(LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ) -- Lighthouse International Film Society presents a screening of Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale on Thursday, October 27 at Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences (120 Long Beach Blvd in Loveladies). Boblo Island, the site of one of America's earliest amusement parks, sparked the imagination of Detroiters and Ontarians for more than 85 years. Passengers by the thousands reached the island by way of two sister steamships, SS Columbia and Ste Claire.
The screening begins at 7:30pm. Admission is $10 online and $12 at the door. Click here to purchase tickets.
But times and tastes change, so by 1993 Boblo Island was shut down and abandoned; the iconic vessels left to rot and ruin. Mirroring Detroit's decline, and its more recent resurgence, Boblo Boats follows the various players—a medical doctor, a telepathic psychic, and former amusement park employee—who come together to save their beloved steamship from the scrapyard.
Weaving together archival photos and first-hand accounts of the parks’ care-free days, Boblo Boats keeps the past close by while introducing us to the gargantuan, often heart-breaking undertaking needed for its restoration.
Walking a narrative tightrope—accommodating rosy memories of Boblo Island without neglecting the cruel history of segregation in America—the film pays homage to the forgotten civil rights hero Sarah E. Ray, who forced the integration of Boblo Island in 1945.
Although Ms. Ray’s story has long been omitted from Detroit history, it was part of the NAACP's road to the seminal Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ended the separate but equal doctrine in 1954. And due to the filmmakers' efforts, her former home was recently chosen by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Produced by Steve Bannatyne, Isabel Sandoval, Jayil Pak and Jason Wehling, Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale is beautifully narrated by Motown recording artist, Martha Reeves.
LIFSociety would like to thank their sponsors: Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Foundation, ReClam the Bay and Ocean County Chamber of Commerce.
The 15th Annual Lighthouse International Film Festival will take place June 8-11, 2023.
