As a young teenager, Bob Borgstrom was a barker — a boat ride barker, shouting to the throngs along North Michigan Avenue outside the Wrigley Building: “Boat rides! Boat rides!”
Wendella Boats, his family business, offered sightseeing cruises on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. But competition was stiff. Fights occasionally broke out between rival barkers. One resulted in the loser being tied to a flagpole, or so the story goes.
