Joseph S. Pete

• Northwest Indiana's beaches are against seeing a strong summer season after a record-setting start to the summer. The summer beach season is essential to Northwest Indiana's tourism industry, which generates more than $1.6 billion in economic impact for Lake, Porter and LaPorte Counties.

• Thousands have flocked to the Lake Michigan shoreline for recent events like the Singing Sands Sandcastle Festival and the Xinsurance Great Lakes Grand Prix in Michigan City, which LaPorte County Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Jack Arnet estimates may have brought $30 million in economic impact before it wrapped up Sunday.

• More than 1.5 million people visited Washington Park last year, and more than 2 million people visited all of LaPorte County's beaches, generating $150 million

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