TRAVERSE CITY — The annual Traverse City Boat Show is on track to pull in close to $1 million in retail sales this weekend, a sign that the boating boom across northern Michigan isn’t slowing down.
The show runs March 13-15 at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, opening Friday at noon.
Andrew McDonald, who produces the show through his company Bluewater Promotions, said the three-day event is one the dealers take seriously.
“It kind of sets the tone for the rest of the season,” McDonald said. “That’s why the stakes are kind of high.”
Around 10 dealers set up under one roof, giving shoppers a chance to compare boats and pick the brains of the people who actually build them.
McDonald said crowds come from all over, not just the Traverse City area, but Grand Rapids, Detroit and beyond. A lot of them make a weekend out of it.
Boating in general has been on the rise in recent years, and McDonald said the boats themselves keep getting better with smoother rides, sharper engineering and more room to spread out. That keeps people coming back for an upgrade.
“If you’re a boater, you just love it, and you kind of want to keep moving up the food chain to get that next nicer boat,” he said.
Pontoons are the big draw at the show. McDonald said they’ve taken off because they’re roomy, easy to move around on and work for just about any outing, from tubing to just floating around with a crowd.
“It’s kind of like a living room on the water,” he said.
Newer tritoon models, which ride on three hulls instead of two, have made them even more capable. McDonald said you can pull a skier behind one or take it out on Lake Michigan when the water’s calm.
The timing of the show isn’t an accident. McDonald said this is when people start itching to get on the water.
“We’re turning the corner to springtime,” he said. “If people are thinking about a boat, they’re thinking about it right now.”