By Beacon Journal staff
POSTED: 07:12 p.m. EST, Jan 24, 2010
AKRON: It will sound like the Fourth of July in downtown Akron tonight.
Fireworks will be set off over the Akron Innerbelt as part of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association annual conference, running through Wednesday in Akron.
The 10-minute pyrotechics display is to about 10:15 p.m.
One lane of Rand Street (the Innerbelt access road on the west side of Route 59) will be closed from noon today until shortly after the fireworks end, about 10:30 p.m.
At 9:30 p.m., all lanes of Rand will be closed until after the display.
The fireworks are to be launched from a grassy median west of Rand. The fireworks are small enough that they do not require closing the Innerbelt.
People at the conference will view the display from the Akron City Centre Hotel during an association fundraiser.
The meeting of the association, with headquarters in Westerville, outside Columbus, is expected to attract more than 700 members, speakers and exhibitors. Association members work at parks and recreation facilities across the state.
American Fireworks of Hudson, a conference exhibitor, is donating the display, said Woody Woodward, the association's executive director.
Akron's acting community events coordinator, Brittany Schmoekel, said that when conference organizers brought up the display idea, she thought, ''Well, that should garner some attention.''
The conference also will feature a keynote speech by Rocky Bleier, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back and a Vietnam War veteran.
