The Cleveland Foundation is providing 6,000 free tickets for people to board the Goodtime III, for its “Weekends on the Water” event.
Passengers will go for an hour-long cruise where recent developments along Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River will be highlighted, as well as invited to discuss water quality and conservation efforts.
John Grabowski is a history professor at Case Western. He says the cruises will give locals a chance to see Cleveland from an alternative perspective they may never have considered before, or have had a chance to experience.
“You’re not hearing the street sounds, you’re not hearing the horns, you’re not hearing the noise. The aural aspect -- if you will – of the city, is absent. And all you have around you is sorta the lake lapping at the boat or the sound of the engine, if the boat is moving. It’s a different way. And…it’s not Zen, but it is a separation that allows you to think more deeply.”
Grabowski says the local waterways have a history that may elude those who haven’t experienced it or read up on it. He says if he could, he’d like to view Cleveland in the 1900s…through much of the past century.
“The air pollution was extraordinary at that point, there was no smoke abatement ordinances. If you were at that point viewing the city from –just let’s say -- opposite the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, you would notice, something you’d still notice today - an extreme difference in color between the lake water and the water that was spilling out the Cuyahoga at that time, because it was extraordinarily polluted.”
While that aspect of Lake Erie has greatly dwindled, others live on. Grabowsky says the recently-launched Cleveland to Antwerp cargo line is a continuance of the seaport commerce that appealed to city founders.
The Weekends on the Water cruises will be held Saturday, September 13th and Sunday, September 28th. Tickets became available last Friday.