Parks - Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation

Ride Aboard Sweet Breeze

Promenade Park, South Boat Dock
202 West Superior Street
All Ages Welcome

2025 General Public Tours

Tickets for the 2025 Sweet Breeze season will go on sale May 1st for tours beginning Memorial Day weekend!

Purchase tickets starting May 1st!
Opening Weekend Only- We will be giving away 5 free Science Central admission tickets per tour!

Relax and enjoy a guided cruise on the Fort Wayne Rivers. Sweet Breeze, Fort Wayne’s authentic canal boat replica is offering 45, 60 and 90 minute tour lengths. This fully accessible tour will be a fun experience for everyone! Each tour provides an opportunity to learn something new about Fort Wayne through its riverfront.

For more information about Sweet Breeze check out the Sweet Breeze blog post to learn more!

Schedule may be altered due to weather, water levels, demand, etc.

Purchase tickets starting May 1st! IF you prefer, you can purchase tickets via phone (260) 427-6000 or at 705 E. State Blvd., Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805

Opening Weekend Only- We will be giving away 5 free Science Central admission tickets per tour!

Specialty Tours

Check out the 2025 Sweet Breeze Specialty Tour Schedule and then refer to the Specialty Tours descriptions about each TOUR and then purchase your Specialty Tickets SOON!

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Private Rental Cruises

Check out the information below on private rentals available in 2025!

Private Rental Brochure
Private Rental Pricing (for 2025)
Private Rental Agreement

2025 Media Sponsors:

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K105Logo

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Basic tour information

The boat can acccommodate up to 38 riders
Interested in a field trip or a private rental on Sweet Breeze? Call Amanda Black at 427-5023 to learn more.
Restroom facilities are available. The boat is fully accessible.
For parking information CLICK HERE
There are about 5 handicap parking spaces on Wells Street next to the pavilion
Information on Private group rentals is now available. Check out the Sweet Breeze Private Rental Agreement to learn more!
The boat is handicap accessible with an accessible restroom on board
There is a ramp in the park down to the dock, a loading ramp to get on board the boat, and the boat chairs are easily removable
For wheelchair parking, on this map, the blue line is where the handicap parking spaces are, and the white line shows the path and walking distance from there down to the loading dock, and the green line represents where the boat will be.
Do you have additional questions? E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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A special thanks to Mark Jones, Friends of the Rivers, for this photo!

A Little Background Information:

Sweet Breeze was built by Scarano Boat Builders out of Albany, NY. It is flat-bottomed, aluminum hulled boat which is 54’ long, has a draft of 2.75’ and an air draft of 8.5’. The new build was modeled after 1840s canal boat, but in order to better fit our waterways, was scaled back to ¾ the size of the historic canal boats. It is powered by a single 55 HP Marine Diesel Volvo Penta engine. It was delivered by a lowboy trailer in January 2017, craned into the Maumee River on May 20th and christened on June 5th. The Sweet Breeze is wheelchair accessible.

A Brief History

Fort Wayne’s history is tied to canal boats and to the Wabash and Erie Canal. The Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 478 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America.The canal began operation in the summer of 1843, yet only operated for a decade before it became apparent that it was not economically viable. Even when the canal boats were operated at extremely slow speeds, the banks rapidly eroded, and the canal had to be constantly dredged to be operable. The last canal boat on the Wabash Canal made its last docking in 1874 in Huntington, Indiana. Sweet Breeze recreates the mystery and excitement of what was to be a new era of commerce and travel in the Midwest. Fort Wayne was the highest point on the canal (i.e. the summit), so Fort Wayne earned the name “Summit City”. Canal boats carried people and goods on our rivers and canals from 1843-1874 which was much faster than burdensome wagons. Drafts animals, usually mules, pulled long, narrow canal boats by a rope on a path next to the canal, called a towpath.

Testimonials

Yesterday I had the pleasure to take the Sweet Breeze boat tour. Absolutely everyone involved from tickets to disembarking was a great representative of FTW Parks Dept. Mark also was a delight and knowledgeable of the history. It was a wonderful 90 minute boat ride. Thank you, Carolyn T.

Our thanks to you and your staff for your service to our Senior Saints and for your assistance in helping our Senior Saints with their wheel chair, walkers, canes, etc. on our tour of the rivers of Fort Wayne. Your staff, your docent, your captain and his assistants provided our Senior Saints, with our special needs, the assistance to enjoy the river tour. You and their service was above and beyond what we would have expected. Larry G.

Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation is offering Sweet Breeze Boat Tours through a partnership with Friends of the Rivers.

School Group Field Trips on Sweet Breeze

Friends of the Rivers will again be offering on-river school group field trips again in 2024 that meet Indiana DOE Standards for Social Studies (Indiana and Regional History) for grades 3, 4 & 5. All field trips are open for all abilities on our fully accessible boat.

The 45 minute field trips will again have a discounted cost of $5 per student underwritten by Friends of the Rivers. There is a minimum of 20 youth per tour. A maximum of three school staff are admitted free and any additional adults are charged the community tour rate.

AWS Foundation fully funds our Adaptive Education tours. Friends of the Rivers underwrites a limited number of field trips. Please call Amanda Black (427-5023) to reserve a discounted field trip for your school. If you prefer, you can e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please see www.forfw.org/field-trips/ for additional educational information.

Sweet Breeze Field Trip FAQ's (COMING SOON!)

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Additional videos are available on the Friends of the Rivers link under River Views!

Sensory Events

Kulture City the nation's leading nonprofit on sensory accessibility and acceptance for those with invisible disabilities. Sensory needs are a common medical condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses.

Riverfront Fort Wayne applied for Promenade Park to be certified as Sensory Inclusive. This process is achieved through demonstrating that the Park is equipped and accessible to people with sensory needs. Going through the certification process ensures that the facility caters to everyone with sensory needs not just autism. This includes military vets with PTSD, adults with dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke patients just to name a few. The Sensory Inclusive Certification is available to venues, organizations, small businesses or caring individuals who want to learn more about sensory needs and how to better engage with individuals with sensory needs.

In order to get the certification we had to have more than 80% of our Riverfront Staff pass training, and then made simple yet impactful modifications made to the location. This include making the Betsy Chapman Garden into a quiet area of the Park. We also receive sensory bags supplied by Kulture City to be available during events to meet the sensory needs of any individual attending events.

Here is a map to show you all of the sensory inclusive certified locations in the United States. Currently only the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Promenade Park and the downtown Community Center are certified in Fort Wayne, IN.

https://www.kulturecity.org/sensory-inclusive/

KultureCity sensory bags are available to check out at the Park Foundation Pavilion at Promenade Park. These sensory bags are designed to help sensory needs in both adults and children. Filled with items that can help lessen sensory overload and also engage, the bag items are also easily cleaned and sterilized for multiple uses.

Podcast on Special Inclusive Programming

Check out a podcast with Riley Hollenbaugh, Riverfront Program and Events Manager, as he discusses special inclusive programming this winter at Promenade Park.

Additional Resources

Riparian News

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The Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department has initiated a riparian management plan that will improve and protect the shoreline and water quality for generations to come.

View the City of Fort Wayne's Riparian Management Plan

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Riparian photos before/after a portion of Bloomingdale Park was worked on.

Riparian photo of the Great Tree Canopy Comeback

Volunteers Needed for Riverfront Cleanups (Riparian Management)

If you would like to participate in a Riverfront cleanup, please sign up online to find the scheduled time that works best for you.

If you have a group of 10 or more volunteers, please contact KayeC Jones at 260-427-6408 to arrange a cleanup for your group.

Volunteers will clip honeysuckle limbs from bushes, cut down the remaining trunks with handsaws and carry the brush to an area in the park. All tools and work gloves will be provided. The honeysuckle stems are not prickly and the brush isn’t heavy. This is a family-friendly activity so children are welcome, too. Please dress for the weather! Close-toed shoes, like tennis shoes, are recommended.

Thanks to over 2,122 volunteers who have dedicated 8,991 volunteer man-hours by removing 90 tons of invasive species and more than 38,288 pounds of trash from banks and waterways. The volunteer investment saved the city a total of $171,014 to date!

Pictures of Before/After Work

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