Lakeside Summer Fun

Imagine a place where freshly made donuts accompany the sunrise, arts classes unleash creativity, live music sparks singing and dancing, lifelong learning expands the mind, a dip in the pool refreshes, and wholesome family fun creates lasting memories.

Imagine a place where kids can be kids, and there’s plenty to do if you want to keep busy or completely unplug for the ultimate respite. It’s a place where you can meet new families and friends, ride bikes, relax along the lake, and everyone can learn something new. Too good to be true? Not at all.

Lakeside Chautauqua

For nearly 150 years, Lakeside Chautauqua has provided rest, renewal, and reinvigoration for all ages. Tucked away on the Marblehead Peninsula, just one hour west of Cleveland, this hidden gem along Lake Erie is the perfect destination for a week-long vacation, weekend getaway, or day trip.

Within the one-square-mile community of Lakeside, you’ll find hundreds of unique Victorian cottages, a concert auditorium, arts center, historic waterfront hotel, movie theater, pool, splash park, shuffleboard, tennis, pickleball, sailing, shopping, dining and much more.

Nurture mind, body & spirit

At the heart of the Lakeside experience, and what makes it truly different from a typical vacation spot, is the summer programming – a perfect balance to nurture mind, body, and spirit. Choose from any combination of cultural arts, educational, recreational, and spiritual programs to create a vacation with a purpose.

Where else can your family play shuffleboard, visit an art show, listen to a live concert, walk Ohio’s Most Beautiful Mile, take in a view of the Lake Erie Islands, experience an engaging lecture, listen to a preacher, and take a tennis lesson all in the same day?

Live entertainment

The Chautauqua community is abuzz in the summertime with cultural arts performances for all ages and an incredible lineup of entertainers, musicians, artists, illusionists, and lecturers. This year, Lakeside welcomes its own Lakeside Symphony Orchestra for a series of concerts (select dates), Columbus Zoo ‘Animal Ambassadors’ (Aug. 3), Comedian Preacher Lawson (Aug. 6), We Are Messengers (Aug. 13), The Grass Roots (Aug. 27), Mercury: The Music of Queen & Freddie Mercury (Sept. 3) and many more.

These performances, held in Lakeside’s historic 2-600-seat Hoover Auditorium or the Steele Memorial Bandstand overlooking Lake Erie, are included in the price of Lakeside’s daily admission.

After Labor Day weekend, when the gated season ends, there’s still much to see and do in Lakeside. Girl Named Tom, the recent winner of NBC’s “The Voice,” will take the stage of Hoover Auditorium at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. General admission concert tickets are on sale for $30. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lakesideohio.com/girlnamedtom.

Lifelong learning

To expand your mind, and have fun while doing it, Lakeside offers many lifelong learning opportunities for all ages and interests.

The hallmark of Lakeside’s education experience is the Chautauqua Lecture Series. Each week, experts in their field present on a variety of topics: The Supreme Court (Aug. 1-5), Environmental Sustainability (Aug. 8-12), Comic Strips & Political Cartoons (Aug. 15-19), Award-Winning Documentaries (Aug. 22-16), and more. To view theme weeks, visit lakesideohio.com/summerfun.  

Families and children can also add learning to their summer vacation. With science, music, history, and literature, the diverse programs allow you to interact and learn about the world together, all while having fun. Plus, a unique combination of fine arts classes is offered each week at the Rhein Center in areas such as glass, pottery, literature, dance, painting, music, and photography.

Recreation & wellness

The perfect setting for recreation and wellness along Lake Erie, enjoy family fun at the miniature golf course or shuffleboard courts, play a game of basketball or sand volleyball, cool off the kids at the splash pad, workout at the Wellness Center, rent a kayak or paddleboard, play at several parks and playgrounds across the grounds, enjoy a pickleball or tennis match, and make a splash in the pool or lake.

Accommodations for all budgets

Lakeside offers a variety of unique and charming accommodations – from the historic Hotel Lakeside and contemporary Fountain Inn to weekly cottage rentals, campground, and bed & breakfasts. To view available accommodations, visit lakesideohio.com/summerfun.

Admission & parking 

This vacation hotspot requires guests and residents to purchase a Chautauqua Pass and Auto Pass to enter the grounds during the summer programming season, May 27-Sept. 5, 2022. There are a variety of Chautauqua Passes and Auto Passes to choose from depending on the length of your stay.

Purchasing a Chautauqua Pass includes admittance to the grounds, as well as access to entertainment in Hoover Auditorium, the pool (on a first-come, first-served basis), Wellness Center, and a variety of cultural arts, educational, recreational, and spiritual experiences.

Plus, your Chautauqua Pass is valid from the time of purchase until 7 p.m. the following day, which means you get to experience practically two days of summertime fun for the price of one.

To provide this one-of-a-kind Lakeside experience to families at an affordable cost, children ages 4 & under and guests ages 90 & older enjoy free admission. To view 2022 admission and parking fees, visit lakesideohio.com/admission.