The 2006 New Orleans Boat Show

The New Orleans Boat Show was held last weekend in the Ernest Morial Convention Center. The show is normally held in the Louisiana Superdome but was moved to the Convention Center because of the work being done at the dome right now. It was good to see the boat show, which is put on by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, pull off an impressive show. The Convention Center was an excellent venue. It was bright and clean and showed no evidence of the "unpleasantness" that took place there only six short months ago.

It seemed to me that there were more boats than in recent years. I talked to a few vendors who said that attendance was good and the sold quite a few boats. The sales can probably be attributed to many people replacing boats lost in the storm. Whatever the reason, it was good to see. It was good to see the crowds and really good to see that the NMMA went ahead with the show even though the usual venue wasn't available and many speculated that no one would come. Fortunately, they were wrong.

The New Orleans Boat Show, as all shows and conventions like it, are important to New Orleans. It is the largest boat show on the Gulf Coast and second only to the Miami Boat Show in the South, I think. They had lots of boats to choose from. I went to see two in particular and it was well worth the trip. I have now decided on the one I want. I even got a price quote.

Thanks to the organizers, they did a great job.