NEWPORT BEACH CHRISTMAS BOAT PARADE OF LIGHTS

This is another event that is not held in the Inland Empire but it so well known and popular that it needs to added to our Christmas Event List.

The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is the premier Christmas event not only for Orange County and Los Angeles but for all of Southern California. With almost 100 years of history the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade is viewed by over a million people each year. Add another 10 million or so on cable and the news programs, you can see just how popular and important this event is to Southern Californians.

Newport Harbor comes alive with decorations. Homes, yachts, docks, whole landscapes are transformed into a magical holiday experience. Newport Bay begins its holiday decorations after Thanksgiving and by the first of December, Newport Harbor is richly illuminated with thousands of lights and hundreds of themed estates.

The Christmas Boat Parade takes place over five nights in December with two nightly departures. Hundreds of yachts, cruise ships, and water craft of all kinds participate in the parade. The parade will travel miles of waterfront estates during each evening viewing both estates and yachts in full décor.

Newport Landing has 5 ships that offer cruises during the entire month of December and participate in 2 cruises nightly during the parade. Christmas and holiday company parties, and after party cruises are our most popular clientele. The unique experience of being on the water viewing what the New York Times stated as “one of the top 10 holiday happenings in the nation” will make a lasting memory for any holiday event. Newport Landing offers cruises open to the general public both during the boat parade in Newport Beach and throughout the month of December.

The following is the history of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.

The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade stated in the early 1900s when Venetian gondolier John Scarpa put lights on eight canoes and his gondola. Scarpa might be surprised at what his simple act has spawned, with some entrants in today's Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade spending over $50,000 to decorate their vessels for the event.

These days, it's largest harbor parade in Southern California, with more than 100 boats, canoes, kayaks cruising the harbor decked out in enough lights to make Las Vegas jealous.

The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade starts at Collins Island at 6:30 p.m. each evening and finishes at the same spot. It runs for five days in mid-December, Wednesday through Sunday. The boats follow a longer route on the weekend, taking about two and a half hours to make their rounds on Wednesday and Thursday and three hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The bay front is a great place to watch the show of passing lights reflecting off the water. The parade route goes generally along the inner edges of the bay and circles Balboa Island. These are some of the places where you can watch it:

    * On the bay side of Balboa Peninsula from 18th Street to the end of Bay Avenue
    * Anywhere along the water on Balboa Island
    * Along Pacific Coast Highway between Balboa Bay Club and Riverside Drive
    * Along the water on Lido Isle. Boats go into the channel on the west end of the island only on weekends
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If you own a boat, you can join the parade, but even if you don't, you can book a seat on one of the party boats that park themselves in the middle of the action. Those Party Boats are owned by the Fun Zone Boat Company, The Catalina Passenger Service, and a two masted 1800's scooner the Hornblower.

Another enjoyable way to watch the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is from a waterside table at one of Newport Beach's fine restaurants: Along the Pacific Coast Highway you can eat and sip fine wines from the Rusty Pelican, 2735 W. Coast Highway, Billy's at the Beach, 2751 W. Coast Highway, Chart House, 2801 W. Coast Highway, Villa Nova Restaurant, 3131 W. Coast Highway, First Cabin Restaurant at Balboa Bay Club, 1221 West Coast Highway and on Balboa Island, the Harborside Restaurant, 400 Main Street, and the  Newport Landing Restaurant, 503 E. Edgewater Ave.
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If you are staying at the Balboa Bay Club, the Waterside Rooms offer a private front row seat to the parade.

If you are going down to watch the parade plan on leaving home at least two hours before the parade starts. It can get quite busy on PCH and on the Island. From the Inland Empire the best way down is either the 10 or the 91 to the 57 then south to the 5 and then southbound on the 55 all the way into Newport.

As I first wrote, even though the Christmas Parade is not in the Inland Empire it is still worth while to take the kids or go alone and meet someone there. It is after all, one of the best Christmas Light Shows in the nation.

Gary Hall the ghostpainter