Visitors enjoy Antique and Classic Boat Show's new setting

Story and photo by Senior Contributing Writer Alice Gerard

Visitors to the Niagara Frontier 2026 Antique and Classic Boat Show, held at the Sandy Beach Yacht Club and the Sandy Beach Park Club during the weekend of Sept. 19-20, enjoyed an intimate atmosphere and a different view than in previous years. This year, the show was held at the adjoining Sandy Beach Yacht Club and Sandy Beach Park Club.

Sharon Dickinson, vice president of the Niagara Frontier Antique and Classic Boat Society, as well as the chairperson of this year’s annual Niagara Frontier Antique and Classic Boat Show, said, “The club has been doing this for 47 years. We have had it at different locations. This year is our first year at the Sandy Beach Yacht Club and the Sandy Beach Park Club. The two clubs are adjacent to each other, and they’ve agreed to host us and work together for the show.

“It’s nice. It’s very intimate. It’s kind of out of the way. We used to be at the south end of the Island. We’re now at the north end of the Island, which is kind of cool, and it’s nice to have a different view. Here, we see houses and trees across the river. There, we had industry. It really is a pretty sight here.”

Italo Baldassarre, past commodore and current fleet captain of the Sandy Beach Yacht Club, said, “We were approached several months ago by the Antique Boat Society about the possibility of hosting their event here at Sandy Beach. We have a long history, dating back to 1939, of hosting boating events and regattas. Being consistent with our mission, we jumped at the opportunity to host.

“Part of our mission is to promote waterfront activities and to help people who maybe don’t have exposure get closer to the water and to the joy that boating is for all of us. We’re hosting the public. We’re also hosting members of boating societies and organizations from around the country, around the state, and Canada, so it’s been an opportunity for us to showcase our club but also promote boating and boating endeavors.

“Our club is very small. We only have about 100 members. We’re a volunteer club, so all of the work is done by the members. We don’t hire anyone to do anything. Cutting the grass, maintaining the clubhouse, working on the docks is something that is all done by the members together. I love these guys, but it’s nice to see some fresh faces. Having visiting clubs come by and the hundreds that are here from the general public is great for everybody.”

“We’ve been launching our boats, the in-water boats,” Dickinson said. “We’ve launched them at the Sandy Beach Park Club. We have our land displays over there. At Sandy Beach Yacht Club, we have docked our in-water displays. Also, here, we have our ship’s store, a basket raffle, and our membership. On the Sandy Beach Park Club side, they’re serving food today, and we have our kids’ camp. We have popcorn over there. We’ve got kids coloring T-shirts and we have some boats that they can assemble; and we have a little pool there so they can put their boats in the water; and we also have some face painting over there. Also, over there, it’s nice and shady and it’s cooler over there than it is on this side.

“We started the day out with a flag-raising ceremony, with the national anthems of Canada and the United States. The choir from the Charter School of Applied Technology sang the anthems, and then they sang a song. The choir director is Sarah Martinez. Then we had a tribute to 9/11. There was a violin soloist in the background playing ‘Amazing Grace.’ We had announcements, and we had a cannon send off to start the show.”

“It seems that everyone is enjoying the setting,” she said.

“I’d like to thank the Niagara Frontier Antique and Classic Boat Society for selecting us this year,” Baldassarre said. “I’d like to thank our membership for coming together to host the event and do all the preparations that are necessary to have it be a success. I’d like to thank the members of the community, especially the Grand Island community, for being a part of the event. Also, for partnering with the Sandy Beach Park Club, which is also a longstanding organization. We’re working together to make this happen.

“It was a team effort. In fact, we had about a third of our membership there, volunteering on the day of the event. We have about 100 members and more than 30 members were there donating their time to make sure that this event was a success.

“I thought it was a tremendous success. There were countless numbers of visitors. Everybody seemed like they were enjoying the water, enjoying the boats, enjoying the food, especially enjoying access to both the Park Club and the Yacht Club. We don’t have a lot of visitors. I don’t know how many people in the community, Islanders included, really knew what we have to offer. Partnering with the Boat Club gave the community exposure to our clubs, that exposure to an event. it was in a different place than it had been traditionally. I think it was good all the way around.”

This weekend, people who live near the Sandy Beach Yacht Club may see sailboats racing in the river. The club is, “celebrating the end of the season, when you would haul your boat out of the water,” Baldassarre said. “We call it the Haul Out Regatta. Our events are open to members of our sister clubs. There will be sailboat races on the river by the club.”

People who are interested in possible membership in the Sandy Beach Yacht Club are encouraged to visit on Tuesday evenings during the summer.

Baldassarre said, “We do have our Tuesday work nights, where our members get together and we socialize, we take care of the club’s maintenance. If people who are interested in learning more about the Sandy Beach Yacht Club, come to the club on any Tuesday evening after 6:30, they’d be able to look around, meet our membership chair people, and see if Sandy Beach is something they’d be interested in coming out for.”

Other events during the summer include TGIF parties, which are open to members and their guests, as well as the annual corn roast, “which we held at the end of August, where we usually have live music and a couple hundred people in attendance.” People who are interested in membership are encouraged to “go to our website, which is www.sandybeachyachtclub.org, for more information,” Baldassarre said.