Holiday Celebrations on the Waterfront
‘Tis the season for lighted boat parades, those maritime celebrations of the holiday spirit. Check out the following schedule and pick one near you:
- Dec. 6 — Oakland/Alameda Estuary
- Dec. 6 — Santa Cruz
- Dec. 7 — Monterey
- Dec. 12 — San Francisco Cityfront
- Dec. 13 — Petaluma
- Dec. 13 — Sausalito
- Dec. 13 — San Rafael
Find more details by clicking the links, or see our December Calendar.
Pittsburg Yacht Club’s Lighted Boat Parade missed our Calendar deadline; that event will be held on December 13 starting at 7:00 p.m.
Farther upstream, Marina West Yacht Club’s 35th annual Delta Reflections Christmas Lighted Boat Parade to downtown Stockton, which was scheduled for December 6, has been cancelled due to the water hyacinth choking all the marinas and waterways in the area, including the San Joaquin River shipping channel. "The hyacinth has become the Grinch that stole Christmas," said Mike Luery of KCRA-TV.
Saturday the 13th will be particularly festive at San Francisco Maritime National Park on Hyde Street Pier. Celebrations at Sea, from 3:00 to 4:45 p.m., will feature music, refreshments, ornament making, story reading, and Santa’s arrival by boat. Admission to the Pier is free; vessel admission is $5, free for kids 15 and under.
Then, at 6:00 p.m., the park’s costumed Living History players turn back the clock to the turn of the 20th century for Old Time Maritime Christmas. During a lamplit tour, meet the captain and crew of the Balclutha, passengers on the ferryboat Eureka in their holiday best, and the cream of San Francisco society aboard the Ark houseboat. The vessels will be decorated for Christmas in the year 1901. Free for everyone, but reservations are required. Call (415) 447-5000 to RSVP.