SMOOTH SAILING LOCAL COUPLE OVERCOMES OBSTACLES AS PORTSIDE MARINE OWNERS
Writer / Trisha Turner Photographer / Eli Beaverson
In May of 2019, Jarret Silagyi and his wife Lauren purchased Portside Marine Sales and Service in Cicero. Within a year, a fire had destroyed the boat dealership, the Silagyis were battling serious injuries from a boating accident, and Jarret no longer had his corporate job. That doesn’t count the pandemic that seemingly brought the world to a standstill earlier this year. However, the Silagyis’ luck finally turned when Jarret learned there might be a new
home available for Portside Marine. That home that would allow the boat dealership to join forces with similar business a few miles away. The two boat dealerships have been serving the Morse, Geist and surrounding areas for over 75 years combined.
And business is booming. As a statedesignated essential business, boat sales and service have been in high demand despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“A lot of people didn’t expect us to make it through the fire,” Jarret Silagyi says. “I look back and say, ‘Well, this wasn’t the easiest path, but here we are. And we’re happy to be here.’ ”
However, the future didn’t look so rosy to Silagyi as he raced up Olio Road from his home in Fishers on October 14, 2019. He was heading to a flame-engulfed Portside Marine at its prior location in Cicero. He didn’t have to guess what he might find when he arrived. The billows of smoke, visible in the sky even as he traveled from miles away, told the story.
In June of this year, Portside Marine moved to the Lakeview Marina property, and the Silagyis own the separate businesses located on North Hague Road in Noblesville.
8 / CARMEL MAGAZINE / SEPTEMBER 2020 / atCarmel.com
“It’s been busier than ever,” Silagyi says.
