Antique Car Parade

Picture of Antique Car ParadeFrom Langram Road to Downtown

Put-in-Bay Along Delaware Avenue

The Put-in-Bay Antique Car Parade is a Put-in-Bay Tradition.

Back in the 1990s. Charles “Skip” Duggan and friends co-started the famous Sunday afternoon antique car parades. Everyone who had an antique and/or vintage car joined the show and had fun. The condition was not important; having fun was!

Since then, each Sunday afternoon, island car owners gather at the old Twine Shanty on Langram Ave. (just north and east of the Miller Ferry dock). A pre-parade party ensues, followed by the singing of the National Anthem before departing for the town!

Around 2:00 p.m., the parade starts, and the Put-in-Bay Police lead a tour of the island. As the procession approaches the downtown area, the children gather along the route, anxiously awaiting that candy truck to round the corner! Adults and locals gather to see what new cars may be in this weekend edition of the Antique Car Parade. After the parade, island business owners and residents host the antique car parade participants at a post-parade party.

Put-in-Bay Antique Car Parade Route

The parade departs from the twine shanty near the Miller Ferry and heads east and then North on Put-in-Bay Road. The lead car is an antique police car (Andy Griffith’s Mayberry Police Car Replica), followed by the antique fire trucks. The vehicles progressively follow from this point onward. The very last two vehicles are usually the Candy Truck (and yes, they have people throwing out candy from the back for the kids!!!) and an official Put-in-Bay police cruiser.

From here, they sometimes make a loop down Trenton to Westshore and back up Mitchell if there are a lot of cars in the parade that day, but usually, they go straight down Catawba until they hit the Perry Family Fun Center. At this point, they enter and go around the War of 18 Holes Put-Put Course, get back on Catawba for a second, then go around the parking lot in Heineman’s Winery, across the access road, and shoot down Catawba into downtown. By now, hopefully, you have found a beautiful spot downtown to sit and watch! Check out the Edgewater Hotel for a high viewing point!

Once downtown on Delaware Avenue, this is where the big crowds of people usually are. The police have cordoned off the streets, and the parade moves down Delaware Ave, then up Hartford, down the bay drive (OH-357), and around the Put-in-Bay Docks And Marinas. Continuing past the Boardwalk and The Crews Nest and does a double-back at Oak Point State Park. The cars sometimes come back downtown for a second loop around DeRivera Park, but this depends on who the post-parade sponsor is.

FACT: There are more vintage, antique, and classic vehicles per capita on South Bass Island than anywhere else in the world! Classic and Historical cars parade the island route and downtown every Sunday afternoon and holidays starting at around 2 pm.

A Note About The Put-in-Bay Antique Car Parade Founder

Charles “Skip” Duggan, 66, of Put-in-Bay, Ohio, passed Friday, January 19, 2007, at the University of Toledo Medical Center. He was born June 3, 1940, at Put-in-Bay, the son of the late Lyle C. and Doris V. (Faulkner) Duggan. He married Sharon Lunt on October 29, 1960. Skip was a former Captain for the Miller Boat Line and a commercial ice fisherman who founded Island Bike Rental and Island Transportation.

In 1988, he purchased Parker Boat Line and started the Jet Express Co. in 1989, and he bought the Perry Cave in 2000. He was a member of St. Paul Episcopal Church, Put-in-Bay, and a Past Trustee of DeRivera Park. Those in the island community sorely miss him, as it seems he touched us all in one way or another. Each Sunday, the Antique Car Parade lives on in his memory.