Wooden boat show will go on

Thu, Jun 4, 2009    to del.icio.us

Despite harsh ice jams that destroyed docks that would have moored this year's wooden boat show at Marina Bay, the show will go on — this year at Keenan Marina in Ferrysburg.

The sixth annual event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Keenan Marina, 526 Pine St., featuring classic wooden boats, children's activities, music and more. Admission is free.

"Brian Keenan very graciously donated space for the show which really helped us out," said event chairman Mark Miller, who expects 30-plus wooden boats to be in this year's lineup, both in the water and on land.

Highlighting this year's show is Chris Smith with a 26-foot Chris-Craft. Smith is the grandson of Chris-Craft founder Christoper Columbus Smith, who was born in St. Clair County in 1861.

"The Chris-Craft boat volume production began in 1922 in Algonac (MI)," Miller said. "The company started by carving duck decoys and making small hunting rowboats. Pretty soon, motors came along. It kind of parallelled the auto industry."

Miller said Smith carried on the family business until he retired in the 1980s. Smith, now in his 80s, is the guest of honor at this year's show.

"He's a bit of a celebrity in the wooden boat world," said Miller. "We're honored to have him. It's so great to hear his stories. He's in photos of old Chris-Craft brochures when he is a young man. He ran the Holland plant for a number of years before the family business was bought out by an investor group in the 1980s."

This year's event will continue a Huntington Bank-sponsored kids' model boat building area, complete with a "float your boat" pond.

"Kids can either stand in it or be on the edge of it and float the boat they just created," Miller said.

Music will be provided by Oregon Dream Child, with coffee and snacks from Jumpin' Java.

"There are lots of generous people that make this show happen," Miller said. "The people that bring their boats are the ones that make the show happen – it's not us."

Best of show awards are scheduled for 3 p.m., followed by a wooden boat parade across Spring Lake beginning at 4 p.m.

"There's just something special about wooden boats," Miller continued. "They're not as fast as fiberglass boats but there's something about them that makes you grin when in you're in them. It's like floating furniture. It,s like a beautiful china cabinet with a motor in it."