CANTON, Ohio — Enshrinement Weekend for Jared Allen and the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2025 is rolling along.

Festivities began Thursday with the Hall of Fame Game. The L.A. Chargers topped the Detroit Lions 34-7 to open the NFL's preseason slate.

They continued Friday with the Hall of Fame Walk and photo of Gold Jackets (and this year's inductees) who made the trip to Canton. The day's biggest highlight, however, was the Gold Jacket dinner when this year's class receives their custom-fit Gold Jackets for the first time.

Saturday will open with a parade, a tradition since the Hall of Fame opened in 1963 and culminate with the Enshrinement Ceremony, which begins at noon (CT).

Vikings.com has a crew in Canton to chronicle multiple moments of Allen's Enshrinement Weekend. We'll update this Saturday with more highlights.

Friday:

Gold Jacket Dinner

There's a new leader among Gold Jackets in calf roping.

Moments after receiving his Gold Jacket from Hall of Fame Head Coach Dick Vermeil, Allen lowered into position like he had done time and time again and showed he's still got it on stage at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

Career sacks: 136. Calves roped as a Gold Jacket: 1.

There's plenty of time for the 43-year-old to boost his stats, and more importantly, the celebration will keep going.

The Gold Jacket is one of three signature elements presented to a Pro Football Hall of Famer, along with a ring and the famous bronze bust.

Tailors measure each enshrinee for a precise fit, and the wait begins for the presentation.

Threads have never felt so good.

Hall of Fame Walk

It was quite the sight to have more than 100 Pro Football Hall of Famers stroll down George Halas Drive in front of the Hall of Fame and Museum on the way to their photo Friday morning.

Halas, who founded and owned the Bears team that Allen played for after his time in Minnesota, was instrumental in Minnesota being awarded an NFL franchise to begin play in 1961. Halas also was Chicago's coach when the Vikings launched the franchise with a Fran Tarkenton-sparked 37-13 upset of his Bears.

Tarkenton was not in attendance Friday, but his teammates Paul Krause and Ron Yary participated in the walk along with Randall McDaniel, Cris Carter, John Randle, Warren Moon, Steve Hutchinson and Tony Dungy. The players (and former coach) with Vikings ties joined Allen for a smaller group photo on the steps in front of the Hall of Fame's Rotunda, which was the location of enshrinement speeches years ago.

The Hall of Fame creates displays of personal artifacts for each enshrinee. Allen's artifacts include his No. 1 jersey from Los Gatos High School, a practice jersey from Idaho State and jerseys from his time with the Chiefs and Vikings. Adjacent to the Vikings jersey, which is from his 22-sack season that set a franchise record in 2011, is a rope, cowboy hat and pair of boots.

"Back at the Ranch"

The current Vikings continued training camp Friday in Minnesota, returning to action after players were off Thursday.

Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, who has had Allen speak to his team on multiple occasions and was in on Allen's surprise invitation to the Vikings Ring of Honor, stepped up to the podium in a custom-made T-shirt in honor of Allen.

"Wanted to wear my shirt in support of my guy Jared Allen. We're so proud of him and what this weekend means for him," O'Connell said. "I'm very excited to see the festivities get kicked off. I know we had the Hall of Fame Game last night. It was good to see him there, but I know I speak for all of our fans and every member of our organization, ownership and everyone, in saying congratulations to him and how proud we are of him.

"It's a big deal, so I just want to make sure we show our support here for Jared," O'Connell added. "He knows how much our current coaching staff and a lot of the folks who maybe haven't been here that long, we've all formed great relationships because we've had him around our team and organization since I've been here, which has been awesome."

O'Connell, by the way, is represented in Canton in an exhibit that just opened to recognize 2024 NFL Honors winners (Coach of the Year). A purple hat and hoodie, black pants and shoes are displayed.

Thursday:

Hall of Fame Game

Football enthusiasts from all around descend on Canton for the festivities. They are eager to open the preseason as another milestone advancing toward the regular season, as well as to celebrate an extremely rare group of people. The four enshrinees this year are inductees 379, 380, 381 and 382.

The Class of 2025 walked between lines of Chargers and Lions players at midfield before the game. Each participated in an interview with Melissa Stark that was part of the NBC Sunday Night Football special broadcast.

NBC had fun with the interview, and found out that a mullet will be included on Allen's bust. He admitted that one person may have even worn a mullet better than he did.

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