For many Christmas seasons Olympia boaters have had a bright, festive way to usher in the holidays. This event allows every boat to participate, no matter the size or type. It is the Parade of Lighted Boats. Boats with reindeer, boats with Santas, big boats with a few lights, and little boats that would look at home on the Vegas strip, all enjoying the procession.
The first parade was held on Wednesday 10 December. The weather was most cooperative, being calm and clear. The floats at the Olympia Yacht Club, the public docks at Percival Landing and some of the slips in the Budd Inlet marinas began to glow and flash as soon as darkness fell. Lights were strung from the masthead with care ... and crazy spider webs of wiring tripped careless deckhands.
I was aboard Mary Campbell’s Sea Witch. She had lights strung from her rigging. There was a generator brought aboard just to make them shine.
The start was a heaving mass of lights and aspersionary comments on family backgrounds. However once the line of decorated craft began moving down the inlet, there was time to look around. The boardwalk was lined with spectators, waving and cheering. Further out, revelers fired off fireworks.
The line of boats made a large loop beyond Boston Harbor. One boat strayed a little too close to Cooper Point, on a falling tide ... yes, he did. His passengers off loaded to another boat while the stranded skipper elected to remain to await the flood.
The end of the parade came all too soon. Saturday would see a repeat of the parade. Then the lights, reindeer, and Santas were put away until next year.
See you there.
Hunter Davis, Puffin