Ohioans love to party.  So this former Clevelander ended summer with Labor Day at Kelleys Island, a hard partying destination in Lake Erie. Here’s where to get the best beer, perch basket and marina view on Kelleys. And why you should never, ever rent a golf cart.

My family used to go to Kelleys Island at least once a summer when I was a child.  We camped at the state park, idled on the beach and played horseshoes (while parents drank at the winery). We were almost like locals – scoffing at the people who cruised from one side of the island to the other in rented golf carts.

In all the years I visited, though, I never noticed what the Lake Erie islands are famous for — partying. Ah, the innocence of childhood.  Another island, Put-in-Bay or South Bass Island, is known for its riotous bar scene. It’s a popular destination with bachelorette parties, for example. But some of that hard drinking culture has come to Kelleys. It’s “downtown” is an array of dive bars — all serving Great Lakes beers. And the place is so small that you can walk — or better yet, tipsly drive a golf cart — from one pub to the next.

Where to go:

The Village Pump: (301 Lakeshore Drive) The bar loses points for not having any decent beers on tap. The place is dark, grimy and one of those dives that serves all three big beers — Miller, Bud, Coors — as if there were any difference between the brews. However, this bar does have the island’s best Lake Erie perch, a small fish native to the lake. It’s breaded, fried and stuck over a  basket of fries. Excellent.

Kelleys Island Brewery: (504 West Lakeshore Drive) What’s a family owned business to do when the ferry terminus across the street shuts down, causing revenue at their ice cream shop to plummet? Open a brewery. KIB’s menu described it as a favorite destination with “beer travelers,” a phrase that manages to sum up this blog. So, if KIB is made for We’re Out of Here, what’s not to love? Well, the beer was watery, and they were sold out of almost everything. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to the end of summer.

Dockers: I never noticed Dockers before this trip. Maybe, it’s new. Or maybe it failed to grab my attention because it didn’t have the bawdy acoustic guitar player, the world’s worst cover band or a bunch of drunk, middle-aged boaters as it did last weekend.  Dockers did, however, have a nice view of the marina and the cheapest drinks we found: $6 for a draft beer and gin and tonic. You’ll need that booze though, if you are going to sit through the band’s off-key rendition of Tom Petty’s “Refugee.”

West Bay Inn - The party here was so rowdy that we didn’t even go in.  One glimpse of the hoard of golf carts parked in the lot, and we fled. Later, while sitting at the Kelleys Island Brewery, we watched revelers, wearing paper party hats, speed and shout as they cruised their carts through the center of town.

Read more about partying in Ohio here.