HEADINGS

by Dave Geoffroy

I want to thank all of the SCMA members and friends who attended Terry Tjaden's retirement party on June 28 at our office in Orange. It was a bittersweet occasion as we will all miss Terry's extraordinary work ethic, many contributions and vast knowledge of the industry after 23 years at SCMA, but knowing that he will have more family time to enjoy with his wife Gina, two daughters and son-in-laws and grandchildren is certainly well deserved. I'm sure many of Terry's good friends and co-workers will be staying in close contact with him at his new home in Oregon. On behalf of everyone at SCMA, Terry and Gina, we wish you all the best.

Moving forward, SCMA continues to have a very busy summer. I want to remind everyone that SCMA is starting a new tradition. This coming Tuesday, July 13 -- we are holding our first SCMA "member mixer" at the office in Orange beginning at 4:00pm. This is a purely social and industry networking opportunity for members to get to know the SCMA staff and Board members a little better. We will also have a short presentation at approximately 5:00pm by our longtime legislative lobbyist in Sacramento, Steve Baker of Aaron Read & Associates. Steve will be telling us some of the inside happenings within our State government and what we can expect in the way of new legislation that will be affecting our businesses and marine industry. Please don't miss this. Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (714) 633-7581 if you will be attending.

My compliments to the dedicated SCMA members located in the Marina del Rey area who worked so diligently to help make the first annual Marinafest event a success on June 12-13. For an inaugural event, I think we were all very pleased with the results and potential for the future. Our annual Spring Boat Show at the Fairplex in Pomona which was held in conjunction with the RV Show also produced immediate sales at a most critical time for many of our member dealers. With expectations that the economy should be in better condition a year from now, we're optimistic about attracting larger crowds and generating more sales when we're finally in a decisive financial up-turn.

Last on the agenda for this month is our 7th Annual San Diego Yacht and Boat Show which is only a few weeks away (July 22-25, Harbor Island). If you haven't reserved you exhibit space as yet, please contact Ryan Rawlings at our office. SCMA's San Diego show has developed into a significant boating event for the San Diego marketplace. We have an impressive roster of both new and brokerage boats coming for the in-water portion of the show, plus many on-land accessory displays and family trailer boats and PWCs. I hope to see many of you in San Diego.