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 The 20th Annual Mount Dora Antique Boat Festival was held in late March on Lake Dora in Gilbert Park. This festival is the largest antique boat festival in the southeast and one of the largest in the country. Each year a different classic boat manufacturer is featured and this year it was GarWood Custom Boats.
Thousands of visitors flock to this festival each year to see the more than 300 classic and antique boats from 18 different states and Canada. The boats are on display, along with many booths selling a large array of items, such as motors, paddles, lights, pulleys, buoys, and other equipment for antique and classic boats. Amphicars, which are classics that operate on both land and water, were on display and the Florida Antique and Outboard Motor Club displayed a collection of vintage motors along with a nautical flea market.
One of the highlights of the event was the morning church service held on the water from Simpson Cove. “Church service on the water” is a boat custom that began primarily up north where boating was related to the summer season and vesper services. A religious group would provide a float, have it towed to the center of a lake, and boaters would congregate near the float. Songbooks would be passed out, the pump organ would lead the singing, the minister preached, and offerings were received in children’s sand buckets passed from boat to boat. At the end of the service boaters would quietly leave singing, “Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh, shadows of the evening steal across the sky”.
 This annual event is only one of many boating festivals that occur throughout the year in Central Florida. The hundreds of lakes found in Lake County make it a fishing and boating paradise, and it also provides many opportunities for other lakeside festivals. You don’t have to be a boater to enjoy these lakeside events, as illustrated by the thousands of people who line the shores to watch and enjoy the activities.
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