The owners of the Halifax International Boat Show, The Atlantic Marine Trades Association, are pleased to report that the dealers and retailers at the 2012 edition of the Halifax International Boat Show had a positive experience. The weather was great and attendance was up on all four days with an overall increase of 14% over 2011!

Exhibitors commented that the visitors to this event were high quality and were there to buy boats and accessories…and that they did. Many boats were sold and chandleries reported excellent sales for the 4 day event plus, dealers left with many solid leads to follow up on!

Jason Craig, Quartermaster Marine commented that, “We at Quartermaster Marine found that the crowds this year were up and we had lots of interest in our boats. There were many buyers this year once again and we had a very successful show”.

Tim Edwards, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association was enthusiastic saying, “Well done putting on another great Halifax Boat Show. The NS-built boat section + apprentice project worked really well as far as I could tell (best yet).”

“We couldn’t be happier with the 2012 results. Great show!” exclaimed Dave Trott, Seamasters Marine Services.

The HUGE Doorprize this year, a 2012 Bayliner 16’ Boat, Trailer & Motor Package was provided by Quartermaster Marine, Mercury & Bayliner. The Lucky winner was Tom Day! Congrats on your new $15,000 Boat! Welcome to the Water!

Also, congratulations to our Atlantic Boating Photo Contest Winner, Jeff MacMillan, who sent in a photo of his adorable dog in a PFD! First Runner-up was Jeremy Gillis, and Second Runner-up was Wendy Levy! First place walked away with a Blackberry Playbook, and the runner-ups scored Helly Hansen PFD’s!

The seminar stage was very well attended with some guests remaining for the entire series of presentations which included technical talks, Derek Hatfield's Taking on the World, Alone and a Movie night with a Joshua Slocum documentary.

We would like to extend a special thank you to the NSBA builders and apprentices who participated in the “Nova Scotia Built” feature.

The Boat Show  hosted the first ever Cook-off, where Chef Live’s Chef Rich & Q104’s Bobby Mac faced off on a Chowder Smack down. They had all the ingredients to make a great Seafood Chowder but Bobby Mac came up on top!