Boat parade’s tradition shines bright on Newport Harbor
For natives and enthusiasts, there is no greater tradition that exemplifies the qualities of Newport Beach culture than boating.
For David Beek, the culture, with its rich history and style, is exemplified by the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade, which kicks off Wednesday, rain or dry.
“It’s really the backbone of this city,” he said. “Newport Beach is all about boats.”
When thousands of locals and visitors from near and far bundle up in their coziest holiday sweaters and stake out a spot near the water this week to watch a parade of lighted boats illuminate Newport Harbor, they will be participating in a city tradition that dates back 107 years.
Over the five nights of the parade — Wednesday through Dec. 20 — more than a million people will visit Newport Beach to be part of the spectacle, according to Beek, who is parade chairman and the ferry operator.
For generations in Newport Beach, the Christmas Boat Parade has been a time for parties and gatherings with friends and family centered around watching familiar vessels decked out in somewhat unfamiliar and sometimes surprising holiday decor.
“What used to be our little boat parade has changed. It’s not just a local event, it’s an event that’s known about nationally — even internationally,” Beek said.
The concept of the parade is the same now as it was 107 years ago, locals say, save for a few key differences. The main one is that the parade was originally a summer event, created when the majority of people who traveled to Newport Beach did so in the summer and maintained their permanent homes in more populated areas like Los Angeles.
In 1907, John Scarpa, an Italian gondolier, began the tradition of lighting boats in Newport Harbor. He took groups of summer visitors who had traveled from their year-round homes in Pasadena across the bay in a gondola decorated with Japanese lanterns.
Scarpa somewhat formalized the event a year later in July, when he and a few other boat operators put together a parade of eight canoes and a gondola, all illuminated by Japanese lanterns.
The parade, then named the Illuminated Water Parade, was held again in summer 1913. The boats were judged and prizes were handed out that year, a tradition that stands today.
However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the parade.
It grew over the years, with more boats participating and more people showing up to watch until 1915, after World War I began and a depression crippled the harbor.
The parade picked back up in 1919 under the leadership of Joseph Beek, who began referring to it as the Tournament of Lights.
It was pretty much a locals-only event back then, David Beek said of his grandfather’s era.
“A lot of it started as a play on the Tournament of Roses,” he said.
Eventually, in the 1940s, the parade transformed into a holiday celebration after city employees outfitted a barge with a lighted Christmas tree and towed it around the harbor while its passengers sang Christmas carols to onlookers.
“It became a source of commerce for the city to bring visitors to town,” David Beek said. “Here we are 107 years later and it’s humongous.”
The decorations have become more intricate as the parade has progressed. What started as a few colored lights strung on the bow transformed into a full holiday scene with LED screens, inflatable decorations and animated lights. Some people begin planning their decorations a year in advance, enthusiasts say.
About 65 boats, ranging from power to tug, have registered in the parade so far this season, with about a third of the participants sailing in the event for the first time, according to Jenny Wedge, spokeswoman for Newport Beach & Co., the marketing organization for the city.
With all the visitors coming to town for the parade, the city’s restaurants, bars and liquor stores will have their busiest nights of the year, David Beek said.
For him, the parade is more than a yearly tradition. With his family history so deeply ingrained in the parade’s creation and longevity, organizing and participating was sort of a “rite of passage,” he said.
However, there’s one feat he has never been able to accomplish. Though he decorated his own boat and sailed in the parade with friends throughout his 20s, he wasn’t able to snag an award.
“I still recall those memories as being some of the best in my life,” he said.
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Boat parade
The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade will run from 6:30 to about 9 p.m. daily, beginning and ending off Bay Island. Here are highlights:
Wednesday
6:15 p.m.: Fireworks at Newport Pier
Grand marshal: Arte Moreno, owner of the Angels
Thursday
Grand marshals: Christen Press and Amy Rodriguez, members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team
Friday
Grand marshals: Brain Johnson, Bay Brooks, Barry Minniefield and Jacob Rummell, contestants from Season 8 of “The Voice”
Saturday
Grand marshals: 2016 Tournament of Roses Royal Court
Dec. 20
9 p.m.: Fireworks at Balboa Pier
