Boats, games and piracy during Bay Days

WHAT: Bay Days
WHEN: Sat.-Sun
WHERE: Downtown Sandusky and the Maritime Museum
COST: $1 for the Maritime Museum and $5 for the Underground Railroad tour
INFO: sanduskymaritime.org or 419-624-0274

Downtown Sandusky is the place to be this weekend for the 10th annual Bay Days celebration, hosted by the Maritime Museum of Sandusky. The event takes place on Saturday and Sunday (Museum hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday) and features a variety of activities for young and old, including boat rides aboard the schooner Journey, a fascinating exhibit and presentation about piracy on the Great Lakes, model making and games for kids, Capt’n Willie's always entertaining show and more. 

The majority of the event is free, though there is a $1 charge to visit the Maritime Museum, and a $5 dollar charge for the Underground Railroad tour. For more information about the event, visit sanduskymaritime.org or call the museum at 419-624-0274.

Neil Allen, the director of the Maritime Museum, said that this year’s event will feature some new attractions, as well as favorites from past years. “We have an Interlake sailboat planking demonstration that we’re doing on Saturday from 10-2,” he said, illustrating one of the more unique things to take part in this year. “This is a project that we started about a year ago, a joint project with the Maritime Museum and the Sandusky Sailing Club,” Allen explained, “and so we have volunteers from both organizations involved.” He said that the volunteers did the framing for the hull of the boat over the winter, “and now that they’re starting to put the planks on we thought it might be interesting for people to come in and see how that’s done.”

Free boat rides aboard the Journey are always popular for good reason, and the schooner will once again be sailing the Sandusky Bay for the event, but space is very limited. The Journey will depart from the Meigs Street Pier on Saturday at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., but reservations must be made in advance by calling the museum.

“The Underground Railroad trolley tour will be on Saturday at 11 a.m.,” Allen added, “and people can make reservations for that by calling the museum, too.” The Underground Railroad tour costs $5 per person.

Saturday is Pirate Day at Bay Days, and that means a host of pirate related activities for kids, including model pirate shipbuilding that children can participate in for only a $1 museum admission. Capt’n Willie will perform at 2 p.m. on Saturday. “We also have our exhibit Pirates on Lake Erie on display at the museum,” Allen pointed out, “and admission on Saturday and Sunday is just one dollar per person.”

In keeping with the pirate theme, anyone interested in the history of our area will be fascinated by the presentation planned for Sunday afternoon. Bette Lou Higgins with Eden Valley Enterprises will be on hand at 2 o’clock Sunday for a presentation entitled Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Bottle of Rum. “It’s a program about Prohibition in this area and the islands,” Allen explained, “so she’ll also talk about boats that were used by the rum runners, and how they transported alcohol across the Canada- U.S. border during Prohibition.”

All of these activities frame the centerpiece of the weekend, the return of the popular Pirates on Lake Erie exhibit at the Maritime Museum. “We had a lot of interest with the Pirates on Lake Erie exhibit when we put it up a few years ago; but of course we’ve added a lot more to it, including information on the convict ship Success,” Allen explained. “The Confederate rebels had a plot to release the prisoners on Johnson’s Island and in 1864 the rebels hijacked two steamships, Island Queen and Philo Parsons in what was called the Lake Erie Conspiracy. They planned to release the Confederate officers on Johnson’s Islands, and then capture Sandusky and make it the Confederate capital of the North. Fortunately the Union officers aboard the U.S. Gunboat Michigan found about the plot and were able to stop it.”

Make sure to check out this exhibit to learn exactly what happened, and how close Sandusky came to being part of the Confederacy.

Bay Days is a great family event that combines some fun games and activities for kids with local history in a way that is fun for everyone. “Of course Capt’n Willie is always a hit with kids and adults, and the program on Prohibition should be of interest to a lot of people,” Allen agreed. So come down for your last chance to get a free boat ride until next spring, take in some history, and help support the Maritime Museum of Sandusky.