With Put-in-Bay never having had such an event-filled weekend like what had been promoted and adver-tised, estimates of expected visitation covered the board. As the Labor Day weekend arrived, visitation was less than expected. All over-night accommodations were pretty much filled to capacity, so the day-trippers were the ones who were going to really swell the number of visitors. 

The crowd was certainly much different from the bar-scene masses who usually crowd Put-in-Bay’s streets on normal busy weekends. These guests were more interested in the historical event and had made their reservations very early on, leaving few places for the typical weekend visitors.

     On Saturday, August 31st, the Regency Ball took place at the Niagara Event Center. Not knowing what to expect made this event a very enjoyable one. It turned out to be a lot of fun with pe-riod-dressed guests learning to dance the way it would have been done 200 years ago. Surprisingly, an esti-mated 90% of those in atten-dance were dressed in attire fitting the occasion.

Sunday, September 1st, was undoubtedly the best overall day Put-in-Bay has ever experienced. Not only were the Tall Ships in the harbor, but The Ohio State University Marching Band arrived via Miller ferry at the downtown dock, marched up Bayview Ave., around the park and to the school. The crowd lining the street and following the band was huge. After taking a break, the band marched from the school, through downtown to the Monument where it performed a concert on the lawn. Topping off the con-cert was the absolutely the best fireworks display Put-in-Bay has ever seen.

     The next day was La-bor Day, the day the Battle of Lake Erie Reenactment took place on the lake about seven to ten miles northwest of South Bass Island near Middle Sister Island. The weather started out iffy, but got better during the course of the ride out to the event, plus there was none of the dreaded algae to be seen. The armada of pleasure boats following the passen-ger-filled Tall Ships taking part in the reenactment was huge. There seemed to be every kind of boat imagin-able at the reenactment – the Jet Express, sailboats, plea-sure boats, charter boats and even a few Waverunners. There were probably a thou-sand boats on the lake that day. It has been compared to the scene in the blockbuster film Jaws when everyone ventures out in boats to cap-ture the shark. This was no movie scene. It was the real thing. Keep in mind, the reenactment was a one-time event. The dress rehearsal was both the premier and the final performance. Plans had called for observing boaters to stay back so the battle reenactment could take place in a clear zone. However, it was more like a football game where most of the fans were on the field as the game was being played. But in the end, all went well. The Tall Ships maneuvered, cannon shots (blanks of course) were fired, white smoke puffed, Commodore Perry, played by actor Billy Campbell, transferred from the Lawrence to the Niagara in an outboard-powered longboat, and the Americans won again. Our favorite report of the reenactment was from a web poster who wrote, “Highly skilled captains and crews en route to the battle site interweaved their Tall Ships through a modern-day battalion of roughly 1600 pleasure boats.  B-52’s soared overhead, injecting some WWII fl are into the mix.” Upon returning to Put-in-Bay, those who had been out on the lake marveled at the number of visitors who were still on the island, very unlike a normal Labor Day when visitors leave the island early after the long weekend. 

     Julene Market from Miller Boat Line added up realistic numbers for visitation to the island over the Labor Day Weekend and came up with 50,000 people.

We don’t want to slight anyone, but the events and activities were just overwhelming. Also going on were concerts, plays, reenactments, a fashion show, lectures, a Military Tatto presentation from Parks Canada and other events, many of which we attended and enjoyed thoroughly.

     On Friday, Sept. 6th, 1,200 Boy Scouts arrived on the island to camp out on the Monument lawn for Historical Weekend. 

The mix of normal Historical Weekend events along with Bicentennial events kept things hopping. The Arts in the Park had plenty of Bicentennial-relat-ed stuff along with the other usual interesting items. The Harbor Illumination was better than last year, as more shoreliners got onboard lighting flares to out-line the harbor at dusk. 

     Tuesday, September 10th, was another very special day. It was the actual 200th anniversary of Perry’s battle. Starting things off was the release of a postage stamp commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie. A mixture of islanders and philatelists crowded together on the back porch of the Visitors Center to purchase first-day covers, stamps and other souvenir items associated with the stamp. The official unveil-ing of the postage stamp took place on the lawn near the Monument with the proper fanfare worthy of such an event.

     Guard’s Biscayne Bay and other vessels headed out to the battle site to lay wreaths in honor of those who gave their lives for America. The hordes of boaters present the week before for the reenactment were nowhere to be seen, but on one of the Jet Express boats was the entire student body of Put-in-Bay School. Wreaths were tossed over railings of the Brig Niagara, the Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay and the Goodtime into the blue-green Lake Erie wa-ters, representing the sailors who served onboard the battleships. We certainly hope the students recognize how memorable this event is in their impressionable young lives.

     Upon the return to Put-in-Bay, there was a fi nal ceremony on the lawn at the Monument. A proces-sion with a funeral ark holding six flags, three Brit-ish and three American, honoring the six officers from the battle entombed at the base of the Monu-ment was marched into the tent where the ceremony was held. This took place at about 3 p.m., the time Ohioans tolled bells throughout the state in honor of the Bicentennial as earlier proclamated by Ohio Governor John Kasich. Among the several speak-ers were Michael T. Reynolds, Midwest Regional Director, National Park Service; Bill Brake, Field Unit Superintendent, Parks Canada; Dr. Roy Norton, Consul General of Canada, Detroit, Michigan; Rear Admiral Joseph A. Horn, Jr., Program Executive Of-fice for Integrated Warfare Systems, United States Navy; and Keynote Speaker The Honorable John R. Kasich, Governor of Ohio.

Following the ceremony there was a band con-cert performed by guest musicians from Parks Cana-da on the island for the celebration.

     By six o’clock, the Monument grounds were practically deserted and the only event left was a lit-tle last hurrah at the Town Hall, where Parks Canada personnel presented a program about the history of rum and grog as it was used in the British Navy. Free samples of a variety of grogs using real rum were part of the program. There was enough grog for about six full servings for each person present. Hopefully, they called taxis when it came time to leave for home. The National Park Service should take a lesson from their progressive Canadian counterparts. A free wine pro-gram at the Monument could make it one the most popular National Parks in the system.

     As much as the celebration was anticipated, the end was welcome to most. It was two weeks of the most intense activity ever seen on the island. Put-in-Bay and the Bass Islands had to benefit tremendous-ly from the wonderful publicity it garnered from the celebration. One public relations person commented 

this positive PR could benefit the islands for years to come. But what was really interesting was the fact Put-in-Bay could handle an event like this. After this Bicentennial Cel-ebration, even the biggest weekends will seem like a piece of cake when it comes to dealing with the masses.

     When all is said and done, the island can be thankful there were so many who worked so hard at promoting, pub-licizing, organizing and seeing the celebration events and ac-tivities ran smoothly. As the island newspaper; it sometimes seemed a daunting process to keep events straight, know where to be and when, plus, in general, keep tabs on every-thing happening. From our point of view, kudos go to Dave Zavagno from the Lake Erie Heritage Foundation who con-ceived several of the main events, Monument Superintendent Blanca Stransky and her special assistant Steve Roberts from the National Park Service, Marc Burr and Peter Huston from the Perry Group and Craig Samborski of Draw Events. They and their helpers seemed to be everywhere. We don’t know how many man-hours they put in, but it had to be significant. A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped, those who donated whatever was needed, those who support-ed and attended the events, and to those who sponsored the Tall Ships and made their visit to the area possible.

     With all said and done, Marc Burr suggests there be a time capsule which would be opened 97 years from now on the eve of the Tricentennial of the Battle of Lake Erie. In it would be a recap of the Bicentennial with a rundown of what worked and what didn’t, what should be done and what shouldn’t, a list of mistakes to avoid and recommendations for how things could be better. That would certainly be a wonderful legacy for future celebrants of the Battle of Lake Erie. Oh! And why, you ask, should it be opened in 97 years? That’s to give the next group time to plan and implement their celebration accordingly.