Fully half of the $80 billion global market for recreational boating resides in the US. We are probably pulling more than our share of boat shows.

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Show Boating

The main boat show season runs from September to April, a bigger chunk of the calendar year than the boating season itself in some latitudes and elevations in North America. Throw in boating festivals and in-water shows in the warm weather months and you are looking at year-round opportunities to ogle pretty fiberglass.

Apart from being a convenient way to look at a lot of new boats at once, boat shows are a great way to look at everything to do with boating — from dock lines to insurance. Yet the modern boat show is more than just looking at stuff.

Educational seminars on everything from basic boating skills to specialized sportfishing topics are a major component of large boat shows, making these events a great opportunity to expand one’s knowledge and abilities. And there are some interesting things to do at boat shows these days. 

A Survey of America’s Boat Shows

The same-as-everything-else-ification of the country still peters out at the waterline: our boats are shaped by the waters we use them on and what we do with them out there. It follows that boat shows, too, are going to have some regional flavor.

For example, the Anchorage Boat Show (February) is not the ideal forum to peruse bass boats, while tin cabin cruisers will be few and far between at the Nashville Boat Show (January). (Be assured, though, that even if your neighborhood does not have 50-mile-long TVA reservoirs to cover on a Saturday morning or even good ol’ boys, if you have bass, there will be bass boats at your boat show.)

Let’s take a look at some notable boat shows around the country.

Biggest (And Yacht-iest)

The biggest boat sales markets are in Florida, Texas and Michigan; naturally these states are where the greatest number of shows and many of the biggest shows in the country are hosted.

In the running for biggest show in the country is the Miami International Boat Show (February) — which, of course, you could have guessed. A five-day extravaganza that draws over 100,000 people to a half-dozen show venues, the MIBS bills itself as the world’s largest boat and yacht show. FLIBS — The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (October) — rivals the Miami show for size and claims to be “the greatest boat show on the seven seas.”

Miami Boat show bring the largest yachts

For what it’s worth, MIBS claimed 1,000+ boats on exhibit this year, while FLIBS says 1,300+. These shows are Peak Florida, gleaming and bright and pastel-hued, and if you happen to be in the market for an eight-figure yacht, these are your can’t-miss boat shows.

Competing for the title of biggest boat show in the country, the Miami and Fort Lauderdale shows are the places to be if you’re in the market for a seven-figure-plus yacht.

Also Big, But With Fewer Yachts

Houston goes the “keels and wheels’” route with the Houston AutoBoative Show (January), a combined car and boat show in one venue. The Houston show is prime shopping grounds for Texas-style flats boats, the unique low freeboard, raised console skiffs popular on Texas’ inshore flats. 

The long-running Detroit Boat Show and Chicago Boat Show (both January) are the premier boat shows for Midwestern boaters, and the boats on exhibit run the gamut from utilitarian vessels suitable for worm dunking on quiet inland waters to charter-sized boats for comfortably running on the big lakes. 

Chicago boat show displays

Detroit and Chicago are home to midwestern boaters with lots of pontoons, multi-species fishing boats and wake boats.

Annapolis

Moving up the coast from Florida, sailing becomes a more prevalent theme. Annapolis,  Maryland, is home to no fewer than four major boat shows, including two dedicated to sailboats. The Bay Bridge Boat Show and Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show hold down the early season, in April, and the Annapolis Powerboat Show and Annapolis Sailboat Show happen in October.

Annapolis boat show outside view

The New York Boat Show (January) and the New England Boat Show (February) in Boston are the big shows in the northeast.

Out West

It turns out the West Coast, too, is on a large body of water and a few boat shows occur: a web search returns almost 259 million hits on “california boat show,” though the actual number is likely somewhat lower.

The Seattle Boat Show (February) is the premier show in the Pacific Northwest. The Bart Hall Shows in San Diego (February) and Long Beach (March) and the Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show in Costa Mesa (March) are “everything outdoors” sportsman’s expos that bring boating, hunting, fishing and other outdoor rec exhibitors and seminars under one roof.

Bart Hall Boat Show are often everything outdoors

Nevada has a relative paucity of boat shows and, coincidentally, navigable water. Colorado, New Mexico — same boat, so to speak. Wyoming has plenty of navigable water per capita, just blessedly few capitas. But these states are outliers. Even if it’s just a few local boat dealers pulling something together in a parking lot, you probably have a nearby boat, boat/RV or outdoor recreation expo being staged sometime during the year, and an opportunity to shop, ogle, learn, and connect with your local boating community.

(And Wyoming, with several large reservoirs in the state’s eastern half, has at least one boat show, the Wyoming Boat and RV Show in March).

Besides Boats

The Houston Boat Show is a prime example of bringing some water indoors and doing something Texas-sized interesting (or weird) with it. The Bass Tub is a 5,000-gallon fish tank, 40 feet long and nine feet tall, done up like good bass habitat, and filled with bass, and you can guess what happens next. 

On the weirder end of the spectrum, the Fish-O-Rama brings trout fishing to Houston for the first time since the last ice age.

And, just as you’d expect, you can surf at the Minneapolis Boat Show (January) — albeit in a wave simulator, not on Lake Minnetonka.