Chicago Scene Publisher Takes Boat Party to Hammond

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 5, 2011 3:00PM

Following up on his stated intentions, Chicago Scene magazine publisher Ted Widen is moving his planned "boat party" to Hammond, IN, leading scores of boat owners and attendees wondering if Lake Michigan stretches that far south.

Widen told Crain's Sha Kapos that he refuses to pay permit fees required by the city to host this year's event north of Chicago Avenue Beach - fees Widen said he hasn't had to pay in the past. Widen also has his sponsors to consider in the move. City rules prevent signage on Lake Shore Drive and boats participating in the boat party were hanging signs with the event's sponsors last year.

This year's event will be held at 95th Street and the lake, just over the border and near a yacht yard with transient slip rates of $35-$65 per day. Widen is still shooting for a Guinness World Record for a boat tie-up with his boat party. "We had no choice," he wrote on the Boat Party web page.

Actually, Widen had a choice and he made it. In doing so, he prevented the "playpen" north of the Water Filtration plant from being even more packed with this.