Category Archives: Uncategorized

PIB Township Park District Outlines Projects The Lake Erie Islands Conservancy (LEIC) and Put-in-Bay Township Park District have partnered on a major conservation project on South Bass Island (Put-in-Bay, Ohio): The partnership involves a three part acquisition program. The total project is over 30 acres. Part 1: The Duff Woods Preserve has been completed and is open to the public. The Preserve is 13.5 acres of island forest and karst features (wild cave, sinkholes, rock outcrops) with a trail and small parking area. Part 2: The protection of 6.5 acres of property close to downtown Put-in-Bay. This site includes the...

PIB Alumnus Attempting To Set World Record for Fastest Journey Across U.S. by Plane Aaron Wilson, Put-in-Bay High School Class of 1999, and Barry Behnfeldt will depart on June 4th from Andrews University Airpark in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in Behnfeldt’s 1980 Piper Saratoga six-seat airplane to attempt to set the world record for the fastest journey by plane through all 48 contiguous United States in less than 48 hours. They are calling their journey 48N48. Both pilots attended Bowling Green State University – Wilson Class of 2004 and Behnfeldt Class of 1983. The duo hopes this world-record attempt will help...

PIB Panther Girls Take 4th Great Lakes Islands Tournament Basketball Championship The Put-in-Bay Panther Lady Basketball Team came out on top for the fourth time in a row playing in Great Lakes Islands Tournaments. This year they beat the Islanders from Washington Island and the Beaver Island Bucks. Both islands are in lake Michigan. Mackinac Island was scheduled to play, but had to back out. The Panthers were victorious 37-26 against Beaver Island, and 44-10 over Washington island! Top Panther scorers for the tournament were Ava Heineman with 26 points and Lilian Frederick with 17 points. The Panther boys split...

Sheriff Takes Over Policing PIB Township It’s official! The Put-in-Bay Township Trustees, Matt Miller, Eric Engel and Chris Cooper, officially contracted with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department on December 13th to provide police services for the next three years starting January 1st, 2023. After several weeks of negotiations with the Village to provide that service, the Trustees ultimately signed with the Sheriff a contract that could cost upwards of $750,000 per year. Last year, the Trustees paid the Village in the neighborhood of $300,000 per year, but were not happy with the service, primarily because Middle Bass did not have...

2022 – A Year of Change! No matter what the year, there are always changes at Put-in-Bay. This year, the changes were in spades! Diagonal parking on PIB’s main street, Delaware Ave., and diverting traffic one-way east, were the first major changes since the street went to “golf cart parking only” more than 20 years ago. A post on social media read, “This latest parking gimmick just tops off a whole season of stupidity!” Speaking of golf carts, we heard more “We have too many golf carts on the island” comments than ever. Miller Boat Line’s new ferry M/V Mary...

  Great Lakes Island Alliance – Kelleys Island Day By Jackie Taylor Editor’s Note: Jackie’s article about the Great Lakes Islands Alliance Summit only covers just one of three full days of events. The first day there were events on South and Middle Bass Islands, and the last day was a trip to Pelee Island. Each day was equally busy. The 4th Great Lakes Islands Alliance Summit (GLIA) was held on the Lake Erie Islands from October 2nd to 5th, 2022. The GLIA Summit is a unique event that brings together island leaders, residents, and advocates from across the region...

Who’s Busy Traveling? This winter, island folks have been out traveling as usual. Most recently many took off for the winter break at the end of February. Among those were Karen and Mark Wilhelm who flew from the Florida Keys out to the Dry Tortugas on a seaplane with their daughter Jacqueline’s family. Also in the Keys were John and Patricia Fisher. Others in Florida were the Greg and Bobbi Dobos family who were in Daytona and Kissimmee; Barry and Phoebe Koehler’s family visited Jeff and Kendra Koehler in Perdido Key and then headed to Crystal River where Ryan and...

Destination Development Grants Available Again in Erie and Ottawa Counties A popular matching grant program is available for the purpose of assisting Erie and Ottawa County businesses, organizations, and communities in developing activities or projects that will attract and engage visitors, serve and educate regional tourism partners, and generate economic growth for their communities and the region through travel and tourism development. The Shores & Islands Ohio Destination Development Grants will be awarded to Erie and Ottawa County organizations again in 2023 and are in addition to the organization’s sponsorship grant programs which will also continue. The Erie County Destination...

Kelleys Island News By Leslie Korenko The holidays are behind us and we look forward to a quiet couple of months of winter. By now, the ferry has probably stopped running (remember I write this around the 20th). What a great Christmas present; the KIFBL gifted us with a free shopping trip. Cars are already moved over to the airport in anticipation of those unexpected trips off island this winter. So now we find most of our news on Facebook. We get to visit with the school kids (it is amazing how creative they are) and we catch up with...