Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show in 1940

From April 26 to April 28, 1940 the Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show, sponsored by the Sandusky Sailing Club, was held at the Sandusky Junior High School (later known as Jackson Junior High.)

The Boat and Equipment Show ran from Friday through Sunday. Model sail yacht races were held in the swimming pool, as well as demonstrations of life saving and artificial resuscitation. Movies were shown in Room One.  Meetings of the I.L.Y.A. (Inter-Lake Yachting Association) and I.L.S.C. (possibly the Interlake Sailing Class Association) were held during the weekend. The Boat and Equipment Show had over fifty exhibitors, including the U.S. Coast Guard, Lyman Boat Works, Darst Works, Sandusky Boat Works, Worthy R. Brown, Inc., and several other companies from Sandusky, Toledo, Cleveland and Detroit. Music was provided by the Sandusky High School Orchestra and Mr. Aldrich’s High School Band Quartet known as the “Singing Sailors.”  On Sunday evening at 8 p.m. a Dutch folk dancing group from Holland, Michigan performed in the closing ceremonies. The eight young ladies were led by their instructor Miss Mabel Apel, the daughter of Sandusky City Commissioner George J. Apel. 

An article in the Sandusky Star Journal on April 29, 1940, reported that total attendance for the Sandusky Boat and Equipment Show was 4,000 over the three-day event. Many local businesses advertised in the program for the Boat Show, including Maus Shoes, who sold a shoe called the Yachtshu which claimed to be slip proof on the wet deck of a boat.

As was discussed in a previous blog post, the Junior High School was the location of many community events in Sandusky from the late 1920’s through the  1940’s. This is from a car show at the Junior High from 1936: