Seems like wherever there’s a waterfront – on the sea, a bay, a river, or a lake – you’ll find some sort of celebration of boats and boating. Many of them encourage wooden boatbuilders to bring and display their labors of love, making them great events for picking up ideas, chatting up fellow enthusiasts, and showing off first-class craftsmanship and the unique personalization so many builders put into their boats. We wish we could go to them all, but our schedule limits us to Canoecopia, the WoodenBoat Show in Connecticut, the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, and the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis.
As we catch our breath between our return from Canoecopia and preparing for our own wooden boat extravaganza, OkoumeFest in May, we started thinking about some of the festivals and boat shows we wish we could attend. You’ll find them from coast to coast, as well as alongside inland lakes and waterways.
Here’s a quick list of just a few. If you plan to visit one and bring your CLC boat along with you, please let us know. If you know of an event that should be on this list and isn’t, drop us a line so we can share it with your fellow boatbuilders.
Reminder: Chesapeake Light Craft will NOT be at these boat shows unless otherwise indicated!
15th Annual CFCC Boat Show April 5, Downtown Wilmington, NC Lake Hartwell Boat FestivalApril 11-12, Hartwell Marina, Hartwell, GA Apalachicola Antique & Classic Boat ShowSaturday, April 19, Riverfront Park, Apalachicola, FL NC Maritime Museum's 40th Annual Wooden Boat ShowSaturday, May 3, 2014, Beaufort, NC Lake Guntersville Antique & Classic Boat ShowMay 15-18, Lake Guntersville Yacht Club, Guntersville, AL 24th Annual Bass Lake Antique & Classic Boat ShowMay 16-18, The Pines Resort, Bass Lake, CA Annual Lake Pepin MessaboutMay 30-June 1, Lake City, MI 40th Annual LHACBS Boat ShowJune 21-22, Lake Hopatcong YC, Mt. Arlington, NJ Classic Boat Show and Small Craft FestivalSaturday, June 21, Michigan Maritime Museum, South Haven, MI Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Maritime FestivalJune 21-22, North Wildwood, NJ 23rd Annual WoodenBoat Show (CLC will attend)June 27-29, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CTJoin us for the 23rd Annual WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport! Lake Union Wooden Boat FestivalJuly 4-6, Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle, WA 37th Annual Alexandria Bay Vintage “User” Boat Show (1000 Islands ACBS)July 18-20, Alexandria Bay, NY Toms River Seaport Society's 38th Annual Wooden Boat FestivalJuly 19, 2014, Huddy Park, Toms River, NJ 36th Annual Antique and Classic Boat ShowJuly 25-27, Clift Park on Skaneateles Lake, Skaneateles, NY Lunenburg Wooden Boat ReunionJuly 26-27, 2014, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada 39th Annual Lake Winnepesaukee Boat ShowJuly 28-29, Meredith, NH Classic & Wooden Boat FestivalAugust 2-3, Door County Maritime Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI Lake Champlain Maritime FestivalAugust 7-10, Burlington, VT 8th Annual Alton Bay Boat ShowAugust 9, Alton Bay Town Docks, Alton, NH Antique & Classic Boat FestivalAugust 23-24, Brewer Hawthorne Cove Marina, Salem, MAThe Wooden Boat Festival (CLC will attend)September 5-7, Port Townsend, WA 24th Annual Antique & Classic Boat ShowSeptember 12-14, The Pointe at Mariners Landing, Smith Mountain Lake, VA Greenport Maritime Festival September 19-21, East End Seaport & Marine Foundation, Greenport, NY
(Left, our friend Steve Bull with his Skerry last year at Greenport) Southport Wooden Boat ShowSeptember 27, Downtown Southport, NC Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival (CLC wil attend)October 3-5, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD
(Right, our friends Butch Lapetz and Lea Rondonck with their Eastport Nesting Pram at Georgetown last year) Downrigging Weekend November 1-4, Chestertown, MD