Culture & Science

Lake County is home to one of the most diverse ethnic populations in the United States, welcoming people from around the world who immigrated to Lake County during the early part of the 20th century. This regional melting pot is home to more than 40 nationalities and dozens of religions. The region's churches, mosques and temples hold regular services in Spanish, Croatian, Hungarian, Polish, Greek, Russian, Serbian and countless other languages. Eastern Europeans have long stamped their mark on the Calumet Region like no other group.

The waves of immigrants from the Eastern Block thrive in quiet neighborhoods and honor their heritage with summer festivals and celebrations steeped in tradition and history. One such festival is Whiting's annual Pierogi Fest. The event, which is debatably the wackiest event of its kind, is kicked off with a parade on Whiting's downtown corridor historic 119th Street. The parade includes the festival mascot Mr. Pierogi and the hilarious Babushka Brigade, a precision drill team of cleaning women. This once small festival held each summer on the last weekend of July has been grown to garner national attention and has been featured on The Food Network and The Travel Channel.

Spanning miles from the Miller Beach area of Lake County east to the Michigan border are the rolling sandscapes one of Indiana's most visited attractions, The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The National Lakeshore and State Park welcome nearly 4 million people each year and provide nearly 30 miles of sandy dunes and beaches. The dunes serve as protector for unique bio-diverse plant and animal population inhabiting shorelines and inter-dune ecologies. Professor Henry Chandler Cowles of the University of Chicago used the region as his outdoor laboratory and research model in his development of his now proven theories on the subject of Ecology.

A little known scientific research project that took place on these same dunes was Octave Chanute's Glider Experiments, which took place just outside of present day Gary, Indiana at Marquette Park. The Chanute Glider is credited with being a key element to the Wright brother's successful quest for propelled flight and one of only a few exact replicas of the glider can be found at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond.