Goodtime anchored in Sandusky for 5 more years

SANDUSKY — A new long-term deal ensures a ferry remains anchored on Jackson Street Pier for years to come. Sandusky city commissioners and operators for Lake Erie Island Cruises, widely known as the Goodtime I, recently came to terms on a new five-year lease through Nov. 15, 2024. The previous agreement between both parties expired in fall 2019. The most noteworthy contractual item involves a lease payment, totaling $15,000 over a five-year period. These funds go toward constructing a new ticket house, primarily for Goodtime passengers, on the pier. A new agreement also ensures the Goodtime can continue offering its bevy of trips — the Friday Night Party, Sunset Bay and Daytime Island Hopping cruises, among others — throughout the lease's duration, all departing from downtown Sandusky. Previous iterations of leases between both parties never reached a length of five years. For instance, the most recent lease only covered two years: 2018 and 2019. John Storey, the city's economic development specialist, explained why the new agreement covers three additional years. "The city typically prefers longer-termed leases," he said. "The previous two-year lease was to allow the Goodtime to make it through the Jackson Street Pier construction and to provide the Goodtime time to determine their future plans and their willingness to enter into a longer-term agreement, which, of course, they are willing to do." Storey also explained why he and his governmental colleagues feel confident about giving out such an agreement to the Goodtime. "The Goodtime has been a staple amenity at the Jackson Street Pier," Storey said. "We are fortunate for the opportunity to ensure another five-year run, minimally. The continuation of the Goodtime and experience it provides on a fully reinvented Jackson Street Pier solidifies Sandusky's place as one of the Great Lakes' best tourist destinations." Joe Lamb, the Goodtime's owner and operator, is thrilled with the new deal. "The Goodtime has been part of Sandusky for the past 35-plus years serving Sandusky and the Lake Erie islands, and I want to continue its history, connecting Sandusky and what Lake Erie has to offer," Lamb said. Ongoing construction on Jackson Street Pier, a project totaling about $8.1 million, should end by mid-May. At this time, the pier and its amenities, including the Goodtime I, should debut in its renovated space.