AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Specials & Events 2013 San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade

The San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade will be held on Saturday December 7th this year. This traditional event heralds the holiday season and leads us into the holiday spirit with a fun event filled with twinkling lights, children's laughter, Christmas carols and a spectacular night time boat parade spanning from Wayo's beach bar to the north and the Caribbean Villas to the south - with amazing viewing spots everywhere in between.

This year promises to be as well attended and enjoyable as each preceding year has been. We look forward to many regulars participating and invite new entrants to join the fun.

There are prizes in a number of categories for decorated boats including most original and most religious and the Mayor's choice with the coveted trophy cup.

The block party in Central Park will feature our favorite charity fundraising booths as well booths with local artists, and food booths proffering seasonal food and drinks from renowned local restaurants. Booth rental applications will be available starting on November 18th at the San Pedro Business Association office.

This year all schools are again invited to participate in the Christmas carol recitals, and a prize shall be awarded for the best school choir. Please submit an application along with the 2 songs the school will be performing to the committee.

DJ Habo shall be our master of ceremonies and will keep the crowd in the holiday spirit while we listen to carols, watch the boat parade go by and of course enjoying the Central Park Block party prize giving ceremony after the parade.

The SPBA San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat parade committee invites all businesses and individuals in the community to consider donating to the event or offering sponsorship to ensure that this event is successful and that the tradition may live on. And of course all boat owners and organizations are welcome to enter a boat in the parade and competition. Please contact the SPBA for more details on how you can be a part of this wonderful event.

If you would like to submit an idea for this year's commemorative t-shirt please email us beforeNovember 20th.

We look forward to seeing everyone enjoying this holiday event and more details shall be published over the upcoming weeks.

San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade Committee, Rebecca Arceo, Amanda Syme, Coqui Alamilla and Jan Brown

TEL: Office 226-2799 Secretary Cel 624-3204 or email <[email protected]>

It's the most wonderful time of the year...faa laa laa!
I Love the boat parade!

Tis' the season to decorate the boats!

The warm Christmas spirit is filling the air and our annual start to the season will be held on saturday December 7th, 2013. Our traditional San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat parade heralds in the Christmas holidays and puts us all in happy, loving and giving mood. We are inviting the public and local businesses to participate in the event by entering a boat, making a donation to the prizes and of course attending the Central Park block party. Every year there are super prizes awarded for the Mayor's choice of best boat, the most Religious themed and the most creative. Our local schools participate in a delightful Christmas caroling competition, The block party offers food, drink and gift booths. Grab a friend and come down to enjoy this evening parade.

Please contact the San Pedro Business Association at tel: 226 2799 or email to <[email protected] for the following:

To reserve a booth at the Central Park block party
To enter a boat in the parade
To enter a school in the Christmas Caroling competition
To offer sponsorship by way of a financial donation or prize or gift certificate

Thank you for your ongoing support of this holiday tradition.

Join us in celebrating the annual Lighted Boat Parade!

The San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade organization is in full swing in anticipation of Saturday December 7th, when gaily decorated and lighted boats will illuminate the sea. The San Pedro Business Association (SPBA) is actively seeking the support of the local business community to assist us in ensuring that this will be a successful, fun event that can be enjoyed by the many spectators on the island. We ask that any business that will benefit from the parade, or that enjoys the boat parade will consider making a donation. We are seeking gift certificates and cash awards as the prizes for the Best Boat, Most Creative Boat, Most Religious boat etc. receive prizes. The Mayor and Minister present lovely handmade trophies which are highly coveted. The school Christmas Carol competition is a great hit at the Central Park Block party and this year we again enjoy the Photo with Santa Booth hosted by Saga Humane Society.

The park will be the center of activity with food, drink and gift booths offering locally made items and seasonal specialties. Saga will decorating the stage and DJ Habo (David Marin) will be our Master of Ceremonies.

There are five boats signed up for the parade so far and we are truly looking forward to some spectacular light productions. Local businesses are offering great discounts for the boat parade participants - please check out the great variety of decorations and lighting available at Castillo's Hardware, Wings and Caye Supplies.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

---

Since the inception of the San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade on Ambergris Caye seven years ago, residents and tourists have been looking forward to the special event that kicks off the holiday/tourist season on the island. Lights, sound and cheerful glee fill the night's sky and everybody at Central Park, at home or at their special viewing spot has a great time.

The San Pedro Holiday Lighted Boat Parade organization is in full swing and the San Pedro Business Association is actively seeking the support of the local business community to assist us in ensuring that this will be a successful, fun event that can be enjoyed by the many spectators on the island. Ambergris Today has always been an avid supporter and sponsor of this special event. Here is an update from the SPBA as they ask the community for their full support in order to make the Boat Parade a smashing success once again.

- SPBA Release - "We ask that any business that will benefit from the parade, or that enjoys the boat parade will consider making a donation. We are seeking gift certificates and cash awards as the prizes for the Best Boat, Most Creative Boat, Most Religious boat etc receive prizes. The Mayor and Minister present lovely handmade trophies which are highly coveted. The school Christmas Carol competition is a great hit at the Central Park Block party and this year we again enjoy the Photo with Santa Booth hosted by Saga Humane Society.

The park will be the center of activity with food, drink and gift booths offering locally made items and seasonal specialties. Saga will decorating the stage and DJ Habo (David Marin) will be our Master of Ceremonies.

We have 5 boats signed up for the parade so far and we are truly looking forward to some spectacular light productions. Local businesses are offering great discounts for the boat parade participants - please check out the great variety of decorations and lighting available at Castillo's Hardware, Wings and Caye Supplies.

We would like to thank Quick Silver Messenger Service for its donation of $250, Cholo's Beach Bar for $100 and Lemon Crush Belize for the donation of a wonderful gift basket filled with locally made products with a retail value of $125.

The boat parade route will run from Wayo's Beernet south to Caribbean Villas and then back to the park - this is a route of approximately 3 miles. The judges will be hosted by Caprice - the awesome restaurant located at the San Pedro Holiday Hotel. Our judges have been selected and will be hosted by Lara Goldman of Lemon Crush Belize.

Dolphin Productions is finalizing the t-shirt designs - which will be on sale at Central Park during the event between 6pm - 9pm.

Please do not hesitate to contact the SPBA to find out how you can help to keep this annual traditional going so that we can all participate in the fun. Telephone the office at 226-2799 or email us at [email protected].

We are VERY SAD to announce that the annual Lighted Boat Parade, scheduled for tomorrow night Saturday December 7th has been CANCELED due to a lack of boats registered.

"It is to our great disappointment that we must announce that this year's Holiday Lighted Boat Parade is being cancelled. As of 2:00pm today we only had one boat officially signed up. We would like to give a big thank you to the BTB and the rest of the sponsors for agreeing to help make this event possible. Also thank you to Coqui Rodriguez, Amanda Syme, Jan Brown and Elito Arceo for all the time they dedicated to trying to make the boat parade happen. Again this years Annual Lighted Boat Parade has been cancelled due to lack of participation."

The San Pedro Business Association

Dear Editor:

The San Pedro Business Association regrets to inform you that we had to cancel this year's annual Holiday Lighted Boat Parade which was scheduled for this past Saturday, December 07, 2013.

Unfortunately, we did not have participants for any of the activities we had planned which were the Boat Parade, the Christmas Caroling and the booths. We were persistent requesting participants to join us but unfortunately we couldn't get enough participation therefore after consulting our committee resolved that it would have not been possible.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to express our sincere apologies for the cancellation:to all who awaited this event, to the sponsors, judges, confirmed participants, and especially to those who travelled to the island for this annual event. Thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation. We look forward to your participation and support for next year's event on December 06, 2014.

Regards,
Mrs. Rebecca Arceo,
President, SPBA

------------------------------

Did the Grinch Steal the Boat Parade?

It was a humbug moment when we learned that the Grinch had stolen the annual Christmas Lighted Boat Parade in San Pedro. How on earth did we let this happen? To the dismay of many, many islanders and tourists alike, our Caribbean horizon lay dark the night the parade was scheduled to appear. How sad it was when our hopes of seeing the twinkling holiday lights illuminating the black waters were extinguished by a lack of boat participants.

We all agree that the Christmas Lighted Boat Parade is a fantastic addition to holiday activities on the island, and for many it symbolizes the beginning of the season. Not only do the residents consider it a family evening of fun, but it can be a tremendous draw for tourism. With that said, playing the blame game on how this annual event failed to happen this year hardly does any good, so let's think about how we can guarantee that next year we will see the most spectacular boat parade yet!

Apparently one of the complaints from participants is the cost of decorating the boats. I wonder, what happened to the lights they used last year? I know all too well the life of Christmas lights are limited in this harsh environment, but do they need to completely replace their lights each year? One thought to alleviate decorating expenses is to run the parade more like a pageant, where local businesses and individuals could sponsor a boat for $500 worth of decorations.The sponsorship would have to be given in the form of a gift certificate to participating stores that carry lights. The boat of course could invest in more decorations above and beyond the $500 sponsor seed if they wanted. Registration would be limited to how many sponsors there are�so there would be an incentive to sign up early, and the more sponsors, the more boats. Beachside hotels and bars especially benefit from this event and should be the first to step up to the sponsorship plate.

We also need more support from the Belize Tourism Board and the San Pedro Town Council to make this signature event happen each year, and a committee that starts working on it in October. We can only imagine the time and energy it takes to organize such an endeavor and The San Pedro Sun is determined to help bring back the Christmas Lighted Boat Parade next year. We encourage the community to join us in this effort and assist the organizers in accomplishing this sorely missed holiday tradition�don't let apathy take the holiday spirit out of our sails�we all want a Lighted Boat Parade on La Isla Bonita and together as a community we CAN make it happen.

San Pedro Sun

Being able to adapt light displays from the boat to the street float then on to the buildings for a trifecta display each year would help alleviate some costs perhaps.