Antique Boat Show at Wolfeboro docks on July 29

WOLFEBORO — The poster for the 44^th annual Lake Winnipesaukee Antique and Classic Boat Show, which will be held Saturday at the Wolfeboro Town Docks, depicts a gathering of boats in the 1950s for a picnic at a beach on Ragged Island, now a Lakes Region Conservation Trust property.

Alton artist Peter Ferber, who has been creating boat show posters since 1994, said the boats depicted are a 1953 35-foot Chris Craft Commander cabin cruiser, a 1934 30-foot Hutchinson Sedan, a 1950 18-foot Chris Craft Sportsman, and a 1941 30-foot Gar Wood Commuter.

In the background are Mt. Shaw and Bald Knob.

The 11.4 acre island, which has one mile of shoreline and is located between Little Bear Island and Cow Island, has an interesting history. It was acquired by the LRCT from the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in 2007 and is open to the public with a hiking trail around the island and educational programs, including a nature guide for the trail.

Wheeler and Jane Beckett owned the island for more than forty years, purchasing it, along with Little Ragged, from Alice E. Lilly on October 1, 1936.

Wheeler Beckett was a world renown composer and conductor, working for Richmond Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony.

At one time there was a studio on the north end of the island, where Beckett's grand piano was located as well as other buildings, including a main lodge, a kitchen and dining room, as well as a boathouse. Most of those buildings are now gone.

The Becketts owned the island until they sold it on 1978.

The Winnipesaukee Antique and Classic Boat Show, held in Wolfeboro for the first time last year, drew 58 entries, the largest number in four years, and featured classic wooden boats from earlier eras, including marques such as Chris Craft, Garwood, Hackercraft and Century.

The show had been held at the public docks at Weirs Beach in Laconia for nearly 30 years, starting in 1974, and was moved to the Meredith town docks in 2003.

In 1993, after almost 20 years of producing an annual Weirs Boat Show advertising flyer, which usually pictured the previous year's Best of Show winner, Phil Spencer of Wolfeboro accepted the challenge of the chapter's board of directors to improve the show posters. Phil, a local boat restorer and past president of the chapter, contacted Ferber, whose works were becoming well respected and included many scenes featuring boats. Ferber was very enthusiastic about the prospect of perhaps memorializing each year some aspect of antique and classic boating in New England and said, "I've been waiting for your call to do this."

In 2009, Ferber began working with the then Boat Show chairman Bill John, owner of the Vintage Boat Shop in Wolfeboro, to more closely tie the poster with the current boat show and use it as a marketing tool to promote each show.

The posters featured a different line of boats each year, set in a scenic, historic setting on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. The series so far has featured Garwood, Chris Craft, Hacker, Century and Lyman.

Ferber, whose family owned a summer camp on Sewall Road in Wolfeboro, where he spent his summers while growing up, said he has always been fascinated by Lake Winnipesaukee and its scenic beauty and serene landscapes.

The boat show has its roots in the Roaring Twenties and those years in which pleasure boating really started to come of age. There were hundreds of boats that came to Lake Winnipesaukee, and in the 1930s organized racing among the high-powered runabouts on the lake became big events, attracting national news media and thousands of spectators. Speedboat rides were big business by the late '40s, and it was during that time many of those attending the show experienced the thrill of their first ride in one of these mahogany beauties. The Miss Winnipesaukee speedboats, which made daily trips out of Irwin's Winnipesaukee Gardens, were some of the '20s vintage craft offering "thrill rides" on the lake.

The Winnipesaukee Antique and Classic Boat Show began because Jim Irwin of Irwin Winnipesaukee Gardens and Irwin Marine and Vince Callahan, owner of Channel Marine at the Weirs, business competitors and friends for years, attended the Clayton New York Antique Boat Show in 1973. It was clear to them that the preservation of old boats was an exciting thing that could best be achieved through a boat show. They started planning that summer and fall and the result was the inaugural Northeastern Antique and Classic Boat Show in 1974.

Jim Irwin wrote of that first show: "Under sunny skies on beautiful lake Winnipesaukee, nestled at the foot of the New Hampshire White Mountains, the dream of two local boat dealers came true. The show displayed over 50 power boats, creating all the color and nostalgia of yesteryear. Vince Callahan and I put together an 'in the water' show that delighted thousands of spectators and old boat lovers. Working directly with city officials, the public docks at the Weirs became the stage for a wide variety of beautiful wooden boat masterpieces.''

In 1976, the New England Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society was formed as a result of gathering at the Boston Boat Show when a group of wooden boat enthusiasts gathered in admiration around a couple of show winning woodies: Ted Larter's "Scotty Too" Goldcup Racer and Ray Hawe's prized possession, 18-foot Garwood "Norma Jean."

In the years following the formation of the chapter, the boat show became its major event, with Jim and Vince providing valued direction and support. The show was a competitive one from the beginning, with numerous classes, a panel of judges, and sometime had special featured race boat events. Consequently it developed a prestigious reputation. Only one year in its history, 1980, did it try a new approach — no judging.

Despite dire predictions of failure without judging and awards, 85 boats registered and the quality was as good as ever. A truly successful event, proving that giving antique boat owners a chance they'll show up even if there are no judges.

A poster by Alton artist Peter Ferber depicts a scene from Ragged Island in the 1950s when the island was owned by composer and conductor Wheeler Beckett. (Courtesy photo)