Correction:
Some references in photo captions to the name of the Wingfoot Lake Blimp Hangar were corrected.
Susan Ferenec stood in the passenger seat of her Mazda 5, her head through the moon roof, gawking at the Goodyear Blimp.
She was in Portage County’s Suffield Township, inside the cavernous Wingfoot Lake Blimp Hangar, just after 2 p.m. Friday. Christmas songs played in the background as she and her husband, Joe, inched past several Santas — one human, multiple inflatable — in a long line of cars that came to donate gifts for Toys for Tots.
The Lorain County residents, who brought dinosaurs and sensory toys, drove about an hour and 15 minutes to get there.
“It’s amazing,” Susan Ferenec said of Wingfoot One, which was wrapped to look like the original 1925 blimp, Pilgrim. “Just the awe of the size of it.”
“It doesn’t look that big when it’s up in the sky,” Joe Ferenec said.
Like the Ferenecs, thousands of people will move through the decked-out hangar over the course of the weekend to see the blimp up close and donate money and gifts.
More than 20,000 toys collected last year, distributed in Summit County
In Ohio, Florida and California, over 15 years, the drives have collected $765,000 and 275,000 toys. Locally last year, U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jacob Tarkelly said, the toy drive at the hangar brought in more than 20,000 toys and $8,000. More than 1,700 cars came through.
He’s hoping for 25,000 donations and $10,000 this year. In less than an hour Friday, the Marine Corps’ Christmas tree-shaped goal tracker already had its bottom layer colored in: 5,000 toys collected. Everything gathered at the event is distributed in Summit County, Tarkelly said.
Uniformed reservists helped people unload their toys right before they left the hangar. Some posed for pictures, like those who were photographed with 4-year-old Wyatt Tenney, who came to see the blimp with his grandmother, Cheryl Tenney.
Heidi Ott, who lives in Stow, brought her three kids along for a homeschool field trip. They weren’t particularly excited about the outing as they waited in a long line of cars to get into the building, Ott said, but once they got inside, they were enamored.
“It’s amazing; I like it,” 8-year-old Brock said.
“It’s awesome,” 4-year-old Wyatt chimed in.
Ott remembered going to the hangar herself as a child, and she wanted to share the experience.
“I’ve always wanted to go on a blimp ride,” she said. “This is the closest I can get to it.”
‘Nobody comes in here grumpy’
Senior Pilot Joe Erbs, who was greeting people at the event, said he’s used to getting questions about whether he can give people a ride. As a blimp pilot for more than eight years, he said he sees people who come every year and those who are visiting for the first time.
“Nobody comes in here grumpy,” Erbs said. “The blimp brings out everybody’s inner child.”
John Markwood, who lives in New Franklin, said he’s come to donate each of the 15 years Goodyear and the U.S. Marine Corps have collaborated for the Toys for Tots drive. He believes in the cause, he said, but he also loves to see the blimp.
“No matter if it’s flying or sitting still, it’s just neat,” he said.
In the hangar, entering cars were greeted by the front of the blimp — a yellow, one-eyed, Santa hat-clad Minion sat in the pilot’s seat of the gondola — with strings of colored lights descending from its nose and a star at the tip. Stacks of tires were covered with tinsel and Christmas lights, creating makeshift trees along the driving path. Inflatable reindeer, snowmen and airplanes added to the atmosphere.
An elf gave out candy canes and 15% off coupons for the Goodyear store, while the Grinch joined Santa to greet people as they slowly moved past the main draw.
Tim Ryan, who lives in Cleveland Heights, said he came because he loves dirigibles. He was wearing a zeppelin T-shirt and said he planned to go to the zeppelin museum in Germany next year.
But Friday was the first time he’d gotten that close to an airship.
“This is really something,” Ryan said.
Mark and Sue Deckert, who live in Ellet, see the blimp all the time — it goes by their house. They regularly come and watch it take off and land, too. But they still came with $40 for Toys for Tots because seeing the blimp up close? That’s a whole different experience.
“I think it’s great,” Mark Deckert said. “It gets people to show up and make donations.”
Susan Ferenec, who read up on the blimp’s history before making her visit, said she expects to come back — next time, with friends.
“I’d like to get a group together,” she said. “Probably next year.”
If you go
The Wingfoot Lake Blimp Hangar is located at 841 Wingfoot Lake Road in Portage County’s Suffield Township. It is open Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. for drive-through donations for Toys for Tots. People do not have to donate in order to look at the blimp.