The Lakeside Wooden Boat Society

(ie: How’d the Boat Show Go?)

As I type this, there is horizontal snow blowing (howling actually) around the house and it is a toasty 8 degrees outside. (Same as last year!) One of the great things about the Cleveland Boat Show is that the IX Center has no windows, so for 10 days I can be surrounded by boats and pretend it isn’t winter.

There were four objectives at the show this year: * Build the canoe with kids and adults. * Try out pond boat building with kids (at a cost of $10.00 per kid) * Promote the LWBS July show * Promote the Richardson project (restoration and charter service)

Once again, people were blown away that we would come in and let children (and adults) actually build a canoe in 10 days time. Stan Starry, (Shirley’s dad) became my assistant this year for the entire show. Like many of us he has always wanted to build a boat and this was his opportunity. His faithful help and enthusiasm were invaluable to the success of the show.

As most of you know we elected to build the same canoe as we built last summer. Lakeside children had already built the strongback and molds so that made for a quick start up. I glued up all the panels at my shop ahead of time which streamlined the building at the show. Over the course of the show we had many children and adults stop by to build or watch. Once again, it was a great opportunity to connect with people and spread the word about Lakeside and LWBS. There was a lot of interest in the upcoming July show.

The canoe is virtually complete. There are a few pieces of wood yet to be installed and then it’s on to sanding, sealing and varnishing. The kids at Lakeside this summer will enjoy finishing and using what was started.

It was great to see some Lakeside faces during the show, Tom and Luann Ramsdell came in for a day and were a great help.

Pond Boat building with the kids was attempted for two reasons, one to let the kids have the experience of navigating through jigs and fixtures and have the fun of building something they can take home. And two, this also was a LEMPTA pleaser, and was very well received. We weren’t sure how well this would work because CABBS offers free pond boat building, but we decided to try it. We built 45 kits hoping to sell out and were able to sell 30 of them. Overall light attendance at the show (especially children) impacted this activity. This activity further showed a picture of what LWBS is and does to the people at the show. Whether we should do it again next year will be up for discussion.

Lakeside did a fantastic job of putting LWBS and our Woodenboat Show as top billing on their posters, information and booth in general. Each handout had a inserted flyer on our boat show. This should help people in actually putting us on their calendar and showing up for the show. I was also able to invite many people to bring their boats to our show and Cleveland and Toledo Model Boat Builders both expressed interest in attending and bringing their models. I also spoke to several people who had attended our show last year and were looking forward to the 2008 show.

The Richardson project was displayed on a nice poster along with Keith Kreiger’s Richardson information board. I met several people who had had Richardsons and were very interested in our project. Many people remarked that they would be interested in chartering the boat this summer. I am currently negotiating with an Interlux paint rep about Interlux supplying all the paint for the project. I met a retired doctor from Sandusky who wandered up the canoe building and announced, “ I used to work for Richardson.” In 1941, at the age of 16, he started in war production with Richardson. At 17, his parents signed for him so he could enlist. As a youngster, he and his father enjoyed going to the Richardson boat shows which were at the beginning of their Sailaways. He may have seen our Richardson when it was a brand new boat. He also remembers the German doctor who owned it before Jim Hermann, and remembers seeing it off the Cedar Point beach in the 50’s and early 60’s. He hopes to attend our show this summer.

Overall the show was a success. We furthered our imprint on the boating community, and the knowledge that we are out there will continue to bear fruit. I will be writing LEMPTA a nice thank you note.

I will also be sending out a progress report on the Richardson soon. Thanks for everyone’s help and a big thanks to Lakeside and lemta for making this possible. Dwight