Oct 1: Float Your Boat

Is it really October already? Yep, and that means it's boat show month here in Fort Lauderdale. Wow, it seems like we just celebrated the 4^th of July, doesn't it? It's hard for me to believe that we're speeding toward Halloween and the holidays. Each year at this time, there's a slow crescendo of activity around the Fort Lauderdale beach as the boat show makes the transition from backstage planning to front-and-center onsite preparations. It's a big deal in our town as well as for everyone in the boating community worldwide. This is a special year for the event too - the 50^th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The buzz has already started.

The other day, I was driving along A1A and noticed the first boat show signs posted on light poles all along the seaside highway. That was my initial reminder that this huge marine exhibition was about to return. I found myself thinking, "That's cool! I enjoy having this thing on the beach each year. It's one of those events that make Fort Lauderdale so special."

Really, that's how I feel about it - even if the show can make traveling up and down the coastal road a bit challenging for several days. I'll gladly put up with heavy traffic for a chance to live near the world's biggest boat show. Because its presence here says a lot about Fort Lauderdale, I think. It's a nod to the lifestyle that is part of this community's fabric, a boating way of life that's truly centered around the water. From the canals to the rivers to the lakes to the ocean, Fort Lauderdale sparkles in the reflected sunshine of its waters. This is true for those who live away from the water as much as for those with waterside mansions. Whether you drive or bicycle or walk around Fort Lauderdale, you're going to bump into some body of water pretty quickly. And on many of those bodies of water, you're going to see boats. Everything from dinghies to superyachts, from speedboats to sailboats. In this part of the country, that's who we are. How fitting, then, that the largest boat show of all has been hosted by us for the past half century? This year it begins on October 29 and runs through November 2, spread over six locations connected by buses and riverboats and water taxis. If you come to the show you'll find more than $3 billion worth of yachts and electronics and gear of all kinds from every major marine builder and manufacturer on the planet. Maybe that helps explain why the buzz for something this important starts a month before it opens. As events go in Fort Lauderdale, it doesn't get any bigger than this.