Ohio Turnpike invites travelers and residents to customer appreciation event

The Ohio Turnpike will host a customer appreciation event at Portage Service Plaza in Mantua from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, July 15. The service plaza is located at milepost 197 westbound on the Ohio Turnpike in Portage County.

Staff from the Ohio Turnpike and the Ohio State Highway Patrol will remind travelers to drive safely during the 100 deadliest days of summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) and provide promotional safety items. As part of the OSHP’s ongoing efforts to make Ohio’s roadways safer, troopers will continue to focus on impaired driving enforcement.

Portage County Safe Communities will set up an interactive prize wheel to inform attendees about traffic safety. PCSC aims to reduce preventable crashes caused by distracted and impaired driving, increase seat belt usage and raise awareness of motorcycle safety.

Faculty from Bowling Green State University Firelands will also participate by raising awareness about human trafficking, and the victims transported on the state’s highway system.

The turnpike’s service plaza partner, AVI Foodsystems, will provide $1 hot dogs and other items for lunch. Kona Ice will provide flavored ice cones, courtesy of the Ohio Turnpike.

Inside the service plaza, guests can spin an electronic wheel to win prizes from the Ohio Turnpike, including $25 Sunoco gas cards. The OSHP will display a patrol car and meet with guests.

Outside the service plaza, the Cleveland Police Historical Society and Museum, in partnership with the OSHP Retirees’ Association, will display four cruisers from its vintage fleet.

Tony McGinty from the “Keith & Tony” morning show on 98.1 WKDD in Akron will give away radio station merchandise and event tickets during a remote broadcast at the service plaza. ∞