A new – and free - daily fan fest joins concerts, a parade, dinner, the Hall of Fame Game, enshrinement ceremonies and more from Thursday, July 31, to Sunday, Aug. 3, in Canton.

2:30 p.m. Community Parade. The parade kicks off the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival. The parade will stage across from the Canton Memorial Civic Center on Market Avenue and travel south through downtown. It features marching bands, antique cars, costumed characters, specialty entities and nearly 100 units.

Among all of the impressive accomplishments that helped Eric Allen make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the fact that he maintained his elite level of play so he never had to move from cornerback in his 14 seasons stands out.

NFL scouts worried about the hell-raising. Among the 13 defensive ends drafted before him in 2004 were Ohio State’s Will Smith (No. 18 overall), Hawaii’s Travis LaBoy (No. 42), Ohio State’s Darrion Scott (No. 88) and Georgia’s Robert Geathers (No. 117). Allen (No. 126) soon got to the head of the class.

Per Mathieu's Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame Monitor score (65.2), he has a below-average case for enshrinement, with the average Hall of Fame defensive back scoring a 96.93. But players have received a gold jacket with worse scores in the PFR metric, including John Lynch, Eric Allen and Dick LeBeau.

Former Green Bay Packers receiver Sterling Sharpe will join his younger brother Shannon Sharpe in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.