East Akron Bubble Fest
During our research and community outreach across East Akron, we learned that Joy Park was an underutilized recreation space and resource. In order to change public perception, spark interest, and encourage more residents to use the park and recreation center, we decided to produce an all-day creative and interactive event – the East Akron Bubble Fest!
The day began with collaborative mural painting inside the recreation center, and then shifted outside where Stray Dog served free food to community members, and neighborhood artist Dierre “Duece Dime” Fleetwood signed prints of his Heart of A.KING portrait of Lebron James. The festivities continued as DJs kept the energy pumping for Ohio’s own Dr. U.R. Awesome, the 7-time Guinness World Record Holder for largest soap bubble, who performed a series of bubble activations that transformed Joy Park’s vast field in a swarming blur of bubble magic and giddy screams of laughter.
This was part of Art x Love’s @PLAY Akron project, a 2017-2018 Knight Cities Challenge winning initiative to bring diverse people together and encourage deeper community connections. Art x Love’s team explored every street in the City of Akron, conducted thousands of street intercept resident interviews, and produced more than 100 murals and 50 placemaking transformations in 18 months.
