A new holiday tradition

June Casagrande

Today marks not only the first day of the 94th annual Christmas

Boat Parade, but the first year that controversial changes to the

parade route and schedule will take place.

Now, parade planners say, they are finally seeing the benefits of

enduring a furor that erupted when the changes were announced last

year.

The number of boats registered in the parade by Sunday night was

70, up from last year’s 55. And planners are optimistic that by

today, they may return to the parade’s glory days of attracting more

than 100 entries every year.

“Our intent was to provide a better parade for the viewing public,

to get more boats involved,” said Richard Luehrs, president of the

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, which helps put on the event each

year.

This year, the parade will take place over five days instead of

seven. For three of those days, the route will be shorter than in

previous years, cutting out a section of the route that is lined

almost exclusively with homes.

Parade planners announced last year that they would shorten the

parade to help reverse a steady decline in the number of parade

participants. Public outrage was so intense that boat parade Chairman

Brett Hemphill resigned in disgust after receiving harsh criticism

and a threat that his business would be boycotted.

The chamber, in part through its Commodores Club, decided to

experiment with a compromise: The old, longer boat parade route would

stay in tact for two nights only, Friday and Saturday. That way,

residents cut from the route on other days could still enjoy the

parade in their backyards on the two nights most popular for

parade-watching parties.

“The chamber is being very open-minded, and I give them a lot of

credit for that,” Mayor Steve Bromberg said. “They have tried to

compromise as best they could. And I’m very appreciative that North

Bayfront [on Balboa Island] was kept in the loop, because that’s a

place where kids can watch the parade before their bedtimes.”

Cutting businesses out of the loop was just not an option.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators will watch the parade this year,

Luehrs said. As a result, the event is one of the biggest boons of

the year for restaurants, charter boats, retailers and other tourist

businesses.

Several years ago, the chamber tried to put a dollar figure on how

much money the event means to Newport Beach. Though they concluded

that it’s too hard to nail down a number, Luehrs said it’s well into

the millions.

Seymour Beek, owner of the Balboa Island Ferry, said that boat

parade nights are probably his busiest time during the winter.

Instead of having two ferries moving people on weeknights, ferry

operators have three vessels doing the job.

“The increase is during a concentrated period of time,” Beek said.

“For about two hours, everyone’s trying to get from either side to

the other, to parties, things like that.”

Another challenge this year was to find a way to benefit the

parade’s new sponsor, the cleaning product Simple Green. So the

chamber got creative.

The company’s mascot, Egbar, will be aboard the lead boat. The

alligator-like character, whose name stands for Everything’s Going to

Be All Right, will wave from the 65-foot McKenna yacht leading the

parade throughout the five-day event.

Bromberg will also be aboard the boat today to kick off the

parade. The chamber also sent out letters to several thousand

waterfront residents containing sample packets of the sponsor’s

product.

“They’ve been really fun to work with,” Luehrs said.

This year’s theme is “Celebrating America With Lights,” an

extension of last year’s patriotic theme, “Let Freedom Ring.” As

always, boats will compete for prizes for the best decorations. And

residents will compete in the “Circle of Light” home-decorating

contest for parade-route homes.

“The boat parade has been a tradition here for 94 years. It really

is the granddaddy of all boat parades,” Bromberg said. “Everyone who

comes out to see it should have a really good time.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.