Boats At The Barn

By Josh Russell, Gilmore Car Museum and Jim Holland, Water Wonderland Chapter

The second Boats At The Barns classic and vintage boat show will be held at Michigan’s Gilmore Car Museum on May 14^th, 2022 from 8AM-4PM. It’s among the early outdoor shows on the museum’s car show and event schedule, perfectly timed for a display of boats on trailers before they’re dropped into the water for the summer season in the upper Midwest.

The show is open to all types, styles, and sizes of boats, with a focus on antique & classic wooden, fiberglass, and aluminum boats, as well as outboard motors. Last year’s show included everything from Chris-Craft and Garwood powerboats, to 1960s Correct Craft ski boats, fiberglassic runabouts, flat-bottom drag boats, sailboats, and canoes. Owners are encouraged to trailer in their pride and joy for display, regardless of whether it’s an original beauty, immaculate restoration, in-progress project, or recent barn find.

Highly regarded among auto enthusiasts, the Gilmore Car Museum is actually the largest car museum in North America, with more than 400 exceptional cars and motorcycles presented on a picturesque 90-acre campus – complete with period-correct dealership buildings, towering red barns, and a full-service 1941 roadside diner. It’s located just outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan, off of I-94 – halfway between Chicago and Detroit (about 2.5 hours drive from each). The museum attracts more than 120,000 guests each year, with weekly car shows, Wednesday Night Cruise-Ins, concerts, special events, and an engaged enthusiast community of more than 60,000 followers on Facebook.

 “In creating new Gilmore shows like Boats At The Barns and the Vintage Travel Trailer Rally, we’re inviting entirely new groups of enthusiasts to join our community, and experience our beautiful campus in the Michigan countryside,” said Josh Russell, Executive Director of the Gilmore Car Museum. “The reality is, though, that many of our members and guests who own, restore, and love classic cars also happen to own, restore, and love classic boats,” Russell continued.

This year’s Boats At The Barns show will be held as a combined event on the campus along with a Vintage Travel Trailer Rally, and the museum’s annual Corks & Crafts wine and beer outdoor tasting event. For more details on Boats At The Barns, and the full schedule of weekly car shows, cruise-ins, outdoor concerts and events, visit GilmoreCarMuseum.org.

Download the registration form: Boats-at-the-barns-22

Here’s a great link to a video from last year’s Boats at the Barns: https://www.facebook.com/GilmoreCarMuseum/videos/390947952882724/