The Michi­gan City Parks & Recre­ation Board will hold their June pub­lic meet­ings on the fol­low­ing dates:

Wednes­day, June 12^th, 2013 at 5 pm in the Coun­cil Cham­bers on the lower level of City Hall

Wednes­day, June 26^th, 2013 at 5 pm in the Coun­cil Cham­bers on the lower level of City Hall

Call for more infor­ma­tion 219.873.1506

The Michi­gan City Parks & Recre­ation Board will hold their May pub­lic meet­ings on the fol­low­ing dates:

Wednes­day, May 15^th, 2013 at 5 pm on the lower level of City Hall

Wednes­day, May 29^th, 2013 at 5 pm on the lower level of City Hall

Call for more infor­ma­tion 219.873.1506

2013 Sum­mer Fes­ti­val Parade — Red, White & Zoo

This year’s parade will help cel­e­brate 225 years of birth­days. Michi­gan City Indiana’s Wash­ing­ton Park Zoo will be cel­e­brat­ing it’s 85^th birth­day this year. This year also marks the 75^th birth­day of the Madi­son Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps of Madi­son, Wis­con­sin. The Cav­a­liers Drum and Bugle Corps of Rose­mont, Illi­nois is cel­e­brat­ing it’s 65^th birth­day in 2013.

Join us as we con­grat­u­late these three great orga­ni­za­tions and honor their many years of ded­i­cated service.

Your cre­ativ­ity is what makes our parade such a big hit! So, put on your think­ing caps and let’s wow our spec­ta­tors once again this year! If you need help or sug­ges­tions, call the parade Chair­man or any Sum­mer Fes­ti­val Board Mem­ber, we’ll be glad to help.

Unit line-​up and num­bers will be listed in the Michi­gan City News Dis­patch a few days prior to the parade. A check point will be at the main Post Office (cor­ner of U.S. High­way 12 and Wash­ing­ton Street) for num­ber ver­i­fi­ca­tion IF NEEDED. Line up num­bers can be found in blocks along the curb. You should removed the num­ber card from the block and place it the right side of your unit. All pre-​judged units, floats, antique vehi­cles, clas­sic cars, auto clubs and fire trucks must be in line by 9 am. Tro­phies will be awarded for pre-​judged units before the parade starts. All oth­ers will be awarded after the parade at the Main Street The­ater located at 807 Franklin Street. Tro­phies not picked up will be avail­able at the Mayor’s office.

Please return your appli­ca­tion as soon as pos­si­ble. We have enclosed a form which should be com­pletely filled out to help the media fol­low along. This is the exact form they will receive so it is to your groups’ advan­tage be as infor­ma­tive as pos­si­ble AND PLEASE WRITE LEG­I­BLY. Be sure to include any area codes and phone num­bers in case the review com­mit­tee needs to con­tact you.

Remem­ber … All rules on your appli­ca­tion will be strictly enforced!

NO THROW­ING OF ANY OBJECTS! NO SPRAY­ING OF ANY TYPE OF WATER ! ! !

A lim­ited num­ber of floats are avail­able for rent. To inquire about this or if you

have any other ques­tions, please check out our web­site at mcsum​mer​fest​.org or

con­tact Parade Chair­man Joe Doyle at (219) 874‑8213.

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Date: April 24, 2013

Michi­gan City In Bloom Announces 2013Contest!

Michi­gan City, IN (March 21, 2012) – Michi­gan City In Bloom is a project run by a com­mit­tee of local vol­un­teers ded­i­cated to pro­mot­ing beau­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams in all areas of Michi­gan City through edu­ca­tion, plant­i­ngs, sweat equity, and envi­ron­men­tal aware­ness. Mayor Meer and the Michi­gan City in Bloom Com­mit­tee extends an invi­ta­tion to all city res­i­dents to par­tic­i­pate in the 4^th annual Michi­gan City in Bloom contest.

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact com­mit­tee mem­ber Julie Man­ner by email at This e-​mail address is being pro­tected from spam­bots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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2013 Wash­ing­ton Park Park­ing Sticker Distribution

The Michi­gan City Park Depart­ment will begin issu­ing the annual Wash­ing­ton Park park­ing stick­ers on Fri­day, March 1, 2013.

Stick­ers will be dis­trib­uted in the Clerk’s Office in City Hall, 100 E. Michi­gan Boule­vard, Michi­gan City, IN 46360.

Hours: Mon­day through Fri­day, 9 am to 4 pm (exclud­ing holidays)

We will also dis­trib­ute stick­ers on Sat­ur­days at the Michi­gan City Port Author­ity in Wash­ing­ton Park begin­ning May 11^th and end­ing July 27^th, 2013. Sat­ur­day hours are 9 am to noon.

Please bring a cur­rent vehi­cle reg­is­tra­tion; a cer­tifi­cate of reg­is­tra­tion will not be accepted, it must be a valid orig­i­nal reg­is­tra­tion card.

If you own prop­erty in the civil city but reside out­side of the civil city lim­its, bring a util­ity bill or tax bill (the name on the bill must match the name on your vehi­cle reg­is­tra­tion) for the city prop­erty along with your cur­rent vehi­cle reg­is­tra­tion and the fee will be waived.

FEES:

• FREE — Civil City Residents
• $ 40 - Indi­ana Residents
• $100 - Out of State
• $ 23 - Senior Cen­ter mem­ber (must show cur­rent mem­ber­ship card)

For more infor­ma­tion, call 219.873.1506.

By Jeremy Kienitz, MC Parks Recre­ation Director

Rip Cur­rents and Beach Safety

Vis­i­tors come to Wash­ing­ton Park beach to enjoy the nat­ural beauty of Lake Michigan’s coast­line. Some enjoy the beach itself, while oth­ers enjoy sun bathing and sights such as the Light­house and Chicago sky­line. Michi­gan City is very for­tu­nate to have such a beau­ti­ful attrac­tion and recre­ational area to spend the sum­mer months with fam­ily and friends. As won­der­ful as it can be, Lake Michi­gan still presents a dan­ger to those who visit in the form of rip currents.

Rip cur­rents are pow­er­ful, chan­neled cur­rents of water flow­ing away from shore. They can occur at any beach with break­ing waves, includ­ing Lake Michi­gan, and they can be deadly. Rip cur­rents are par­tic­u­larly dan­ger­ous for weak or non-​swimmers. Rip cur­rent speeds are typ­i­cally 1 – 2 feet per sec­ond. How­ever, speeds as high as 8 feet per sec­ond have been mea­sured; this is faster than an Olympic swim­mer. Thus, rip cur­rents can sweep even the strongest swim­mer out to sea. The fol­low­ing tips could save your life.

• Swim at a life­guard pro­tected beach
• Never swim alone
• Be cau­tious at all times! If in doubt, don’t go out!
• Obey all instruc­tions and orders from life­guards. Life­guards are trained to iden­tify poten­tial haz­ards. Ask a life­guard about the con­di­tions before enter­ing the water.
• Stay at least 400 feet away from piers and jet­ties. Per­ma­nent rip cur­rents often exist along­side these structures.
• Pay espe­cially close atten­tion to chil­dren and elderly when at the beach. Even in shal­low water, wave action can cause loss of footing.

If you are ever caught in a rip cur­rent, remain calm to con­serve energy and think clearly. Never try to fight the cur­rent or swim against it as you will tire quickly and become fatigued. To remove your­self from a rip cur­rent swim par­al­lel to shore. When out of the cur­rent swim at an angle, away from it, towards the shoreline.

Rip cur­rents cause more than 100 deaths annu­ally in the United States and cause 80% of all res­cues by beach life­guards. These sta­tis­tics show the impor­tance of always adher­ing to warn­ings and beach clos­ings. The Wash­ing­ton Park Life­guard Staff is avail­able for infor­ma­tion while on duty Memo­r­ial Day through Labor Day. Please take the oppor­tu­nity to ask them ques­tions about the con­di­tions prior to enter­ing the water. It will help keep you safe and could save your life!

CEL­E­BRATE YOUR LOVE OF THE GREAT LAKES!

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