New England Boat Show hits record attendance
The Progressive Insurance New England Boat Show wrapped up its nine-day run on Sunday, Feb, 18, with a total of 50,997 attendees, the highest attendance since 2010.
Attendance was up 9 percent from 2017, which had a snow storm opening weekend and is up from the last record attendance in 2016 at 50,706.
Exhibitors reported very strong sales with many expressing it was their best show yet in Boston. What’s more is the amount of positive feedback received from exhibitors on the high traffic and quality of attendees this year.
Highlights this year included the first official Boating Career Day that hosted more than 100 students with Massachusetts’ Secretary of Workforce and Labor Development giving opening remarks, the Touch-a-Boat Tour for kids which had approximately 1,850 new program participants, and consumers flocking to watch fishing and casting demos at Goose Hummock’s new casting tanks, plus Progressive Boat Club’s new virtual reality boat race game, docking pool and boating seminars attracted attendees of all ages.
The New England Boat Show made waves with local media, with a big highlight being two segments on WCVB-TV, the Boston ABC affiliate.
For background, Boston is a very tough media market for TV coverage. The show was featured on WCVB’s Saturday morning Eye Opener and on their 5 p.m. news.
The New England Boat Show was also featured on local FOX and NECN stations, plus many other high-profile outlets, such as Boston Magazine, Patriot Ledger, Improper Bostonian and many more.
