And Punta Gorda is blessed by not one, but two such spectacles each season.
The Lighted Boat Parade on Charlotte Harbor is now in its 20th year. A product of the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce, the annual happening features prominently in the holiday season’s kick-off. (The technical kick-off comes a day before, with the lighting of two Christmas trees in Downtown Punta on Dec. 4.)
On Dec. 5, the Lighted Boat Parade is preceded by the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas Parade, traversing Taylor Street in Punta Gorda from downtown to Charlotte High School. The afternoon segues into a holiday bazaar at Laishley Park from noon to dusk, featuring tables of trinkets and tidbits, food and fun, orchestrated by the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce. Fishermen’s Village provides ample opportunities to keep folks busy between the parade’s end and the boat parade’s beginning. Regional favorite Jim Morris starts playing there at 5 p.m.
Then comes the pièce de resistance at about 6 p.m. — the Lighted Boat Parade, which draws an estimated 10,000-12,000 people.
A year of planning
John Wright, president of the Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce, told us it takes a full year to put the parade together.
“Our first and primary goal is to make sure the parade is safe. It’s not easy to go out on a darkened harbor at night and find your way around. Not only are there the parade participants, there are at least 250 boats anchored in the harbor. It’s a daunting task, but it’s our job to make it as easy and safe,” Mr. Wright said.
The U.S. Coast Guard, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and the Punta Gorda Police Department figure prominently in making the event a safety non-event. The coordinated effort of so many enforcement and civic entities calls for serious advance planning. Two month prior to the parade, the proposal must be approved by city council.
“We have a parade chair, Doug Buuck, who owns All Marine Canvas in Punta Gorda. He’s on hand to give not just safety recommendations, but he’ll give advice on how to decorate your boat,” Mr. Wright said.
“This is my seventh year,” Mr. Buuck said. “We’re shooting for 40 boats to be in the parade. We usually run between 35 and 45.”
COURTESY PHOTOS Regardless of whether a design is glorious or humorous, each lighted boat requires hours of planning and rigging. He explained that another boat parade — one in Punta Gorda Isles set for Dec. 19 — technically has the greatest number of decked-out boats, but the Lighted Boat Parade on Dec. 5 is the largest spectacle on open waters on Florida’s west coast.
“We also have the distinction of being the only (Southwest Florida community) to have two boat parades,” he added.
“Doug has it down to a fine art,” Mr. Wright said. “The route is secure and safe to navigate. What’s new this year is that (the event will be) sponsored by Clear Channel Radio, broadcast live from Fishermen’s Village,” he said. And “For the first time, we’re collaborating with the Sarasota boat parade (on Dec. 12). If you’re decorating your boat, you’ll want it in the harbor,” he said, to have it seen by as many spectators as possible.
Beauty and the barge
Punta Gorda Isles resident Noel Hyde has been participating in the parade for 11 years. His decorations have included a 25-foot trumpeting angel and a 45-foot-tall Christmas tree. A favorite is a 16-foot lighted poinsettia being “watered” with a colossal watering can, complete with lighted streams of symbolic water.
Planning starts months before a parade. “We draw the design on our driveway with chalk,” Mr. Hyde said. Next, a netting material is laid over the design and stretched onto a PVC pipe frame. Then the structure is installed on his 38-foot sailboat.
Family, friends and neighbors readily help in every phase of the project. When the parades are over, the design is taken down and fostered in a neighbor’s backyard — on a pool cage, secured to a tree — anything sturdy enough to support it. When a design is renovated, strings of light figuring prominently into the reconstruction.
As Maya Angelou put it, “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
Capt. Ralph Allen has been involved with the parade since its inception. Three boats from his King Fisher Fleet at Fishermen’s Village will be in the parade. An affiliate boat, the new Harbor Lady dinner cruise, will be docked in the harbor, offering supreme scenery and dinner for $50 per person.
Capt. Allen’s boats will be outfitted for the occasion. “Good Times Too” will be decked in red. The “Island Star” will be covered in candy canes. And the “Coconut Woman” is demurely flanked with a succession of light strings. “We’re not the most sophisticated,” Capt. Allen allowed, “but everybody has a good time.”
Maximizing the experience
Mr. Wright said that locals create occasions around the Lighted Boat Parade. “Some homeowners host nonprofit events in their homes,” he said.
One Dec. 5 private home gathering will serve as a benefit for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, with horse-drawn carriage rides, a visit from St. Nick, food and drink and a ringside seat to the boat parade — all for a $50 donation to the nonprofit orchestra.
Mr. Wright urges participants and bystanders to visit the chamber’s Web site (www.puntagorda-chamber.com) for full details about what to expect. The site contains information about registering a boat for the parade, including a captain’s registration form. “The only thing we require (of boaters) is that they a mandatory captains’ meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3 in the Laishley Marina’s community room,” Mr. Wright said.
Fishermen’s Village, the Isles Yacht Club and Laishley Park are favorite viewing areas. Some parking restrictions apply, and can be found on the chamber’s site.
And the party plays on
Immediately following the boat parade, the Punta Gorda Chamber will host a free party at Laishley Park celebrating its fifth year in business.
A few days later, parade boaters are thanked for their hard work and contributions at a first mate’s cocktail reception at the Captain’s Table Restaurant.
“Money can’t buy what these guys offer up for free. They don’t have to do this. They do it because they want to, and everybody has such a good time,” Mr. Buuck said.
As for why he serves as the captains’ captain year after year, Mr. Buuck said, “I meet the neatest, coolest people. They’re absolutely fun.”
Despite the hours of planning and hard work amid the frustration of failed and tangled lights, the show goes on as it has for 20 years, out of sheer joy, dedication and love of community. ¦
events
Holiday kick-off events
Friday, Dec. 4
Lighting of Christmas trees in downtown Punta
Gorda
• 6 to 6:30 p.m. — city tree at Marion and Taylor
• 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. — Downtown Merchants’ Association
tree at Olympia and Taylor
Saturday, Dec. 5
Charlotte County Chamber Christmas Parade
• Noon
Parade begins at the intersection of Marion and
Taylor in Punta Gorda and proceeds along Taylor
to Punta Gorda High School
Holiday bazaar presented by the Punta Gorda
Chamber of Commerce
• Noon to dusk at Laishley Park
The 20th annual Lighted Boat Parade
• Starts at approximately 6 p.m.
(inclement weather date: Dec. 12)
After-Party
• Starts immediately following the boat parade.
Punta Gorda Chamber celebrates its fifth anniversary
at Laishley Park
Saturday, Dec. 19
Punta Gorda Isles boat parade on the canals.
Boaters who wish to participate can contact Tom
Little at Kalani@comcast.net or 639-9442
Information
• Lighted Boat Parade: www.puntagorda-chamber.
com
• Fishermen’s Village: www.fishville.com
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