The parking lot was full July 14, alongside Scott Road in Eatonton near Lake Oconee as two stores – The Boat Shop and Ride – joined forces in presenting the Boats, Bikes and Beer Block Party to celebrate joint grand openings.
The event featured live music with Scott Deering, a boat show, demos of electric bikes, scooters and cars, food and beverage tasting, the Dough Daddy Dough food truck, face painting, plus corn hole and axe-throwing games. There also were raffles for boating, jet board, and scooter experiences, as well as puppy adoptions and a raffle to support the Oconee Regional Humane Society.
“We wanted to bring people together,” explained Larry Imhoff, owner of The Boat Shop. “There is a brewery dog in a brewpub in the middle of the plaza here, so it all came together as Boats, Bikes and Beer.”
Laurel Clayton Seheult, owner of the Ride store, added, “We decided that since we were both having our ribbon cuttings on the same day, we’d have a big block party and invite the community to see what we do.”
With headquarters on Lake Lanier since 2007, The Boat Shop leased its Lake Oconee space (170 Scott Rd., Ste. 14, Eatonton) in January this year. The Boat Shop sells several brands of boats with a full boat service operation. It also offers boards, tow ropes, life jackets, and other popular boating items in its onsite pro shop.
“Now we have an Oconee operation similar to that on Lake Lanier. This is a full-service operation from sales to service,” Imhoff said. “Our philosophy is that once you buy the boat, our work just begins because we do a very detailed and structured orientation with the customer so he or she will know where all the switches are and how to turn things on.”
Ride (170 Scott Rd., Ste. 4), rents and sells all kinds of electric vehicles, including scooters, bikes and cars such as the all-electric Moke, which also is available as a rental, as are self-propelled electric surfboards.
Virginia native Seheult said she and her family have lived in Lake Country for about eight years and recalled that during the COVID pandemic, they enjoyed a lot of fun times together.
“When the world opened back up, I wanted to bring an electric vehicle company here that encouraged people to get outside and have fun,” she said.
Imhoff said he was very pleased with the block-party experience and suggested it could even become a more regular event.
“We brought together a lot of people. Everybody’s having a good time,” he said. “We might find ourselves doing this maybe once a month.”
For more information about The Boat Shop visit online at theboatshops.com/lake-Oconee-ga, or to learn more about Ride visit rideoconee.com.