2022 SUNNYLAND ANTIQUE BOAT FESTIVAL
The 41st Annual Sunnyland Antique Boat Festival had four days of beautiful Florida weather and a record crowd. This year, “The Festival of Speed Event” joined forces with the Sunnyland Chapter and featured beautiful exotic cars to include the Rolls Royce and Ferrari Clubs. We had over 100 beautiful boats occupying the new docks and the land display had an amazing variety nautical items.
The event started Thursday with the quarterly ACBS meeting at the Tavares Pavilion with the entire ACBS Board present. Thursday evening the City of Tavares hosted a welcome reception for all attendees and it was a great setting for everyone to re-new old friendships and enjoy the Florida sun.
On Friday morning the gates opened at 9:00am and the crowd started to appear. The nautical flea market was very popular and at 10am we launched all the picnic boats for a ride through the historic “Dora Canal” to Hickory Point. A barbeque lunch was served and everyone enjoyed the event. Friday evening we had our famous captain’s party and it was like a college homecoming, everyone gathering for the first time in two years and renewing old friendships.
On Saturday at 9:00am, the blast from the cannon signaled the start of the show and Flotilla 43 from the Lake County Coast Auxiliary presented the Nations Colors. Jim Torburt, one of our faithful vendors sang the National Anthem to a large patriotic crowd. The Florida Woody Car Club arrived in style and was a great addition to the show. At 9:30am the ACBS symposium started at the Tavares City Hall and there was a wide variety of boating topics presented. The afternoon symposiums were hands on and they took place under the SCAMPY tent presented by our SCAMPY mentors.
Around 11:30am, the Amphicar Flotilla came ashore with a record 24 cars. They received a warm welcome and everyone was ecstatic to see so many of them in one location. Following their arrival we launched Miss America the 1931 Garwood Race Boat that had been recently refurbished. Miss America is the first boat to travel more than a 100MPH. The Mistele family who owns the boat was in attendance and Pat Crusse from “Crusin Classics” was able to launch the boat and take the family for a beautiful run along the water front. Following the Miss America run the Amphicars did a major “Splash In” to the crowds delight, and received a standing ovation when they hit the water.
Saturday evening, we had our traditional dinner banquet hosted by Carrabbas Restaurant where we had 320 folks in attendance. At the banquet Terry Fiest was awarded the new Terry Fiest Award in his honor from the ACBS. The award will be presented by the ACBS awards committee each year. Terry has chaired the Sunnyland boat festival for 27 years. The Montgomery Foundation Award was presented by Mr. Larry Montgomery to Mike Yobe for his service in the SCAMPY program.
Sunday morning was bright and sunny and we had our awards ceremony and church services under the “Big Top”. Around 11:00am we had an in-flux of people and although the show was over at noon, the outstanding weather resulted in a slow departure because everyone really enjoyed the show.
We had representation from several marque clubs to include the Chris Craft Antique Boat Club, the Century Boat Club, the AristoCraft Club, the Florida Glaspar Club, The Florida Antique Outboard Motor Club (AOMCI) and the Donzi Restoration Society. The AOMCI group had the most outstanding displays and were very well represented. When you combine all the participants there is literally something for everyone and it is a great Festival.
We had representation from 26 different states to include several from Canada and one from Austria. Over 200 Sunnyland Volunteers working on 33 different committees is what makes the show work. Our show signals the start of the boating season and can be compared to a “Family Reunion” or a “Homecoming” event. Our 41st annual event was a huge success.
Save the date for the 2023 show March 23rd – 26th.
Terry and Bobbie Fiest receiving a model of their boat from the Sunnyland Chapter
Mike Yobe (R) receiving the Montgomery Award from Lou Ronca (L) and Larry Montgomery (M)
The Terry Fiest Award