Lake Effect

Let's Visit with Peggy Debien, curator of the Ottawa County Museum. This former U.S. Navy officer grew up in Port Clinton, left and returned home. And now she knows, and catalogs, everything Ottawa County and Lake Erie.

In this episode, James checks in with 92-year-old Bob Reynolds, whose grandfather founded the Matthews Boat Company on a little creek in Seneca County but whose boats and yachts became treasured possessions for people around the world. The company also launched wooden boats for the Allies in both world wars. Unfortunately, the advent of fiberglass boats in the 1960s spelled the end for Matthews.

James Proffitt speaks with Scudder Mackey, chief of ODNR's Office of Coastal Management. All things related to where water meets land on Ohio's North Coast.

What began a decade ago as a small end-of-winter gathering has morphed into a massive business-boosting bash that raises thousands of dollars for local charities and culminates with the burning of a 30-foot "snowman" on the shores of Lake Erie. For some businesses, the last Saturday in February is the busiest day of the year.

Let's visit Fremont resident Steve Pollick, retired outdoor editor at the Toledo Blade who spent 40 years bringing all things Lake Erie and outdoors to readers in northwest Ohio.