The North Florida Marine Association has announced that the 75th Anniversary Jacksonville Boat Show will be held Jan. 27-29 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville.
Dick Boger, 73, is one of the longest-standing current members of the North Florida Marine Association. He has been involved with the show since 1985 and is well acquainted with its history in Jacksonville.
“Back in the mid-’40s, 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 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 said, it gained additional traction and has continued to grow as a mainstay event for the Northeast Florida boating, fishing and watersports community.
The 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 said. “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.”
The 75th Anniversary Jacksonville Boat Show, sponsored by VyStar Credit Union, will offer three days of water-related fun, family-friendly activities and educational seminars — as well as hundreds of boats and thousands of accessories for sale. Special giveaways each day will be awarded to commemorate the occasion. 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.
Highlights include:
Boat show hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 27; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 28; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 29. Admission is $15 for adults; $5 for children 12 and younger; and $12 for seniors, military and first responders with ID. Food is purchased from the vendors and is not included with admission.
Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center is located at 1000 Water St., Jacksonville. Parking for the general public is $5 per automobile per day.
For more information or to buy tickets online, go to boatjax.com/jacksonville-boat-show.
