I live in Cincinnati, built a Redfish boat, and am working on my second. I have bought all my cedar at Home Depot and Lowes, very cheaply. We do have Hyde Park Lumber down here, they have much nicer cedar, but at a higher price. I just pick through the pile each visit to HD or Lowes, sometimes take a board or two. Sometimes I don't find any good wood, but you really don't need that many boards. I have had no problem accumulating a pretty good surplus with this approach. Look for boards with either no knots, or knots near the ends or edge. Remember that face grain boards slice into vertical grain strips.

I used to dwell on finding 12' boards, but now will take any length. Easier to saw and handle shorter boards, and they can be scarfed to any length.

Ken