A Day at Bob-Lo

Set in the mid 60s, A Day at Bob-lo is a 24 hour odyssey that captures the lives of Americans and Canadians as they meet and mingle on a hot summer day at an amusement park on an island in the Detroit River. The action begins in the wee hours of the morning at the Detroit dock as the Night Gang crew of the SS Columbia struggle to clean up the ship for the coming day. A sense of mystery is introduced as one of the gang senses an apparition in the river's haze. The morning unfolds with the introduction of crew members, entertainers, island employees and park patrons - as they make their way onto the Bob-lo scene. Soon the boat is on its way for its 90 minute cruise from downtown Detroit to the island and the fun begins amidst ominous portents. The afternoon is full of adventures of both the expected and unexpected variety as the paths of many of the players cross as the day heats up. A summer squall comes out of nowhere to nearly drive the ship ashore and threatens to close the park. But, as the sun and heat return and the rides restart, the strange events begin to build toward a reaction stage: The ship is experiencing a shifting channel; the company mascot, Captain Bob-lo, has gotten into the bandleader's dago red and begins to morph into a legendary being out of the city's past; The Columbia's First Mate enters into counter warfare with his nemesis, the Purser; and the dj of CKLW radio, doing a farewell live remote from the island, discovers that his engineer is on the way to Bob-lo with the intent of doing him great bodily harm. As darkness falls, the players merge at the park's infamous roller coaster for a last ride with the coolly pathological operator Eddie before getting on the last boat home. The boat ride is even more fraught with peril and, as the hijacked SS Columbia drifts powerless towards a radio tower dangling over the river, we know that this has been no ordinary day at Bob-lo Island. It is left to Nick and Tom, the bike boys, to try to save the day while winning the girls away from the Night Gang.
About the Author: Patrick Livingston is a native of Detroit who visited Bob-lo Island park almost every summer until it closed in 1993. During his formative years, he explored the island from tip to tip (including the forbidden fenced-off areas). In the gray seasons he would sometimes walk across the Ambassador Bridge and catch a bus to Amherstburg where he would while away hours staring across the river imagining the silent park into life. One of the highlights of his early life came upon being hired as a crew member of the Bob-lo boat SS Columbia. The Columbia became one of the ships he profiled in his book Eight Steamboats - Sailing Through the Sixties, selected as a Michigan Notable Book of 2005. With that book successfully launched, Livingston began work on his next work Summer Dreams - The Story of Bob-lo Island which was also selected as a Michigan Notable Book in 2009. In spite of his Bob-lo fixation and steamboat experiences, Mr. Livingston matriculated from Monteith College of Wayne State University and joined the US Peace Corps as an agricultural technician in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Upon return to the states he began a career with Michigan State University's Extension Service as an educator with the Michigan Sea Grant and 4H Youth Programs. Mr. Livingston now divides his time writing and assisting with the Great Lakes Education Program and Summer Discovery Cruises in the Detroit River and Lake Erie. He is currently working on a manuscript about his five decades of work in Nepal.