Kick off the 2016 boating season with the “Spring Launch” of Western New York’s only wooden boatbuilding organization, the Buffalo Maritime Center. The cocktail party will feature original maritime and waterscape art, a handcrafted wooden kayak and specialty items for auction, as well as nautical prize raffles.  Live entertainment, hors d'oeuvres, and adult beverages will be served.

The workshop will showcase restoration boat works on various vintage wooden rigs, student built dinghies, the maritime library and many antique boats (some for sale).  Workshop tours of the many wooden boats in production, including a full scale replica of the USS Trippe, and the restoration of a 1941 Mahogany racing yacht, will be offered.

The Buffalo Maritime Center was founded in 1989 and is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.  The Center offers boatbuilding courses to the general public, and partners with high schools to provide hands on educational programs for students.  Many local landmarks are products of the Buffalo Maritime Center.  The Hoyt Lake rowboats and Canal Side’s historic Lake Erie Shallop, Scajaquada, and electric launch, The White Electra are examples of boats built and maintained by Maritime Center volunteers.

Tickets for the “Spring Launch” are available by calling 881-0111 or online at www.buffalomaritimecenter.org.