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The Lucas County Arena answers a lot of questions, but most prominently it addresses this:

What is there to do downtown?

You mean other than the restaurants, coffee shops, bars, baseball (in the summer, of course), the new Imagination Station, and the library? Well, now there's the arena, which opens this coming weekend. The home of a brand new hockey team, it's also a giant comedy club, a bastion of family entertainment, and potentially a magnet for high-quality, big-name rock, country, and pop music acts.

Today, The Blade features the Lucas County Arena by providing an in-depth look at its nooks and crannies, both graphically and in stories, exploring the big place in detail.

We check out the high-end suites and venture into the bowels of the arena and show you where the Toledo Walleye and Bullfrogs will get dressed and where rockers like Daughtry and Lynyrd Skynyrd will chill before shows. We break down the construction, looking at all the details — how many bathrooms, where the concession areas are, how many people it seats — and locations of the best places to park.

The new arena will make an indelible mark on the city's sports history when the Walleye take the ice on Oct. 16. We look at the formation of the new hockey team and the arena football team, the Bullfrogs. And for historical perspective, check out The Blade's 200-page book, Hockey Night in Toledo.

There's lots more, including explanations of how the arena will put the ice down on the playing surface, what kind of food it will serve, and how the arena will affect downtown businesses.

A big puzzle piece in downtown Toledo is finished, and this special section helps you see how everything falls into place.

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