Things to Do in Wadsworth

Start the painting process by selecting any piggy bank, mug, plaque, plate, or unexpected pottery discovery from All Fired Up!'s stock of more than 250 decorative and functional artifacts (an average piece costs $21–$25). All Fired Up!'s colorful design books and friendly staff can help if you need inspiration or artistic guidance. Pick out paint colors, then carefully direct your brush in tune with your dreams and wishes, letting your creative juices gush onto the dinnerware of your choosing. Once you're finished, All Fired Up! glazes and fires your piece in a kiln; it'll be ready for pick-up in about a week. All new additions to your pottery family are food safe, and because only lead-free, nontoxic paints and glazes are used, they're suitable for holding bologna sandwiches or tropical drinks toting a tiny parasol. Feel free to bring snacks and drinks of your choice (alcoholic beverages are allowed) to nosh and sip on while you paint.

Admission for students and senior citizens is $5. Children aged 12 and younger can enter for free with an adult.

Once the warm weather hits, families begin to fill the grounds of Sluggers & Putters—a sprawling family fun park built into the natural landscape. Children and adults alike tear around two tracks in single or double-seat go-karts, follow a yellow-paved path through 18 holes of old-fashioned miniature golf, and race to scale a rock-climbing wall. While parents and children fill out insurance claims after playing double-seat bumper cars and water bumper boats, other visitors practice their swing in fast-pitch and softball batting cages. On a landscaped garden patio, staff helms an installment of the local Auntie Em's Ice Cream Co., where they serve frozen treats such as hand-dipped cones and old-fashioned sundaes.

Amid the uncertainty and complex nature of the aviation industry in the early 2000s, Denise and Mike decided to buck opposition and follow their dreams. The husband-and-wife team kept their dream relatively simple: move to northeast Ohio, secure season tickets for the Indians and Browns, and open up the world of flight to others. They soon took Mike's 35 years experience as an entrepreneur and Denise's time as a commercial pilot and turned it into American Winds Flight Academy. Today, their flight academy preps prospective pilots with FAA-approved ground courses and hands-on instruction in their fleet of Piper and Cessna airplanes and accommodating pterodactyls. The duo's 15-plus flight-training courses and fast-track program include everything from advanced flight-simulator instruction to commercial-pilot certification.

The medieval carvings, European antiques, and Italian alabaster sculptures at the Akron Civic Theatre absorb the ascending harmonies of symphony concerts and heavy rock ‘n’ roll alike. Built in 1929 to resemble a Moorish castle, the venue has maintained much of its historic charm, including the exceedingly rare atmospheric ceiling, in which stars twinkle and clouds float by as mesmerizingly as the last few corn flakes atop a bowl of milk.

In 1973, a fire decimated many of the lanes at Eastgate Pro-Bowl, erasing nearly 30 years of history at an alley that had hosted such professional bowlers as the great Earl Anthony. But just as pins grow back after every cataclysmic strike, Pro-Bowl's owners managed to convert the disaster into opportunity, renovating and reopening the facility as Eastgate Lanes. Today, the alley hosts open-bowling hours and leagues throughout the week, rounding out its automatic scoring with a game room and banquet hall. Each weekend, the staff dims the lights for Rock-N-Bowl sessions and karaoke parties, and at the full bar, six flat-panel HD television screens mask players' discussions as they share strategies for sneaking bites of opponents' nachos between frames.