simplest, am taking my artwork and then adding digitally, different frames of color movement or minor variations to kind of add, actually add the movement that I try to imply.

In my still pieces.

Gotten a little more into I mean, they're really kind of like glorified GIF animations, but I'd like to push that farther.

And, you know, Saturday morning cartoons have always been my thing.

You know, another of my biggest influences, you know, just, cartoons for life.

I'd like to see where that could take me.

And that might mean working with somebody that is, you know, better versed at animation that I could lay out images and kind of direct where it might go and have somebody help me with the actual frame by frame aspect of it.

So if there's anybody out there that wants to help, get ahold of me.

Next up, it's all about the roller derby.

I meet up with the Akron Roller Derby and learn what roller derby is all about.

[Nerdy Little Secret]: There used to be two Akron Rotary leagues, and that was NEO So Northeast Ohio Roller Derby and then Rubber City Roller Girls.

They eventually merged and we became a mega roller derby team So it got to the point where both teams had so little skaters were like, why are we just not joining forces and becoming superheroes?

So that was the birth of Akron Roller Derby and we have stuck with that ever since.

We used to have two different murals on the wall, actually, so this mural behind us is brand new, and a fellow skater from Youngstown area roller derby did it for us.

It's magical, but it used to be our two separate things back there, and we finally made this place home and we are Akron Roller Derby.

NASCAR meets football is pretty on point.

We all turn left.

(laughs) we, do hit each other.

So it's that full contact aspect, like football, but really a lot of people think it's a race.

They think we're just like racing for points.

But really what it is, is you'll see two skaters from each team out at a time.

That have a star in their head, that is the jammer, the jammer is who scores the points.

Then everyone else that's on are the tracker blockers.

Those blockers are going to keep that jammer behind them and keep them from scoring points.

And the way you get a point is if this was a blocker, as soon as you pass their hips, that's a point.

But you can't just like back and forth and keep getting the point.

You got to do a whole another lap and come around to get it again.

So that's where you see a lot of the like the blockers get back in front of the person with the star on their head, the jammer, and they just keep getting back in front and kind of, you know, that's the target.

You're getting the brunt of all of the, action, if you will, and they want to keep you behind them.

And that slows down the point score.

Games definitely get mid hundreds, sometimes even in the two hundreds.

but every time, every single blocker you pass is a point.

So you can get four points every time you do a lap.

So if you pass all our blockers, come around, do it again.

You've got eight points already.

so it adds up pretty quick.

But if you know you're being held back a bunch and they're not letting you continue to go around, the points will slow down.

A bout itself is an hour with two half hour halves and the ten minute, 15 minute ish half time in between.

We accept skaters all year round.

Experience does not matter.

We have taught people that can't even stand up on skates.

We've taught people that just, you know, we're hockey players and are like, let me try that out.

Like all sorts of walks of life.

Normally around September through November, we do host what we call a boot camp, and it's for brand new people.

So then, you know, you're with 20 to 30 people on your skill level.

We break everything down as much as we can, and we build you up until the practice starts again and then we throw you in with us.

But that doesn't mean if someone texted us tomorrow and was like, hey, can I join the team?

We would say no.

We let them come and we'd still work with them.

So really, you just got to come hang out.

So all of our bouts, we try to make it a production.

You know, you're not just there to watch us skate.

We have, you know, things for the kids.

We always have merch, food, beer.

We try to do halftime things every now and then.

We've had competitions where, like, people hula hoop against the skater or people race, all sorts of things.

You never know what the entertainment is going to be.

It's kind of just, you know, we try to pair up with local people.

Like, I was getting in contact with a dance group in Akron once, you know, try to get them to come out.

It's it's more than just watching us skate in circles.

Not only are our fans diverse, our team is diverse.

You will find people that are, you know, sorry, Lisa, like 58 years old, down to, you know, just age out of juniors and they're 18 like we have all walks of life, stay at home moms, chemists, engineers.

I work at the Cleveland Aquarium.

Like there's all sorts of people within our group.

So then that brings all sorts of people to come watch us.

And we've had people that found us just because, and they wanted to come check us out.

And we even have a couple that follows us to our away bouts.

And they have nobody on the team.

They just really enjoy watching the sport.

This is definitely a very physical sport.

I'm not going to say there haven't been injuries.

There's been injuries.

There's ways to avoid that.

We really, really focus on cross-training, strength training and making sure your body and muscles are built for what we're doing.

Because if you're, you know, you're weaker, it's easier to get injured.

But I mean, we've had, you know, broken hips, broken arms, broken elbows, broken ankles, tail bones.

That's a big one.

People like to fall backwards on their butt.

but no matter what, people almost always come back from the injury.

Because this sport is just so fulfilling.

It doesn't matter.

Like I've, I've had a few I've had I got a bum knee, I got a bum shoulder.

But like, it's not stopping me.

And most of us will say we're doing it until the wheels fall off.

I have no plans of retiring until my body says no.

Roller derby is so cool because it is, A family like this has helped me in so many ways in life, as silly as that sounds.

Not just like in the athletic state of mind, like I have, I would never have sat down and had an interview with somebody.

This would have been my worst nightmare.

And now I'm able to talk to strangers.

I coach strangers.

I've met so many people through this, and some of the best friends that I'll ever have my whole entire life.

And then on top of that, I mean, almost 30 year old me could run circles around 16 year old me.

My physical fitness is way better than it's ever been.

So it is a good workout.

But it's it's good for the mental health too.

Like, the best quote I've ever seen about roller derby was we destroy our bodies to save our souls.

And that is spot on.

Now that you've seen some roller skating, you probably want to go roller skating yourself.

It's off to downtown Akron to meet up with the Downtown Akron Partnership.

Talk all about their roller skating nights on the Plaza.

Let's go see what roller skating in downtown Akron is all about.

[Dominic Caruso]: Well, the plaza has gone through some changes.

It arrived, I want to say in the 70s, 60s.

It was part of a big, capital project, which placed, basically the ninth wonder of the world below the grass behind us.

it's a parking deck.

that's underground.

It's pretty wild.

and at the time, it was kind of state of the art.

And a lot of what you see behind me was concrete and it was kind of like a concrete courtyard.

In more recent years, the city has brought in grass.

Kind of made it a little bit more livable area, less concrete, a little greener, a little nicer to be in.

So it's a space that, is a great public space.

Very intimate, cozy and a great space to have events.

And that's, one of the things that we, Downtown Akron Partnership like to do, we like to activate the space.

There is a DJ.

usually there's a theme that's involved.

So, like, this week's theme is, 2000 R&B.

So they'll be spinning music from that era.

Upcoming themes will be like K-pop, Italian-esque.

So it'll be like sort of Italian disco.

That'll happen.

Like during the Italian Fest in July, we put out lawn games on the on the grass in the plaza so people can play cornhole.

we'll have a little sort of mini cornhole tournament going on through some of these, skate nights.

We have giant Jenga and giant Connect Four for the kids to play.

There's concessions available at the shed.

you can get alcoholic beverages if you like, or you can get soft drinks.

We usually have some snacks available as well.

And we highly recommend that, if you want to bring sort of a picnic or something like that, this is a great place to do it.

There's spots, downtown, within walking distance.

El Patron, Crave is right on the corner here.

just great places to get a meal and bring it over here and eat it and enjoy it on the plaza.

Skate rentals are, just $2 to rent skates.

We've got sizes, from the kid size.

From size 1 to 13. and, basically, we have some, also some slip on skates for really little kids.

And if you have your own skates, you can skate for free.

So, yeah, bring your bring your own wheels if you got them.

And, we'll also be offering, helmets coming up so you can rent a helmet.

I believe that'll be free with skate rental.

You can also buy socks sometimes people come in sandals, you know, and you got bare feet.

And, you can, put your bare feet in the skates if you want.

We sanitize them after each use.

but you can purchase socks, too, from the shed if you want them.

So it's a little bit of a different kind of skate surface and a different path.

You're not, necessarily going, along the usual circle or oval.

It's got some dips.

It's got a little bit of a twist in it.

And, what's great is you're outdoors and, so you got this beautiful plaza, you got some nice trees, got the summer weather and the DJ spinning the tunes.

And oftentimes you can, like, smell the food.

It's cooking in the local restaurants.

So it's got a street fair kind of feel to it.

And it's a lot of fun.

Skate nights are on Saturdays.

they're from 5 to 8 p.m., and, we have six remaining this summer, through August 31st and each one has a theme.

So, an upcoming theme.

in July, we'll have Italian-esque So it'll be a little bit of, like a Italian disco kind of, theme music wise.

That one's happening during the Italian festival downtown.

So it's on theme.

We've got K-pop skate night that's coming up on, August 31st.

we've got a couple of other ones.

there's a retro game night that's coming up.

So they're going to be playing sort of like video game related music.

And we'll probably also do some extra, little, fun activities, that are game related or gaming related.

We're going to be talking with full group games and, the Green Dragon Cafe and board game Inn, and possibly doing a little bit of board game action down here on the plaza during skate night.

So look for that as well.

So yeah, a lot of cool themes that are coming up and definitely worth checking out.

So Skate Night is, part of our, summer on the plaza, activities.

During the week, we invite you to come down.

We've got, free wellness classes on the plaza pretty much every day of the week.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

We have line dancing, we got yoga, we have kickboxing, and we have hip hop step.

All of these are led by certified instructors.

All 100% free and 100% fun.

It's a great way to, you know, blow off a little steam and relax after work.

you can get a beverage or a snack at the at the shed if you want.

So we're also going to be hosting some events on the Plaza as well in September, we'll have the fourth annual Latin festival.

So, that's a festival of Latin American and Hispanic Culture in Akron.

last year was the first time we held it on Cascade Plaza.

this year it'll be September 14th and it'll be brilliant.

We had a great time last year.

Music, food, fun for the kids, pinatas.

Just a great, great afternoon.

On Wednesday nights, we also host happy hour, on the plaza.

so that is led off with line dancing, which is led by JustUs, line dance crew.

They're fabulous.

And then we have, live music on the stage behind me, live and local bands, several of which have been, generously sponsored by, Lock 3 in the city, but a lot of really cool groups.

And you can just check our website to see the schedule and, to check that out.

Now, to wrap this show up today, I'm headed over to North Arlington Street to meet up with The Homeless Charity and Village.

They're providing meals for a lot of hungry people in Akron Let's go see what The Homeless Charity and Village is all about.

[Lerryn Campbell]: When I came to the University of Akron in 1992, I began as a volunteer at Saint Bernard Soup Kitchen.

I often would sing as I would walk from my dorm at Orr Hall all the way to Saint Bernard's, and it became Every Wednesday there would be a collection of folks and friends that along my journey would walk with me and, so I wasn't just serving them for the hour or two that we were at the soup kitchen.

they became people who I would walk around town and visit with and, it was a community that, really struck my heart.

I was honored to get to know them deeper than just their story as I was serving them at a at a soup kitchen.

So.

So it's been like a 31 year journey.

So I took over The Homeless Charity in July of 2020, and, we owned this house and eventually made it our headquarters in September of 2021.

And all of our operations moved here, where we provide services in the backyard as well as some transitional housing for folks in the house here.

Here at The Outreach House, we start our week on Tuesdays where we host a choice pantry.

So we get about 4,000 pounds from the Akron Canned Food Bank, who are an amazing partner of ours.

We bring it here to The Outreach House, and, volunteers and folks who are being served, work diligently to get it all organized.

We get folks in and out with close to 30 to 40 pounds of food for each individual every single Tuesday.

So that is usually over 100 people every week that are served on our Tuesday, pantry.

And then Wednesdays we offer toiletries and, peanut butter sack lunches.

And Thursdays and Saturdays we have a hot meal.

We serve a hot lunch that's home cooked right here on site.

And we offer clothing as it's been donated.

On our Tuesday, it really depends on what's available on the food banks order site.

Lately we've had a lot of ice cream and then fruits, vegetables, canned goods, nonperishable dry goods.

It's a wide variety of items, certainly enough to sustain some folks.

And, we like the choice aspect of it has it cuts down on waste and gives people the autonomy to pick what they like and see a wide variety of folks who are being served in the back yard.

We are in no I.D., no questions asked pantry.

If you show up, we're happy to provide food to you.

So we think that's unique to our program.

We're not a program where anyone's feeling judged.

If you show up, we're happy to have you.

So we have folks have all the way from infants in arms all the way up to folks who are elderly.

We also have some folks who have different capabilities as far as their physical and mental capacity.

And so we offer volunteers to help them, through the pantry and back to their cars if they need it.

We serve a wide variety of people, and they've all sort of become in community with one another.

I think that's our great space because we're outside people get to share their stories with one another.

They get to know one another, and week after week you'll see a lot of hugs, a lot of people hollering as they leave out, you know, love you guys.

Thanks for your help.

And and so you begin to see the camaraderie and the community that we've built, back here in our backyard We've had this awesome opportunity to really show some love in the backyard here Started as a conversation several years ago that a community garden would be great here in the Middlebury neighborhood.

It has it has taken on its own evolution, if you will, and we've had so many great local folks, who have, experience in gardening, who have sprinkled their love on it started with Elizabeth Field and then, Julie Costel, Sherilyn Medcalf, Pam Thomas, some real movers and shakers here in Akron when it comes to gardening.

And, we never dreamed that we'd have a fenced in space, that we would have all this amazing things happening in.

But here we are this summer, it's come to fruition, and we're looking forward to the children and people who come to visit, being able to come back and seeing what's growing there and then tasting it.

It's been a great labor of love with many people's help.

We are located sort of at the crossroads of North Arlington Market and Exchange, where they all come together.

We are just a couple blocks north of the Dave’s supermarket.

We're planted right in an area where the majority of people who live here do not own cars.

And so in a recent study, Middlebury is a more walkable neighborhood.

per capita, the average person here doesn't have access to a vehicle or even a driver's license.

And so we are happy to be on the walkable path for folks to come by and get some of their needs.

meet and, also, we are on a thoroughfare with a lot of traffic.

And so we often have people who just stop by because they see a lot going on in our backyard and are curious.

And so we like that curiosity brings people in to see what's happening here.

We have great opportunity for volunteers to come and help us.

We have a lot of kids from Hoban and various other high schools who need to get their volunteer hours in, and so they come and visit with us and help us.

And, we have a sign up genius available.

on our website.

We also have, Summa docs and residents who, sign up on our sign up genius, and come and eat, Thursdays with us.

It's a nice opportunity for folks to get to know some folks who work in the area who are providing health care in the area.

And, we have a wide spectrum of people who volunteer.

So if you're interested in helping us, we'd be happy to have you any time.

Thank you once again for watching this episode of Around Akron with Blue Green.

Now, if you have any questions or any comments, you can catch me on social media.

Thank you and have an amazing day!

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