A 'Goodtime' for a change

KELLEYS ISLAND — People can still have a good time on Kelleys Island.They just can't do so boarding the Goodtime I boat on Friday nights.Effective this year, the company's popular Friday Night Party Cruise — casually referred to as the "booze cruise" — won't stop at Kelleys Island.Instead the scheduled voyage heads a bit farther west, ushering 200-plus passengers each week to Put-in-Bay. The first such trip took place Friday night prior to Memorial Day.Goodtime's operators didn't raise the rate, equaling $25.50, despite a trip to Put-in-Bay taking twice as long from its starting point at Jackson Street Pier in downtown Sandusky.For a one-way trip, it takes the Goodtime about two hours to arrive in Put-in-Bay from downtown Sandusky. This year's trips call for the boat leaving Sandusky at 7 p.m., arriving to Put-in-Bay at 9 p.m. and leaving at midnight before finally returning at about 2 a.m."It was just time for a change," Goodtime's owner Joe Lamb said. "We asked our clientele what they wanted to do and if they would rather see us go to Put-in-Bay or Kelleys. We had a 90 percent return of people wanting to go to Put-in-Bay."Lamb added the Goodtime will still make trips to Kelleys Island for its Daytime Island Hopping Cruise package and select Sundays, including for many Cleveland Browns games.The Goodtime I, which departs from downtown Sandusky, will no longer travel to Kelleys Island for its Friday Night Party Cruises. It will instead head to Put-in-Bay.While the additional foot traffic aided Kelleys Island's businesses, bars and restaurants, not all village merchants welcomed boat passengers."The crowd that came over specifically to drink was a little bit more rowdy than the crowds we normally have here," said Ed Terry, the Kelleys Island Chamber of Commerce's president. "Everyone who lives here knows on Friday nights it was completely different than on Saturday nights, and it was because of the boat."Terry said some people grew worried, and even became fearful, for their safety."There was just a lot of people, with a lot of alcohol in their systems, coming over, and a lot of people weren't happy with that," Terry said.Lamb defended his business, claiming the vast majority of his passengers never caused one problem for Kelleys Island, its residents or businesses."It's easy to blame the boat for a problem," Lamb said. "It was time to come to a point and try something different."Reach reporter Andy Ouriel at ouriel@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @AndyOuriel.The Goodtime I, which departs from downtown Sandusky, will no longer travel to Kelleys Island for its Friday Night Party Cruises. It will instead head to Put-in-Bay.