OCEAN CITY — With freezing temperatures and icy conditions prevailing this week, most local residents and resort visitors are likely thinking there might be no end to this interminable winter, but the Seaside Boat Show returns to the Roland E. Powell Convention Center this week as the annual harbinger of warmer days to come.
For the past 31 years, the Seaside Boat Show, sponsored by the Ocean City-Berlin Optimists, has helped mark a turning point in the winter season for many visitors to the resort and its hearty year-round population and this year should be no different. Coupled with the three-day President’s Day weekend with Valentine’s Day right in the middle, the boat show is a jumping off point for many businesses closed during the winter and provides a brief respite from the dreary winter that has dragged on longer than usual this year.
In recent years, the Seaside Boat Show has faced challenges created with the development of the new Performing Arts Center altering the space in the Convention Center and has adjusted and adapted to the changing space. This year, the Performing Arts Center is finished and has opened to rave reviews, although the boat show has not yet figured out how to best take advantage of the shiny new space.
“We didn’t really have enough time yet to review the new music venue and how it could be best utilized for the boat show,” said Ocean City-Berlin Optimists spokesman Charles Smith this week. “It has a big back door to the stage, so there is some potential there, but it also has a fairly low ceiling. We haven’t yet decided how it can work into our plans for the boat show, but it certainly has potential.”
Smith said those familiar with the boat show will find the entrance and ticketing areas changed again this year. In years past, boat show visitors entered the Convention Center and turned to the right to access the event. Last year and again this year, because of the new Performing Arts Center configuration, tickets will be sold to the left of the main entrance to the facility in an area near the convention center’s box office. Aside from the rearranging of some of the space, visitors to the Seaside Boat Show can expect much of what has made the event so special over the years.
Smith said this year’s show will look a lot like prior year events with the top of the line sport cruisers, sport fishing, performance and “super boats” on display. He said exciting new things each year are the technological advances in the boating industry on display from the vendors. One decidedly different wrinkle this year will occur on Friday night when a drone will be launched in the convention center to film the boat show from above. A Philadelphia company will supply the drone and produce the film, which could be used for the event’s marketing in the future.
Again this year, the annual event is dubbed “the boat show that works for kids” because it provides the local Optimist Club with its largest fundraising opportunity of the year with nearly all of the proceeds invested back into the community in the form of support for local youth. The local affiliate has over 120 members and is recognized as one of the best clubs in the parent Optimist International organization.
Income derived from the annual boat show helps support many local youth and community service programs in a variety of ways. For example, the Optimists hold an annual lottery during the boat show with proceeds dedicated to its scholarship program. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased throughout the weekend with the drawing set for Sunday. Over the last three-plus decades, roughly 300 students have received an estimated $1.5 million in scholarships from the boat show lottery.
While its benefits in terms of providing an economic shot in the arm for the resort business community cannot be discounted, the boat show’s biggest beneficiaries are the local charities and public service programs the Optimists support with the funds they raise. In addition to the scholarship program, the show provides the Optimist Club with the opportunity to raise funds for the many programs it supports including the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Junior Achievement, Diakonia, Children’s House by the Sea and all local schools and recreation programs.
One of the highlights each year is the wonderful door prize, which all attendees will be eligible to win. For years, North Bay Marina and Scott and Mary McCurdy have donated a boat for the main door prize and every person who purchases a show admission ticket will once again have a chance to win it this year.
The boat show will feature over 350 boats, 150 vendors and 50 boat dealers. The dealers and exhibitors will offer special show prices throughout the weekend. They will display their newest and most popular models along with other boating and water-related items. The large number of boats sold each year during the event makes the Seaside Boat Show one of the most popular of its kind on the east coast. The show will also have financing and insurance companies on hand to facilitate boat purchases.
As the name implies, the annual event is all about boats large and small, but there is much more going on with something to offer everybody. In addition to boats, the exhibitors will include marine electronics, trailers, canvass tops, motors, jewelry, artwork and fishing gear. The Seaside Boat Show opens on Friday, Feb. 13 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 14 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $1 for kids and a weekend pass can be purchased for $15.