Harborage Yacht Club & Marina hosts boating themed event to educate the public on how marinas play significant roles in the communities in which they reside.

Harborage Yacht Club and Marina hosted National Marina Day Saturday, Aug. 8, a day celebrated nationwide to educate people about the important role marinas play in communities. National Marina Day was established in 2002 and is celebrated on the second Saturday in August each year.

In addition to featuring land and in-water displays (list below), the high spot of the day was the release of a 3-month old osprey back into the wild by the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center, which had rehabilitated the juvenile bird after a brief illness. The non-profit wildlife center also brought several owls and hawks to help educate the public on how marinas are stewards of the waterways and work to ensure that our ocean and coastal resources remain as clean and pristine as possible.

In addition, Sunshine Wildlife Tours provided complimentary water taxi service between the City of Stuart docks and Harborage Yacht Club and Marina, and members from Sea Scout Ship 801 in Jensen Beach were on hand to lend logistical support. Talkin' Tourism on Florida's Treasure Coast, a weekly radio talk show produced by Harborage Yacht Club that airs on WPSL 1590 AM, did a special live remote during the event interviewing attendees and representatives from the Association of Marina Industries and the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center.

As the winner of last year's National Marina Day, Harborage Yacht Club and Marina hosted members of the National Marina Day committee from the Association of Marina Industries. In addition to Mike Shanley, the national chair of National Marina Day, Wendy Larimer, legislative coordinator of the Association of Marina Industries, and Chris Dolan, Association of Marina Industries member attended the Saturday event, and were guests at a VIP cocktail reception held Friday evening at Harborage Yacht Club. Other notable guests included Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith, City of Stuart Commissioner Jeffrey Krauskopf, Bill Richards, coordinator of the South East District of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Clean Marina program, Dan Liftman, staff assistant to Congressman Alcee Hastings, and Gail Byrd, a commissioner of the Florida Inland Navigational District.

"Harborage Yacht Club and Marina was extremely pleased to be this year's venue for the national kickoff of National Marina Day, however, the success of the event is really the result of the many businesses, groups and organizations that agreed to participate. The shear diversity of participants clearly demonstrated to the attendees the power and importance of marinas in America's communities," said Gary Guertin, general manager of Harborage Yacht Club and Marina.