OCEAN CITY -- Boat show exhibitors from Delmarva and the surrounding area will set up in Ocean City's Roland E. Powell Convention Center this weekend for the 29th annual Seaside Boat Show.
Sponsored by the Ocean City/Berlin affiliate of Optimist International, this year's show will have about 350 boats on display and about 50 of the show's more than 140 exhibitors will be boat dealers.
Dealers and exhibitors come from Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia for what the club calls the No. 1 inside boat show on the Eastern Shore.
Bass boats will be displayed and accompanied by accessory shows. There will also be sport cruisers, sportfish, center consoles, cuddy boats and performance boats, among other wares.
Show Chairman Charlie Dorman says that in addition to boats, there are a myriad of accessories, including "anything you need to go fishing," as well as jewelry, pottery, nautical flag dealers and more.
The Optimists sell tickets to a drawing that funds college scholarships for Stephen Decatur High School seniors. For attendees, the lure to buy the $100 ticket is a $100,000 cash prize. From total ticket proceeds, the Optimists give about $50,000 in scholarships for a handful of Decatur students who apply.
Boat show proceeds also are used by the Optimists for youth and community service programs. The club donates to several youth programs around the Lower Shore.
"Everybody who volunteers, they all work their butts off for the children," Dorman said.
Admission to the show is $9, or $15 for an all-weekend pass.
For the 24th year, the owners of North Bay Marina in Selbyville are donating a pontoon boat and motor as the event's grand door prize.
Read more at http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120214/DW03/202140340/Show-feature-about-350-boats
