J&M Excursions in Miller rents out boats on Miller Lagoon, Staff photo by Joseph S. Pete
Pedal boat rentals are coming to Miller.
J&M Excursions started as an ecotourism company in Gary's lakefront Miller neighborhood during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The married couple Jeffrey G. Smith and McKenya Dilworth Smith launched it to get people out to enjoy the great outdoors.
"We were getting cabin fever, " Jeffrey Smith said.
They started out renting kayaks and canoes to be taken out on the Miller Lagoon just south of Lake Michigan. J&M Excursions, which bears both their first initials in its name, offers self-guided and guided tours of the body of water near the Marquette Park Pavilion and the Miller Woods in the Indiana Dunes National Park. The lagoons in Marquette Park are the headwaters of the East Branch of the Grand Calumet River, which flows from Lake Michigan to the Indiana Harbor Canal in East Chicago.
The business has grown to rent out more than a dozen kayaks and more canoes every summer. Now it's expanding its inventory to include pedal boats for leisurely trips on the lagoon.
"Being on the water is so therapeutic for me. Nature is healing and relaxing," McKenya Dilworth Smith said.
The business will rent out boats from Memorial Day weekend through the first week of September. All are equipped with a life vest, radio and first aid kit.
It also will host youth workers from the MBTP Youth Employment Initiative this summer.
"If you have school groups, family gatherings or just want to relax alone on the water, we are here to service you," Jeffrey Smith said.
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