A VIP ribbon-cutting ceremony will mark Friday’s opening of the Providence Boat Show at the Rhode Island Convention Center.
With the show taking place on Super Bowl weekend, former New England Patriots defensive lineman and two-time Super Bowl champion Jarvis Green will join several VIPs to officially kick off the event.
The Providence show runs through Sunday this weekend.
The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association, which owns the Providence Boat Show, will host an industry panel and award presentation on Friday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Rotunda Room of the convention center.
Industry professionals will join RIMTA for breakfast to present the John H. Chafee Boater of the Year Award to Sail Newport program director Kim Hapgood.
Hapgood, who has worked at a grassroots level for more than 20 years to grow the sport, directs Sail Newport’s youth and adult sailing-education programs.
As a certified US Sailing Master Trainer, she is frequently asked to present and run workshops at national sailing symposiums, organizers said in a statement.
The breakfast also includes a panel of industry members who have been instrumental in hurricane-recovery efforts in Florida and the Caribbean.
After Irma and Maria devastated communities that rely heavily on boating, the panelists mobilized to help with the recovery effort.
Dan Harding, editor-in-chief of Trade Only sister magazine Power & Motoryacht, will moderate the discussion. Panelists include Rufus Van Gruisen of Cay Electronics, Clem Napolitano of Jamestown Boat Yard, Shaun Ruge of Navionics and Veronica Brown of Newport Shipyard.
