CLEVELAND — The Progressive Cleveland Boat Show is celebrating 68 years this weekend. The boat show is at the IX Center and brings hundreds of boats and even more people to check out what the boat show has to offer.

Mike and Melina Kalaman have been coming to the boat show for years.

“Just getting to see the nice, clean, shiny boats and dream about summer coming,” Mike said.

For them, it’s more than just looking at boats. The Cleveland Boat Show is actually where their relationship first really began.

“Our first date was at the Cleveland Boat Show back in 1997 and we were up here for eight hours at the boat show,” Melina said.

Captain Jeanette Lloyd with the Progressive Cleveland Boat Show explained how special of an event this is.

“This is an experiential event and one of the things that we really wanted to do is not create another parking lot of boats, endless walking,” Lloyd said.

The show is about more than just boats. Laura Hayes, a Yacht Broker for Manitowoc Marina, is excited for people to see the boats and to have some fun.

“I love the Cleveland Boat Show. This is really a great opportunity for people who are enthusiastic about boats, maybe looking for boats, people who have a boat now and just want to look at like tech gadgets and see what new models are coming out, so there’s so much cool stuff here,” Hayes said.

The opportunities are endless at the boat show. There’s a waterskiing squirrel, a fishing tank that people can practice casting a line in, kayaks and of course boats.

“We now have bands, live music, educational centers, we have the On the Water Ohio Educational Stage, we have our Lake Erie Walleye trail that are doing fishing demonstrations and seminars all weekend long. So this is more than just that parking lot of boats, this is an actual event where you can come and engage and explore and have fun with the family,” Lloyd said.

The show runs through Sunday at the IX Center.