Boat parade ready for its annual holiday run

The fall’s cold and rainy weather has set the perfect scene for this

year’s running of the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade. It’s as

if organizers knew there would be record rainfall and near freezing

temperatures when they picked “A Winter Waterland” as this year’s

theme.

Even better, as the parade begins about 6:30 this evening, those

cold and wet nights are expected to be just memories. Clear skies and

temperatures in the low 50s should reign, instead of rain.

And that’s true all the way through Sunday night and the parade

finale.

Once again, the parade will follow two routes. Tonight and

Thursday will be the shorter one that does not include legs up to the

Lido Isle bridge and out toward the harbor mouth. The parade will

last about two hours.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday night’s route will include those

sections and will last another half hour.

With a million or so people once again expected to crowd the

harbor, finding a good spot to view the passing boats and gawk at the

houses decorated for the “Ring of Lights” competition can prove

tricky.

Public seating is available at the Seat Scout Base in Mariner’s

Mile, at the American Legion Hall on the peninsula and at the Balboa

Fun Zone.

The parade begins at Collins Island, heads along Mariner’s Mile,

then around Lido Isle before passing along the peninsula and finally

around Baboa Island. Time it accordingly.