There are still three days left for the annual Discover Boating Atlantic City Boat show at the Convention Center.
If your favorite place to be is on the water, this show is for you.
There are boats in all shapes and sizes. You can peruse a collection of classic and wooden boats dating to 1952. There are fishing seminars and sand art. You can even try on-the-water test rides of paddlesports crafts. Kids can even build a toy boat. This is your one-stop shopping trip if you are in the market and looking forward to a summer full of flip flops and fishing.
Tickets are modestly priced at $18 if purchased ahead of time through the show’s website. There are group discounts offered as well. Parking is $15 at the venue. Plus there are several public lots in town.
Pro Tip: For fans of the high seas who are also high rollers, don’t forget that Caesars and Bally’s parking garages are a four-block stroll past the Tanger Outlets. Parking is free at casinos with your high- and mid-level player cards.
Showgoers can hop aboard and see the boats up close. But be advised to select your favorite airport security footwear. Because permission to come aboard is granted to you and not your shoes.
Admittedly, I personally don’t know a lot about nautical things. I’m so prone to becoming seasick, that I had to leave the Imax screening of "In the Heart of the Sea" in 2015, when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep my popcorn down. To the untrained eye, all I saw was boats. I couldn’t tell you if they cost $30,000 or $3 million.
One local fishing enthusiast told me in a nutshell: “This show is where the big boys come out to play.” I inferred that to mean, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.
Walking around the show you are struck by the beauty and design of these vessels. With sleek lines and shimmering chrome accents, you can’t help but feel the wind in your hair and a waft of sunscreen just looking at them. The colors are just as engaging and range from classic white to seafoam to neon magenta.
If you are a landlubber, live landlocked or subscribe to the adage “A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into” or any of the other common seafaring turn of phrases, you’ll be bored at this one. The only wheels you’ll see are the ones at the amphibian car display (which is pretty cool). The only food inside the show is quick bites you would get at a stadium. Gage your personal passion before you make the trip to this niche event.
Thursday night, hundreds of community members joined the legal giants at Cooper Levenson for a night of tastings at the eighth annual Captain’s Table benefitting Let Us Eat, Please and the summer feeding programs of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
Guests ate their fill from restaurants and cooking programs. Also on hand were Pinelands Brewery, makers of one of the best named beers in our area, Swamp Donkey, and Baltic Avenue’s own Little Water Distillery pouring samples of their regional concoctions.
Let Us Eat, Please was founded by the late James L. Cooper whose daughter told him about children in New Jersey who regularly arrive at school hungry. He was 82. Cooper Levenson carries the torch in memory of one of its founding partners.
Schoolchildren were not left out of the celebration. Among other schools, students from the culinary arts program at Absegami High School, led by Christina Martin, were on hand serving up tuna tartare nachos and a vegan option that looked similar but made with compressed watermelon. Both were yummy. Also on hand were the Egg Harbor High School Jazz Band setting the perfect vibe for the evening.
A remarkable 92 cents of every dollar raised from tickets, donations and sponsorships will go directly to help feed the hungry in New Jersey. With a staggering one in seven children in our community facing food insecurity, this event is a welcome port in a hungry storm.
(Michelle Tomko is the entertainment editor at Breaking AC. She is a classically trained performer with a BFA in fine arts, is a five-time winner of Atlantic City Weekly’s Nightlife Award for “Best Comedian”, a North to Shore grantee, a Stories of Atlantic City Arts fellow, and sits on the advisory board of the Atlantic City Arts Foundation. She is an accomplished home chef with years of restaurant, catering, bartending, wine and cocktail experience.)
