THREE-DAY SPECIAL EVENT

Steamboat Rides during Lake Fest 2025

July 25-27, 2025

30-minute rides will be offered approximately every 45 minutes beginning at 11:00 AM daily. Cost is $25/adults and $20/kids (age 13 and younger). Tickets must be purchased online. No cash transactions will be available on-site.

Note: The steamboat is not handicap accessible. A dockside steam demonstration can be scheduled by emailing [email protected] in advance with your desired day and time of visit.

Thank you to our 2025 sponsors: Hesston Steam Museum (LaPorte), The Museum at Lassen's Resort (Cedar Lake), and additional generous donors.

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The Alabama No. 4 steam launch is a converted lifeboat from the SS Alabama, a steamship that cruised the Great Lakes from 1910-1946. In 1961, when the SS Alabama was being converted for use as a barge, the Alabama No. 4 lifeboat was salvaged. It features a 1910 Engberg 3.5 hp steam engine installed in 1998 with a Lattner 5 hp boiler fired by kerosene delivered through an enclosed burner system. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has jurisdiction over inland bodies of water and is the licensing authority for passenger-for-hire vessels. The Alabama No. 4 is the only passenger-for-hire steamboat licensed to operate in the state of Indiana. Ted Rita, Hesston Steam Museum Executive Director, and Julie Zasada, Cedar Lake Historical Association (CLHA) Executive Director, have been operating the vessel since 2021 on Cedar Lake at CLHA's The Museum at Lassen's Resort. The Dewey Line Resort History cruise experience on Cedar Lake has earned three awards:

-2022 American Association for State & Local History Albert B. Corey Award

-2022 Indiana Historical Society Outstanding Collaborative Project Award

-2022 Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest Team Award