Deck the hulls

Bryce Alderton

Imagine turning your sailboat into a Christmas tree.

Bill Hartge did, and his lighted creation, a 36-foot sailboat will set

sail for this year’s Boat Parade and 39th annual Cruise of Lights in

Huntington Harbour.

It was his friend and former racing crew member Pat Taylor, who came

up with the idea to turn the boat into a Christmas tree this year. He

helped Hartge to install 24 strands of lights that attach at the top of

the mast and stream down through small loops just above the deck of the

boat, creating the Christmas tree image.

“I always have help,” Hartge said of preparations for the events.

The Boat Parade, which is put on by residents for residents, will be

held Dec. 8th and 9th. This is the time when harbor residents get

together to view the decorated homes and boats in the harbor prior to the

cruise, which begins on Dec. 13.

“[The parade] gives a hometown community feel and a party,” said

Lucinda Prewitt with the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Society, the

organization that stages the cruise each year. “It gives residents their

time to talk and have Christmas parties on their boats. They get all

excited about decorating their homes, and they leave all their

decorations up.”

The Cruise of Lights runs from Dec. 13 through Dec. 22, and gives

visitors an opportunity to view the decorated homes in the harbor on a

narrated boat tour.

Since its inception in 1963, the cruise has generated more than $2

million for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s youth music

programs, and attracts more than 20,000 visitors a year.

Hartge has seen hundreds of thousands of visitors some through over

the years. He has lived in Huntington Harbour for 37 years, and has

decorated his boat for the festivities for 25 years.

But it’s not the decorating contest or winning an award that inspires

Hartge to participate in the parade and cruise.

Hartge and wife Jana have two children, five grandchildren and seven

great-grandchildren, and they all get to see the lights.

“I take them all at various times throughout the [parade,]” Hartge

said. “I don’t enter these things to win, I just want to participate and

take friends and family out for a cruise. I have a lot of fun doing it

and the boat parade gives us a lot of opportunities to see what other

boats look like that are also in the parade.”

In past years he’s created images of the Red Baron and Snoopy on his

boats, but this year in keeping with the theme of the parade and cruise,

“Holidays on Parade,” he went with the tree.

Decorated boats will be judged in categories such as best display of

originality, most effective use of lights, most religious, best tribute

to theme, most whimsical, most beautiful, design excellence, sweepstakes,

best tribute to the holiday season, most traditional, most contemporary,

judges special trophy, best animation, best commercial and best of yacht

clubs.

They will be judged Saturday night Dec. 8, with trophies being

presented to the winners at a brunch on Sunday Dec. 9 at the Huntington

Harbour Yacht Club, 3821 Warner Ave.

Harbor homes were judged Wednesday night in some of the same

categories as boats. Condominium and townhomes were judged for best group

entry and best individual entry.

The cruise runs nightly at 6, 7, and 8 p.m. Dec. 13-22. Adults are $10

Mondays through Thursdays, $12 Fridays through Sundays. Children ages

2-12 are $6 every night. Special family nights are Dec. 13 and 17, with

reduced rates of $9.50 for adults and $5.50 for children.

Spectators can meet at the Huntington Harbour Mall on Algonquin Street

to be shuttled to the docks.

* BRYCE ALDERTON is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at bryce.alderton@latimes.com