Seasonal & Holidays

Eastport Lighted Boat Parade Returns To Annapolis Waters This Weekend

The Eastport lighted boat parade returns to Annapolis this weekend. About 50 vessels will participate with themes like "A Christmas Story."

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The Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade will return to the Annapolis harbor this Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Many attendees watch from Spa Creek, pictured above.
The Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade will return to the Annapolis harbor this Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Many attendees watch from Spa Creek, pictured above. (Jacob Baumgart/Patch)

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Eastport Yacht Club will host its annual lights parade this Saturday. About 50 boats, both power and sail, will voyage through the Annapolis harbor from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The longest vessel this year is the 75-foot Wilma Lee from the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park. Captained by Rick Flamand, this 81-year-old wooden sailboat is one of the last 20 skipjacks still on the Chesapeake Bay.

One sailboat named Wiggy Wiggy will be decorated as "A Christmas Story." Julianne DeGraw Fettus is the operator of this 24-foot vessel.

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A blizzard of snowflakes will dance to music on Focal Point, an 18-foot powerboat skippered Mark Hergan. The Annapolis Yacht Club junior sailors will also join in with a 36-foot powerboat called Gin Point, which will be captained by Robert Lippincott.

A full list of participants is available here.

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The lighted boat parade was unofficially born in the late 1970s. The Eastport Yacht Club made it a formal event in 1983.

"It's a beloved Annapolis tradition," the marina said on its website. "Every year on the second Saturday in December, magic happens on the water of the Annapolis Harbor—boats suddenly appear out of the cold winter night illuminated with thousands of colored lights and crewed by jolly revelers!"

"CBS This Morning" spotlighted the festivities in 2016. That same year, USA Today named Eastport's event the best holiday parade in the nation.

The marina says the celebration now draws up to 30,000 spectators. Attendees watch from the U.S. Naval Academy, Ego Alley and the Spa Creek Bridge.

Pictures of past floats are posted in this photo gallery.

The Eastport Yacht Club is putting on the finishing touches to this year's happening. Skippers must attend a mandatory meeting at the marina this Thursday at 7 p.m. To learn how to register a boat in the parade, click here.

Captains are eager to get back on the water. Planners canceled last year's event during the thick of the coronavirus pandemic.

The fun is back, however. Few are more excited than Maryland Federation of Art member Barbara Brower. Her painting of a decorated sailboat in Ego Alley won the annual poster contest for the parade. The piece, which is shared in this Facebook post, was featured on promotional materials for this year's event.

More information on the parade is listed at eastportyc.org/lights-parade.

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