By Heather Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, PopIcon
The city of Akron, Ohio was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime sight on June 3, 2025. The 100th anniversary of the first-ever Goodyear blimp flight in 1925 was celebrated with all three Goodyear Blimps taking to the skies together.
The newly centenarian Goodyear Blimp held a massive birthday party at the Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar and the guest list featured tons of iconic brand mascots and beloved pop culture characters. Who knew the Goodyear Blimp was besties with so many famous faces?!
Which Brand Mascots Came To the Goodyear Blimp’s 100th Birthday?
For the purposes of this piece, we won’t be including characters like the Teletubbies or JJ from CoComelon. (PopIcon considers those to be TV characters rather than brand mascots.)
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Hanging at the Hangar were Duolingo’s own Duo, Dr. Squatch, Scrub Daddy, the Wendy’s Frosty, the Kool Aid Man, OLIPOP, and OREO.
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The characters made their entrances under a silver balloon arch, posed for photos, got up on stage to do karaoke, and even did a massive conga line together. We really hope all these mascots call in, ahem, “sick” tomorrow and take the hump day off.
According to the Goodyear Blimp’s website, the first Goodyear Blimp was Goodyear’s Pilgrim which was built in 1925. The blimp was noteworthy in that it was the first commercial, non-rigid airship that was flown using helium. The other two members of the fleet were the airships Columbia and Resolute, built in 1931 and 1932 respectively.
As mentioned up top, the three Goodyear Blimps that took flight on June 3 are rarely seen together as a trio. They spend most of their time stationed in California, Florida, and Ohio — but an 100th birthday calls for a reunion.
Happy birthday to the Goodyear Blimp! 100 looks good on you! And if this is how the Goodyear Blimp celebrates 100 years, its bicentennial bash could be a blowout for the ages!
Image Credits: Goodyear
About the Author
Heather Taylor is the senior writer and editor-in-chief of PopIcon, Advertising Week’s blog about brand mascots. Got a pitch on brand mascots or want to wax nostalgic about characters? Drop her a line at howveryheather@gmail.com.
