Raise Me Up is proud to announce that the boat parade tradition will be kept alive again this year! Save the Date: Saturday, December 16, 2017
The first place prize for this year's winning boat will be $5,000 in cash! There are also thousands of dollars in cash and prizes for runners up and other category winners!
Hey 2015 champs Ramon's Village Resort, do you have what it takes this year to beat 2016's champs Lisa and Ronnie Cyrier? Or will Chuck & Robbie's Scuba Diving & Instruction edge out this year to take the crown? Will San Pedro AIDS Commission win again this year for the charity category, or will Saga Humane Society or Belize Red Cross take it?
All we know is that someone will take home the $5,000 cash prize this year; who will it be??
Send us a message to register your boat, or tag a friend or business in the comments if you want to see them in the boat parade! It's free to join, and charity registrants will receive a starter kit to kick off their decorations.
Do you have a boat but don't have the help to decorate it? Let us know, and we'll find people or organizations to help you decorate! Dooley Bear Adventures is in again this year!
Boat Captains: We now have more chances for you to win! We have $10,000 in CASH PRIZES for three categories:
General Grand Prize: $5,000 Grand Prize (category open to all boats) � Small Boat Best of Show: $3,000 Grand Prize (boats up to 28ft) � Best Charity Boat: $2,000 Grand Prize (charity-sponsored boats only)
Registration is open NOW! Message us to register your boat for the 2017 San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade! Are you a charity and need a boat sponsor? Message us and we'll find a boat for you!
The Holiday Boat Parade is Saturday, December 16 this year. Don't miss out!
Letter to the Editor: Support the 2017 Holiday Lighted Boat Parade
Dear San Pedro Community:
The San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade is fast approaching and we need the involvement of all of San Pedro Town to make 2107 the best yet! How so? WE NEED TO SUPPORT OUR BOAT CAPTAINS!
The Boat Parade is one of San Pedro's signature events, not only helping the community get in the festive spirit, but also celebrating the seafaring origins upon which San Pedro has grown from.
More than ever, this year's success will depend on the pride, enthusiasm and support of the community; individuals, businesses and visitors alike. To anyone who loves this island, your participation will make strong the large family that celebrate the holidays together as a community, San Pedro as our home, as well as promote it as a wonderfully unique place to live and visit.
The 2017 Holiday Boat Parade will be our third year organizing this event, and we have learned that to make it hugely successful, we NEED to come together and support our boat captains; they are the lifeblood of our tourism industry on our island! We need to encourage them to join this San Pedro tradition, and make sure that their festive spirit is appreciated!
This is where you, the community, come in�The time involved setting up/decorating boats, as well as loss of income to tour operators, was a large deterrent in the past. We've come up with a solution: Increase the cash prizes to the boat captains to help offset both the cost of decorations and loss of income. We have $10,000 in cash prizes this year!
Next, we encourage tour operating boat captains to invite guests to purchase a spot on their boat, where boat captains are able choose the price and, if they wish, can either keep 100% of the proceeds to help offset costs, or donate part of the proceeds to Raise Me Up.
Lastly, and the biggest assistance, was in partnering boat captains with local business and individual sponsors with either lights, funds or manpower. In return, boats participating in the event receive advertising, as do all sponsors, as a supporter of the community!
This year the Parade will take place on Saturday, December 16, 2017, the route begins at Wayo's Beach Bar, heading south with a turnaround at Crazy Canucks Beach Bar. This allows all participating boats to pass the official judging station on the Sandbar dock twice.
Boat captains from years past, and those who have ever thought to participate, WE NEED YOU! Business owners and individuals interested in participating via sponsorship of lights, man hours and/or prizes, we encourage you to be involved! This event is not only a celebration for all the families in San Pedro but also a great opportunity to promote what an amazing place we live in.
Raise Me Up first became involved with the Lighted Boat Parade in 2015, when the event was on the brink of being cancelled. We were approached by members of the community and asked if we were willing to take on this endeavour. Having no idea what we were doing, we accepted the challenge, along with the blessing by previous organizers and San Pedro Town Council. Amazingly, it was a success with 15 boats participating, funds raised for charities and leading to valuable experience and suggestions from the two years we have been involved.
So please, San Pedro community, we ask that you take part in this tradition and help keep it alive! For further information please contact Dee Regis at [email protected], Brittney O'Daniel at 630-1241 or message our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SanPedroBoatParade) and register ASAP!
Click photos for bigger versions of these pictures!
Everyone looks forward to the annual San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade. Community groups and boat owners work together to create stunning lighted displays on the water. Sometimes funny and sometimes meaningful they are always delightful and glorious and get everyone into the holiday spirit.
Here's a look at last night's Holiday Boat Parade
The Smallest, but Happiest Holiday Boat Parade in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye
The Holiday Lighted Boat Parade Brings Even MORE Christmas to San Pedro Last night, 9 or 10 boats lined up just north of town, switched on their generators and to the delight of the residents of San Pedro, puttered along the shoreline playing carols and throwing candy, shooting fire (!) and trying to stay in formation. It's the cutest. One of my favorite FAVORITE ways to get ready for the holidays anywhere in the world.
�Mama in her flip flops and I in my shorts had just settled down on a long dock north of town to watch�
Okay�.I'm reaching. But I need to jazz this post up a bit - my night-time, action, bright-lights-everywhere photography has taken a turn for the worse with this year's event. I don't know what happened!
Here are my photos from last night.
San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade
Every year, island residents gather to decorate their boats to compete in an annual tradition and put on an amazing display of festive lights. Here's a teaser of the boats from the 2017 San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade, presented by Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Belize Tourism Board.
$10,000 in cash prizes were awarded to the participants, and proceeds from the event raised an additional $9,200 towards local charity Raise Me Up
Holiday Boat Parade Shines Bright With Christmas Cheer
It might have been the smallest parade with only seven participating boats, but it was the year with the biggest prizes!! The parade committee, with assiatance from Hol Chan Marine Reserve and the Belize Tourism Board, accumulated $10,000 in prizes to share with this year's participants. This means that there were prizes for everyone, that included a $3,000 first place prize, which went to last year's champion Caye Da Di Sea - Dooley Bear Adventures (Lisa and Ronnie Cyrier).
What the parade lacked in numbers, it made up in spirit, energy, and beautiful lights. Dooley Bear's boat was a giant octopus that brought a big smile to your face, while the AIDS Commission touched the hearts of everyone as they paid tribute to a fallen angel in the community. Their shining angel was in honor of Felix Ayuso who was murdered earlier this year. The Shine boat was full of energy as the organization members did not stop dancing and singing and ACES (American Crocodile Education Sanctuary) had Santa Claus riding on top of a giant corocodile. How fun is that?
Click here to read the rest of the article and see LOTS more photos in the Ambergris Today
Small and Mighty Christmas Boat Parade It is always a crap shoot taking night shots of decorated boats, in the annual San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade. As I edit what I got with my great zoom on my Nikon Coolpix B500, I am pleased with what I managed to catch. Unfortunately, not all boats got a good picture. I would, however, like to congratulate everyone that entered - all of you did a great job. Thank you for the creative effort in decorating your boats so well and to the event organizers and sponsors for all your work to keep the annual San Pedro Boat Parade Christmas tradition alive.
This year I was back to watching the parade from a dock. I got to the Palapa Bar when the parade had just started so I moved fast to start snapping pics. After the boats were out of sight, I sat on the dock steps peacefully watching tarpon and eagle rays in the water. Eventually, my friends, Rosemary and Emily turned up. We managed to score some Landshark Adirondacks and enjoyed drinks and chatting while waiting for the parade to pass by again on its way to the finish line near the afterparty location.
How we put a 22 foot long octopus on a 20 foot long boat for the 2017 San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade
How do you design, build and install a 22-foot long octopus on a 20-foot long boat? Read on and all of your (ok, most of your) questions will be answered!
The San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade is such a fun event. And of course, we had to put our best creative feet forward again when designing and constructing our float for the 2017 parade!
What does it take to create a 22-foot long octopus?
LED lights, lots and lots of them: 60 feet of yellow, 25 feet of green, 75 feet of white, 50 feet of red and 150 feet of blue.
Zip ties, lots and lots of them. Our best guess is we used about 600 of them to secure the PVC pipes and lights.
180 feet of PVC pipes
Over 50 bolts
Over 40 hours of "free time"
2 oven mitts
1 heat gun
Patience
Ice cold beer. Beer. That's probably the most important item on this list!
Click here to read the rest of the article in the First World Refugee Blog
Caye Da Di Sea wins Annual San Pedro Holiday Boat Parade For the second year in a row, Caye Da Di Sea, sponsored by Dooley Bear Adventures claimed the top prize at this year's Holiday Lighted Boat Parade. Held on Saturday, December 16th, hundreds of spectators came out to the beach along the eastern coast of San Pedro Town to witness the traditional Christmas event. Eight colorful and creatively decorated vessels lit the parade route between Wayo's Beach Bar and Crazy Canucks Beach Bar for a night of spectacular lights, food and $10,000 cash in giveaways.
Shortly after sunset, the boats participating in this year's parade lined up in front of Wayo's Beach Bar. At 6PM, onlookers flocked to the beach and docks to get a good look as the lighted boats slowly sailing across the Caribbean Sea. The creativity this year surpassed all expectations, from a Santa octopus to a Christmas themed crocodile and an angel with lit wings in honor of the late Felix Ayuso, a well-known activist on the island and the face of the San Pedro AIDS Commission.
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