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Cruising toward Christmas

Lights will adorn more than 50 boats Saturday in the Clearwater and Tarpon Springs holiday boat parades.

By TIFFANI SHERMAN
Published December 9, 2005

In the midst of the holiday rush, here's a chance to get into the spirit doing nothing but sitting.

Tarpon Springs and Clearwater's illuminated boat parades will both be Saturday.

"We may not have the snow, but we have decorated boats," said Margie Prichard, 51, recreation supervisor for the city of Tarpon Springs. More than a dozen boats are registered in the 10th annual lighted boat parade in Tarpon Springs on Saturday night, but Prichard said more captains will sign up after they check the weather report.

"Usually a lot of boats don't commit until right before," she said.

The planning for decorations, however, begins much earlier. "People start calling me in October about this," Prichard said. "Every boat picks their own theme," and there are trophies for the best decorations.

But there is one rule: Nobody can dress up as Santa. That's because Santa will be riding on one of the boats and is slated to disembark in Craig Park.

"He'll have a bag of candy to give the kids," she said. The decorated boats are scheduled to make it to Craig Park at the end of Tarpon Avenue about the time a 6 p.m. free showing of the movie Polar Express ends, between 7:30 and 8 p.m.

This is the second year the city has paired the annual boat parade with an outdoor holiday movie. Last year, about 300 people came. There will be a concession trailer for hot cocoa and snacks, but people can also bring their own snacks and nonalcoholic drinks.

"It's a great way to get in the holiday spirit," Prichard said. At the same time, people will gather at Clearwater's Coachman Park and on the Memorial Causeway Bridge to watch nearly 50 boats registered for the 2005 Memorial Holiday Boat Parade. The parade starts at Mandalay Bay, and ends at Island Estates Yacht Club. Organizers expect the boats to pass Coachman Park between 7:30 and 8 p.m.

Windy weather last year kept at least one captain from bringing his boat to the parade, but he's trying again this year for the 31st annual parade. Earl Kendall, 72, of Largo is planning to parade his 18-foot Grumman aluminum canoe right along with boats up to 76 feet. He has owned his canoe for about 40 years.

"It's a special canoe to me," he said. He has participated in other holiday boat parades in the past but has never done the parade in Clearwater.

Kendall has made several modifications to the canoe over the years. He has added two small motors so he doesn't have to paddle, lawn chairs so he can ride in comfort and pontoons for balance. For holiday parades, he adds something else.

"There are about 70 to 100 lights that I have," Kendall said. Batteries and an inverter provide the power. "They kind of swing in the breeze," he said.

And he usually has a passenger along for the ride. "I put a stuffed Santa Claus in the other seat."

The audience seems to get a kick out of the parade's smallest participating boat, affectionately named The Fancy Canoe. "I feel like I'm in Carnegie Hall or something, they just roar when I go by," he said. "I thing they're kind of surprised."

The canoe and all the other boats will be competing for prizes when they make it to the Clearwater Yacht Club. There are four categories: powerboats larger than 30 feet, powerboats smaller than 30 feet, sailboats and an overall grand prize.

"We judge it on the theme of the boat, the lights, the colors," said Bill Blum, 60, commodore of the Island Estates Yacht Club and organizer of the parade. "We really want the captains and the crews to decorate in any theme they want. It's incredible what they do. They go all out."

The people on the boats feel the energy from the people watching, Blum said. "It's like watching a street parade."

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:19:17]