CoastalToday_Holiday22r2

Provided photo/ State Archives of Florida/McDonald
Boats docked along North Roosevelt Boulevard in Florida Keys during the Mariel Boatlift.
The 75th Anniversary Jacksonville Boat Show will be January 27 – 29, 2023 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville, Florida
The North Florida Marine
Association is proud
to announce the 75th
Anniversary Jacksonville
Boat Show, January 27 – 29, 2023, at
the Prime Osborn Convention Center
in Jacksonville. This year’s show is a
special celebration of a beloved North
Florida event that has been bringing
together the boating community since
1947.
Dick Boger, 73, is one of the longeststanding
current members of the
North Florida Marine Association. He
NORTH FLORIDA MARINE ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES
Jacksonville
BOAT SHOW
North Florida Marine Association Announces 75th Anniversary Jacksonville Boat Show.
has been involved with the Boat Show
since 1985, and he is well acquainted
with the Boat Show’s long history in
Jacksonville. “Back in the mid-forties,
the late Grace Rogers of Pier 17 Marine
Shop decided to display a few new
boats in the parking lot of a gas station
on the west side of Jacksonville,” he
said. “That’s how this whole thing
started. Then in 1947, a group of local
businesses got together and built on
Grace’s idea by creating an exposition
for local boat dealers. Seventy-five
years later, that exposition has become
a true legacy in Jacksonville.”
The Boat Show’s early venues included
the old Armory on Market Street,
Jacksonville Naval Air Station, the Gator
Bowl, and the Jacksonville Veteran’s
Memorial Coliseum, where Boger
remembers that the Coliseum’s low
ceiling prevented sailboat exhibitors
from including full mast extensions
on their boats. When the show
was relocated to the Prime Osborn
Convention Center in 1990, he says,
it gained additional traction and has
continued to grow as a mainstay event
for the Northeast Florida boating,
fishing, and watersports community.
Boat show in Miami in 1967.
The Boat Show has continued
uninterrupted since 1947, with one
exception. “The only thing that shut us
down in three-quarters of a century was
COVID-19,” Boger explained. “That’s the
only year we were not able to hold the Boat
Show. Had it not been for the pandemic,
we’d actually be celebrating our 76th Boat
Show this year, not our 75th.”
In January, the 75th Anniversary
Jacksonville Boat Show, sponsored
by VyStar Credit Union, will offer three
Provided photo/State Archives of Florida
days of water-related fun, familyfriendly
activities, and educational
seminars—as well as amazing deals on
hundreds of boats and thousands of
accessories. Special giveaways each
day will be awarded to commemorate
the 75th Anniversary. Boat Show
attendees will be among the first to
see and board brand-new models of all
types of watercraft, including fishing
boats, cruisers, ski boats, pontoons,
inflatables, personal watercraft, and
more.
38 COASTALTODAYMAGAZINE.COM