"I didn't really see the doom and gloom," Zellers said, acknowledging that both attendance and sales weren't as stellar as in years past. "But a lot of vendors said they had come into it with little or no expectations at all. So we're thrilled."
Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said the boat shows helped put Annapolis on the map internationally as a hotbed of boating. The sailboat show completed its 39th year; the powerboat show its 37th. The economy, she said, won't likely keep a boater from the boats.
" 'I want a boat, and this is what I want to do, and doggone it, I'm going to buy it,' " Moyer said, explaining the psychology behind many boat buyers. " 'By golly, I'm not going to let these things get me down.' "
