‘Toasting to Tradition:’ HOF Fashion Show returns with a nod to the past
CANTON –The fashions have changed in the last 59 years but the excitement for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Fashion Show hasn’t.
An inaugural event of the Enshrinement Festival, the fashion show has grown from 300 guests to nearly 3,000.
After the gathering was canceled in 2020 and modified in 2021, guests on Friday were welcomed back to the indoor format, including a sit-down lunch, at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
The 2021 Fashion showA look back
“After two years of uncertainty … there is no more fitting theme than ‘Toasting to Tradition,'” event chair Jill Hetrick told guests. “This (event) is shared among generations of grandmothers, mothers, daughters and friends.”
This year’s show featured fashions for men, women and children from boutiques and national department stores.
Host Stephanie Haney, digital anchor and legal analyst for NBC 3 in Cleveland, emceed the event. Returning to Canton during the Hall of Fame festivities and seeing the blazers, she said, means she is home.
The 2003 Perry High graduate served as a 2005 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Queen’s Court.
Haney was joined by 2003 Washington High graduate DJ Freddy B as he spun tunes throughout the show.
The crowd was also treated to a performance by the “other kid from Akron,” two-time Emmy nominated musician Kofi Boakye, who performed on the keyboard and melodica.
Hall of Fame Fashion Show carries on the tradition
Bea McPherson served as the first chair of the inaugural fashion show