Along the shores of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is well-positioned for boating and activities with summer life on the water. With the boating season about to pick up, a new event brought local boaters and retailers together to showcase aquatic recreation to the local community.

The first-annual Finger Lakes Boat Show launched this past weekend, taking place over two weekends, from March 31-April 3 and April 7-10, at 407 Cliff Street in Ithaca’s West End. 

The show was hosted by Cliff Street Retreat—a planned mixed-use development at the site in collaboration with Explore Ithaca, which hopes to foster a boating community in the area. Brian Poulsen, Jodi Lee Denman and Lincoln Morse are all partners at Explore Ithaca.

“We’ve got 36,000 square feet and nothing to do with it,” said Poulsen. “So we decided what better thing to do then fill it up with boats and help promote the boating community.”

“I’m just really thrilled that we have this opportunity,” Denman said. With nearby boat shows in Rochester and Syracuse canceled this year, hosting the Finger Lakes Boat Show allowed vendors and local partners to learn about the area. They’re learning about the Ithaca market. It is just a real sense of community,” she added

With free admission, local marine suppliers, food and beverage options and onsite parking, attendees were able to learn about a variety of watercraft ranging from electric and performance boats to paddling craft—like kayaks, canoes and paddleboards.

Local vendors included Lansing Harbor, which is a full-service marina with 173 boat slips in nearby Lansing.

President of Lansing Harbor, Greg Mezey—who is also a Tompkins County Legislator representing District 13,  said the show is a great opportunity to encourage boating recreation. “It’s great because we’re excited to just get people out on the water,” Mezey said. “Folks can get out and enjoy and that’s really important to us because people start to recreate and enjoy the lake more.”

 Mezey also discussed the rise in demand for boats as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “People have wanted to get outside. It’s a way to still socialize and be safe and for people to feel comfortable, Mezey said.“The pent-up demand is really on the supply side with new boat sales.”

In fact, the Central New York Boat Show in Syracuse—which is one of the state’s largest, was canceled this year due to supply chain issues in getting new boat’s to the exhibition.

For Mezey and Lansing Harbor, the rental market is also proving to be successful. The marina has five pontoon boats that people can rent out on any given day. These rentals open a new market for people who don’t want to own a boat and keep up with the maintenance.

Mezey said space and accessibility are also an issue. “I think the biggest constraint to our boating industry is just the number of slips and the availability of places to store your boat in the water during the season,” Mezey said.

That’s where Explore Ithaca hopes they can foster a more robust boating community in Ithaca. In conjunction with Explore Ithaca, Paddledockers offers rental and retail opportunities for paddle craft.

Providing rentals with kayaks and paddleboarders has been a way to increase access for residents and visitors to the area. “People can come and rent a kayak or paddleboard and get out with their friends,” said Poulsen. “We have a lot of great ideas to continue to bring the community together.”

Along with Paddledockers, Explore Ithaca is proposing Ithaca Waterworks—a waterfront development, along with Duffy Boat Tours and Sales. Denman says it’s all about creating access for boating. “It’s really being able to bring the community and our visitors to have a great experience,” Denman said. “A lot of people don’t have access to the water.”

Explore Ithaca is also launching dinner cruises on Duffy boats this season for the first time. 

“We can take people out on dinner cruises. So you get three couples together, you can bring a bottle of wine, some charcuterie…just cruise around the lake,” said Poulsen.

He added that the show is a building block to creating a larger community around boating. 

“We want to build the infrastructure that makes it possible for the people interested to actually get out on the water and experience the Finger Lakes,” Poulsen said.