ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702210101
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: 9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
How's this for a boat-show deal?
A boat, motor and trailer for $3,295. Top-of-the-line stuff, too. Big boat, big engine, instruments.
Don't expect that at the 1997 boat show. But it's what you could get in 1973, the year Ed Graves took over as chairman of the Southwest Virginia Boat Show.
``That same boat today would be $10,000 to $11,000,'' said Graves, who owns Valley Marine Center in Roanoke.
Only many consumers wouldn't give it a second look. They'd be shopping for a more powerful engine, a bigger, more stylish boat with plenty of gadgets and a high-speed trailer designed for interstate speeds.
Boats have changed. So have boat shows. But Graves, sporting the same flat-topped haircut, has remained boat-show chairman for more than two decades.
Last year was the only exception. The 1996 show was directed by a couple of relative newcomers to the marine business: Mike Fielder and Sonny Conner, owners of Advantage Marine in Roanoke.
The transition appeared to usher in the beginning of a new era for the show. Fielder and Conner emphasized fishing by beefing up the number of displays dedicated to angling and suggesting that in the future, 40 percent of the show should reflect fishing interest. Future shows would have bass pros - and bigger crowds - they promised.
Then Fielder and Conner sold Advantage Marine, and Graves reluctantly said he'd take the ropes again. He is 66, and his Valley Marine Center is the oldest marine business in the region.
The 1997 edition of the boat show will reflect the Graves philosophy - pure boats, not much tackle and certainly no dog and pony acts, no jugglers, no singers.
One thing Graves will tell you, a boat show isn't really a show in the sense that it is staged to entertain people. For certain, there is an allurement about boats that can make viewing them, even without intent to buy, an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.
But boat dealers make their living selling boats, not projecting fantasies, and that's what the show is about - selling. Graves has operated under the theory that it is better to attract 4,000 people with an interest in buying a boat than 40,000 people out on an afternoon lark.
The philosophy has reaped success. The show kicks off the selling season for many dealers, and some realize a large chunk of their annual business from sales and contacts made at the three-day event.
This year's show, which will be held in the Roanoke Civic Center, was preceded by a bass boat and tackle show at Tanglewood Mall. The idea was to catch the early-season interest in fishing.
Graves got into the boat business in 1956 at G&M Marine in the New River Valley. He followed the business to Roanoke in 1960 when Valley Marine Center was opened on Broadway Avenue.
Some of the earliest boat shows were held in the dark, damp conclaves of Victory Stadium, where space headers hissed at the coldness. Back then, the events were put on by civic groups, a trend that continued when the show moved to the newly constructed Salem Civic Center.
In 1973, according to Graves recollections, the show was switched to the bigger Roanoke Civic Center and was sponsored by the Cave Spring Jaycees. The following year, the newly created Southwest Virginia Boat Dealers Association took over the event, and Graves became chairman.
``The first show, we only had the coliseum floor,'' he said. ``We did well to fill that up. The next year we started using the exhibit hall. We couldn't fill it, but we used it. I think it took us probably four years before we filled the coliseum and exhibit hall, then we started adding small booths to the corridors.''
All the while, the new Smith Mountain Lake was giving boating in the region a huge boost. Many of the newcomers to the show were new dealers on the lake.
By 1980, with no room left inside the civic center, the excess of boats spilled out onto the parking lot. Recent shows have had more displays outside than inside. There would be even more, but space has been restricted to assure close-by parking for show visitors, Graves said.
``There are a lot of people from outside the Southwest Virginia area who would like to come here and exhibit,'' he said.
The boats and motors on display aren't just bigger and more powerful, they are of better quality, said Graves, and that's one of the major changes he has seen in his lengthy boating career.
``The engines are a whole lot better; they perform better and are more powerful and faster,'' Graves said. ``The boats are a lot smoother riding. They are more streamlined - back then, they were boxy.''
Packaging has been a big improvement, too, he said. In the early days, the local dealer rigged the engine of your choice onto the boat of your choice, then added the instruments and adjusted a trailer to fit the craft. It was a bit like going to a local automobile dealer and selecting a car, then telling the dealer to install a certain motor under the hood and add the instruments.
In short, it was a primitive way of doing business, said Graves.
Now boats come in package deals from the manufacturers, with the motor installed, the craft fully rigged and on a trailer designed just for it.
In one sense, the boating business is ahead of the automobile business now. The packaged outfit often comes in a thick, protective wrapping.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA/Staff. Ed Graves, sporting the sameby CNBflat-topped haircut, has been boat-show chairman for more than two
decades.