In recent years (from what I have heard on the news), it has become more rowdy than ever. It didn't seem that way when we were going up there in the 1970s as a family. It seemed more quaint, sort of like Mackinac Island, Michigan.
While it might be easy to assume that the problem has only come up in recent years, the article on the Journal page below from August 1, 1964 caught my eye.
"The occasion was Regatta Weekend, more commonly referred to as "Riot Weekend."
"Today and tomorrow, the Inter Lakes Yachting Association holds its annual regatta, and that's all the excuse the collegians need for an annual, old-fashioned brawl.
"Year after year, sweatshirt-clad students, both male and coed variety, gather here with their blankets, their bottles, their toothbrushes and a few dollars and turn the town into an authentic "Fort Lauderdale of the North."
The focus of the article was that Put-in-Bay had a new police chief who wasn't going to put up with the usual shenanigans. "It's either the college kids or us," he is quoted as saying in the article, adding, "and it's going to be us."
A twenty-man army of law enforcement officials was created to handle any college hijinks. The force included two policemen, two plainclothesmen from Detroit, four Ohio Highway Patrol officers, three policemen on loan from Fostoria and one from Tiffin, two Ottawa County sheriff's deputies and 15 deputies from Civil Defense headquarters at Castalia.
Another 42 men were to be on hand to be deputized in the case of an emergency.
It sounds like there were plenty of lawmen to go around, almost enough for each one to have his own personal college hooligan to clobber!
7 comments:
Still pretty peaceful, at least on rainy days like when we were there. And really clears out after the last ferry leaves. I never stayed overnight there before -- on purpose. I think Kelley's Island is still pretty pristine, we went there once as I recall, to see the glacial grooves (ho-hum). Dad rented a tandem for us, which looks a lot more fun than it really is.
Probably the same boating riffraff and yachting hippies fouling up the beaches!
Ho-hum on the glacial grooves? Only one of the best places on the entire planet to see them!
P-I-B popped up a number of times in my research, oftentimes in association with the Inter-Lake Regatta. Those people with boats, I'm telling you what...
Per the Elyria Reporter (July 28, 1902), Commodore Huntington's steam yacht, Thelma, maintained a speed of eleven miles an hour taking first place in its class.
"The regatta is closed with a smoker and ball at the Hotel Victory and by its brilliancy makes a fitting close for an association whose principal aim is true sport and to create sociability amongst its members."
We never did family vacations - but my dad did make it a tradition, beginning with me as the oldest, to take us each individually to the islands on the Ford tri-motor plane - the summer before our freshman years in high school. He took me on Labor Day weekend (never picked that day again with my siblings). Thanks for bringing back the memory, Dan - airplane ride, short ferry ride, dad sneaking me wine at Lonz’s, visiting Perry’s monument and the Crystal Cave. And the crowds partying that beautiful sunny day, lake breezes, music floating through the air, everyone having a good time…oh, for a Time Machine…
Don't get me wrong, Don, the glacial grooves interest me now. But as a 10 year old kid...
I was a geo-nut when I was little and read about and saw pictures the glacial grooves in some book or other. I wanted to see them So Badly but didn't get the chance until I was in my late 40s.
And my kids, who were about 10 at the time, were like, ho-hum.
I wanted to kick their butts!
I had a fun time at Put In Bay the past two years. I rented a golf cart and drove around the island. I always eat at the Boardwalk, shop downtown, go to the winery. It hasn’t changed that much, still a unique place.
Take a gander at the "Socialism" article, could be written today.
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