The Massachusetts Marine Trades Association (MMTA) has announced that “Massachusetts KIDS Boating Day” will take place from June 2 to 10, 2018. This important effort encourages and promotes youth boating and fishing events. This will be the second year the MMTA has promoted the day. A big change is that this year’s events will take place over nine days rather than a single day. We expect the current list of events (below) will grow as we encourage our members and other youth-related programs to host events as well.
The dates of Massachusetts Kids Boating Day coincide with Great Outdoors Month (http://www.greatoutdoorsmonth.org/) and National Fishing and Boating week (https://www.takemefishing.org/how-to-fish/how-to-catch-fish/national-fishing-and-boating-week/). While the family-friendly and healthy activities of boating and fishing are already enjoyed by millions of people around the country, the sustainability of the boating industry depends on getting even more kids on the water and enjoying everything the boating and fishing lifestyle has to offer. So, one objective of the Massachusetts KIDS Boating Day events is to highlight what boating and fishing industry organizations and businesses offer the kids in our state and to introduce news kids to the water. More than 70 percent of adult boaters started boating when they were kids.
The Newburyport Touch a Boat event hosted by Merrowhawke Nature School is in its third year. This is the second year for the Nantucket Touch a Boat event hosted by MMTA member Nantucket Boat Basin. Meanwhile, the Get Hooked youth fishing tournament — also in Newburyport, Mass. — has been a popular event for many years running. With other potential events to be added, we hope to have almost a dozen youth boating and fishing events to offer as part of this year’s Massachusetts KIDS Boating Day.
For more information on events taking place on Mass KIDS Boating Day or to register a kids’ boating/fishing event, visit: www.masskidsboatingday.org.
