Marquette Park Pavilion — Attraction in Calumet Township

I wrote a review on Facebook but they deleted my post. So I will repost it on Facebook and I am writing a review here. First off this place is truly beautiful. I love what they did with the place and Dolly Harris is truly amazing. She is the person at the front desk. That is all I can say. The management at this facility is absolutely atrocious, horrible, unprofessional, and has the potential to ruin your wedding plans. I visited this facility early June 2016 looking for a venue to have my wedding at. I thought I found it here until I began to ask for pricing. I worked for a month and a half trying to get some pricing to no avail. I emailed the caterer and pavilion and the Gary Parks and Recs department and still got no where. I received a response back today from the caterer but this is 2 months later. The manager Tiffany is the absolute worst and attempts to deny even knowing about me and my attempts to book this facility. Although the pricing is online for Marquette Park Pavilion there is no pricing for upgrades (all upgrades go through the caterer). I received the run around for 2 months and received a Facebook response from Tiffany saying that she is sorry for my experience and to call her on her work line...Ummm you are sorry?? I still haven't heard back from you from the other attempts I made a month ago. I have emails to prove that I have attempted numerous times. Overall I am truly saddened by this place because it could have been my wedding and reception venue. Unfortunately I can not trust this place nor am I comfortable with entrusting my most important day and thousands of dollars on inadequate, poorly managed, irresponsible, uncaring, liars (I use this word due to your attempt to act like you knew nothing about my simple request for a quote). DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE AT MARQUETTE PARK PAVILLION IN GARY INDIANA!!! Poorly managed and there is no support from Gary Parks and Recs if you take it to a higher level. These people have the potential to make your special day into a nightmare!!! Go somewhere else where you will...

Wow. This is not the Gary, Indiana that people tell you about. I came up here just to take a short walk on the beach and was blown away by the beauty of the whole area. The historic buildings, the swamp, the gardens, all of it.

Gorgeous wildflowers blooming everywhere, lots of plaques and statues and history to explore, and of course the beach itself. You could see the Chicago skyline off in the distance. Everything was very clean for the most part.

I went on a weekday, but it was summer and the weather was gorgeous, so I was surprised there weren't more people there. I parked near the pavilion to avoid the fee, and realized on my way back that I wasn't supposed to (there was a sign that said "no beach parking"). I probably spent more time wandering around in that area than I did at the beach, honestly. It was just so scenic with everything in bloom.

Concession stand prices weren't bad, either. Thought it was funny that they served cocktails and had a little cocktail garden. Fitting to a day at the...

I have visited the beach at this location many, many times. This was the first time I've ever been asked to pay to park in the lot. The young lady(?) standing at the gate flagged me down as I entered and popped her sucker out of her mouth long enough to inform me that "it's $5 to park." Nothing official, no sign or anything...just someone standing near the gate. I informed her that I would be leaving, which I did, but I stopped right next to the restaurant and observed the same young person wave two cars through. I went back to ask if the parking fee was for everyone or only for some people, to which the response was a bold faced lie, while pulling out a wad of cash, telling me that the other two cars had been charged...they hadn't, I was watching. The next week I went to the beach again, and guess what...no charge, no one guarding the parking lot. Nothing. I wonder if this is the beginning of the city of Gary becoming a money hungry, nickle and dime grabbing place like it's sister...