Ellet Events

Akron's largest community — more than 19,000 residents spread across seven square miles in the city's southeast corner — and arguably its most independent in character, often described as a small town within the city. Englishman Samuel Elliott (sometimes spelled Ellet) bought 500-plus acres here from Col. Simon Perkins in the early 1800s, and the community wasn't annexed by Akron until 1929. Derby Downs sits in Ellet — the WPA-built three-lane asphalt track that has hosted the All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship every July since 1934 — alongside the Goodyear Airdock, whose thirteen 211-foot steel arches enclose 364,000 square feet of column-free interior. When it was finished in 1929 it was the largest building in the world without interior supports, and the Navy's USS Akron and USS Macon airships were both built inside it. Expect family events, parks programs, school events, and Derby Downs racing weeks each summer.