The weather did not dampen our spirits and we celebrated Hagerty’s 25 years of service with a spectacular reception for Riva and Chris Craft owners on Thursday night at the historical Lake Side Inn in Mount Dora. This year we featured Riva boats and we were fortunate to have 8 beautiful Riva Boats along with the founder of the Riva Historical Society, Piero Gibellini from Italy. Piero was accompanied by the President of the Riva Historical Society, Luigi Spaggiari and his wife, Alessandra, along with the Vice President of the Riva Historical Society, Raffaele Turchi, and his wife Gloria.

The preparation for this event was extensive and clearly evident as our Tractor Drivers launched over 150 boats and stowed their trailers in a remote trailer lot. The "Southern Hospitality" from the Sunnyland Chapter provides launch assistance and Valet trailer storage to afford boaters as much time on the water as possible.

Two days before the show, the Sunnyland Ground crew arrived and quickly transformed the quaint waterfront into a posture to receive all the boats and vendors. On Wednesday morning, over 85 Flea Market vendors jockeyed for their favorite position, and as the day progressed, the waterfront was transformed into an amazing display of Classic Boats, Woody Cars, Antique Outboard Motors and Amphi-cars. The new location is adjacent to the Florida Inland Rail Road tracks and the train operated daily between Tavares and Mount Dora offering rides every hour. Because of low water, the new Tavares Water Taxi’s could not make the run to Mount Dora but we supplemented with large pontoon boats

On Friday the tempo increased and the volunteers worked extremely hard to accommodate more than 25 Corporate Sponsors. The Chapter takes great pride in accommodating our sponsors and each sponsor is given an opportunity to pick their favorite boat. Later in the evening we had our infamous Captain’s Party in a huge tent at the Lake Side Inn.

On Saturday we started the opening ceremony with our traditional Canon blast, and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary from Tavares presented the Colors. Ann Gegan sang God Bless America and the Canadian National Anthem. At 1:00 pm we had the traditional Amphicar parade and the annual "Splash Inn" with 14 Amphicars. The parade was led by Ralph Hampton in his 1928 Ford Model T pulling a vintage calliope for music. Saturday evening, the Lake Side Inn hosted a huge dinner party for more than 400 people and we gave the Riva Painting by Karen Wood-Thomas to Piero Gibellini as a token of our appreciation for all the Italians who attended the event. Later in the evening we all enjoyed a local favorite band, Radio Flyer.