No "Christmas" This July As Put-in-Bay Emphasizes Safety

The official "Christmas in July" celebration on Put-in-Bay has been thing of the past since the island and businesses stopped promoting it in 2013. 

But Peter Huston, Director of the Put-in-Bay Chamber of Commerce says they're still bracing for big crowds this weekend.

"Fourth weekend in July and the first weekend in August are the most traveled, most visited times for locations all over the country and Put-in-Bay is no different than that," Huston said.

However, as the number of visitors increased and crowds became more unruly, the island last year created the Safe Island Task Force.

"Our mission is to better educate our visitors," Huston said. "They understand this is the state of Ohio, the same rules for traffic exist here as they do in Cleveland or any other place in Ohio. The same thing for drinking and driving, open containers with alcoholic beverages, the smoking of marijuana, all of these things are regulated and enforced here in Put-in-Bay."

Golf carts are allowed on the street in Put-in-Bay, which Huston says can be a surprise for new arrivals to the island. But the rules of the road remain.

"You can't drive a golf cart with alcohol, you can't allow a child underage to drive a golf cart, you can't smoke marijuana in public," Huston said. "All of these different rules are being enforced and we've seen a decrease of issues here on the island."

Put-in-Bay Police are part of the task force and Huston says state and local laws have been fairly enforced.

"People come here and they're not being pulled over [just] because they're on an island," Huston said.

Huston believes the task force has made a difference during this years' peak season.

"I really do feel like we're seeing a much different audience coming to the island," Huston said. "I have seen more families this summer coming to the island than I've seen in a long time."

In February, former Mayor Bernard McCann resigned amid guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges. McCann's children also pleaded guilty. Council President Jessica Dress took over as mayor.

According to Huston, there was no impact to the task force's efforts despite the turnover. The island is made up of a village and township, with two mayors, a village council and township trustees.

"The things going on in the Mayor's office haven't affected that," Huston said. "What we have done is we've created better communication among all of the departments, among our township and our village and our mayors."

Huston says despite the island ending the Christmas in July promotion in 2013, some things just carry on organically. 

The Port Clinton News Herald reported 27 people were arrested during the July 25 weekend last year, with 35,000 tourists visiting the island.