No big-name country stars will be playing on New York State Fair stages again this year, but at least fans can see a boat once owned by country Hall of Fame member Alan Jackson. 
The craft, a 1955 Cruiser called Flat Top is one of over a dozen antique boats that make up a dazzling new exhibit called the Mini-NYS Fair Maritime Museum, sponsored by New York Sea Grant, the Great New York State Fair, Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York, and H. Lee White Maritime Museum.
Among the rare crafts on display on the shore of the NY Experience pond are:
a 1913 Matthews High-Speed Runabout: Skanendowa renamed Golden Years, with original lights, instruments, hardware, copper gas tank, and Scripps 4 Cylinder engine still intact
a 1929 Chris-Craft Sedan: Topper, with a limousine top, likely displayed at the 1929 San Francisco Boat Show
a 1942 Mullins Steel Sea Eagle runabout: Steel Away, designed by Julias T. Herbst, with 5 floatation tanks that made it unsinkable
a 1948 Thompson TVT Lake Boat: Keuka Dew II, with a 1949 Evinrude Speedtwin motor
a 1950 Penn Yan Clipper: Challenger, with mahogany hull, oak gunwales and trim, spruce cockpit lining, bronze stem band; fully upholstered in Chinese Red Russialoid
a 1957 Penn Yan Swift: 12-foot wooden hull vessel built in Penn Yan, N.Y.
a 1965 McPherson Comet: 16-foot molded fiberglass sailboat built in Ithaca, N.Y.
a 1967 Evinrude Playmate runabout: donated by the family of the late Robert H. Wood, a World War II veteran and career education in New York State, for use as the New York Sea Grant Discover Clean and Safe Boating educational vessel
There will also be current-model boats representing modern hull and propulsion design, electric and propane-powered vessels, stern drive, traditional outboard motor drive, and a sailboat.
The boats are part of free exhibit that also features maritime artifacts and boating history displays. Check the Fair website for special events being held throughout the run of the Fair.
Leave a Reply