Lighted Boat Parade

Well, as always, you never know what kind of weather you are going to have in December. It’s just part of living in the Northwest. We had a very nice Friday night, no wind and a perfect evening for the parade. Approximately 25 vessels participated in the parade which is average for a Friday night. At the request of one of the neighbors near Chism Park we altered the course slightly to accommodate her Christmas party. I have had several requests to bring the parade down to the East Channel Bridge, which we will take a closer look at this year. Saturday night was a little different story. We had record rainfall. The boat count was 45 vessels on Lake Union when we started and we were down to 20 by the time we got to Kirkland. Visibility was very poor and a lot of vessels turned around when they got to Lake Washington. From Kirkland you could not even see the 520 bridge.

I would like to thank everyone that participated this year and of course the lead and turn boats. Lead boats were provided be Ron Voegeli and Chuck Gould. Our turn boats were provided by Dick Timmerman, Dave Nelson, George Austin, Kelly Stocklin, Jess Hill on Jesster (with two s’s, sorry) and also Bob Yates, Kent Soffel and at the last minute Paul Bennett. Thanks Paul. I always enjoy doing this event. It feels good to see all of the festive boats and it appears that there are many people on the shoreline that enjoy it too. It also gives me a good reason not to decorate the house. Now the only problem is I have to take the lights off the boat or maybe I should just leave them on year round. Just kidding.

Randy Jamerson
Parade Chair