The Christmas in July weekend at Put-in-Bay has become a popular destination for boaters and party-goers for years. The Christmas themed weekend attracts tourist to from Cleveland and Michigan to enjoy all the South Bass Islands festivities. Some stay at hotels, and condo's, while boaters fill the marinas along the Put-in-Bay shoreline for a weekend transit.

South Bass Island, in Lake Erie, Ohio, is home to Put-in-Bay—the Midwest’s favorite island vacation destination. The island often referred to as the "Key West of Lake Erie", is approximately 3.7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide - draw over 750,000 tourist yearly. Visitors often rent bikes, golf-carts to get around to island and enjoy recreation activities such as: parasailing, jet skis, go-carts, wine-tasting, pool parties, night clubs and more.

The '12-hour turn-Up' is how I would describe "Christmas in July" for visitors who travel to the island with no hotel accommodations. People can ride the ferry as early as 6:00 a.m. to get to South Bass Island, rent a golf-cart, enjoy as many activities as possible before the last ferry heads back to the mainland.

FIGHT ON THE FERRY

Catawba Island Police Chief John Gangway said fights began on South Bass Island and spilled over to the Ferry Boats transporting passengers back to shore.

3,000 and 4,000 people flooded the Miller ferry docks by 8:45 p.m. to catch the last ferry boats back, when more scuffles broke out.

Miller Boat Line co-owner Bill Market says he believes the incident on the ferry started with an argument between two females over what he described as personal matters.

"The majority of passengers were well-behaved, but unfortunately we will have disagreements when you have large crowds of people," Market said. "I would by no means describe it as a brawl since it only involved two people and was dissolved in a short, timely matter."

One man, who visits the islands frequently wrote, “You would have lost your mind. Complete disrespect for the island, property and law. The fact that extra security was brought in says enough. I visit this island a lot and this will be my absolute last time when the tour buses visit….I just don’t understand why folks can’t just come enjoy the island, respect it and leave it the way you found it. Sad."

"The difference from last year is that the numbers of buses was more sporadic," Gangway said. "This year it seemed like all the buses got there at the same time."

Gangway said there were around 40 buses near the Miller Ferry dock in Catawba that created traffic and crowd control issues.

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