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The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is a Christmas ships festival in Newport Beach, California, United States, established at the turn of the 20th Century by John Scarpa and Joseph Beek.
Scarpa, an Italian gondolier, and Beek, a key force in the early development of Balboa Island and later the founder of the Balboa Island Ferry, arrived in the Newport Harbor area in around 1907. These two men established what was then called the Tournament of Lights, an event that would continue for the next nine decades. [1] In 1907, Scarpa began taking a group of visitors from Pasadena across the Newport bay in a gondola decorated with Japanese lanterns. One year later, on July 4, 1908, the first lighted boat parade took place. Scarpa, along with his fellow small boat operators, put together a loosely organized event consisting of nine vessels, with Scarpa's gondola followed by eight canoes, all of them illuminated by Japanese lanterns.
In 1913, Walter Gustin decided to promote the event featuring lighted boats, called the "Illuminated Water Parade". To promote participation, prizes were offered for the boats with the best decorative lighting. However, due to World War I, there was no parade for the next five years. In 1919, Beek, by now operating ferryboats like the Fat Ferry, came to revive the lighted boat parade, establishing the "Balboa Tournament of Lights" in 1921, with support from both the Island and the Peninsula. From here the festival grew, including fleets of rowboats, canoes, and small sailboats, as well as motorboats, power cruisers and large auxiliaries. By 1929, scores of decorated and illuminated power craft were towing their quota of small craft, and the tournament grew in size and elaboration each year. In 1929, Governor C. C. Young remarked, "It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! I think its most charming feature is its freedom from commercialism." [2]
With the exception of a few years during World War II, the Tournament of Lights was held every summer from 1919 until 1949. After an absence in 1948, in 1949 the Police and Fire authorities argued that the parade was drawing too many visitors to the harbor and creating heavy crowding and traffic congestion, and the event fell out of favor.
Today, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade features as many as 150 boats. The parade is hosted by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. [3] In 2002, the New York Times described it as "one of the top ten holiday happenings in the nation". [4] [5]
Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries; however today it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws visitors with a waterfront path and easy access from the ferry to the shops and restaurants.
Balboa Island is a harborside community in Newport Beach, California, accessible to the public via bridge, ferry and several public docks. The community is surrounded by a paved concrete boardwalk open to pedestrian traffic, designated as a public walking trail by the city.
The Balboa Peninsula is a neighborhood of the city of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. It is named after Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific from the Americas. Balboa is primarily residential with some commercial areas.
Arlington West is a series of projects in coastal California intended to draw public attention to, and to open a discourse on the subject of both military and civilian deaths during the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the early 21st century. The projects, consisting of symbolic grave markers established at beaches, have been implemented at beaches in Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, San Diego, and elsewhere. There is also a similar, but differently named Lafayette Hillside Memorial in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Spectacle Island is a 114-acre island in Boston Harbor, 4 miles (6.4 km) offshore of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is part of the city of Boston. The island has a varied history, and today is a public park with a marina, visitor center, cafe, lifeguarded swimming beach, and five miles of walking trails, forming part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. It is served all year by ferries from Boston, and on weekends and summer weekdays by a shuttle boat to and from nearby islands.
The Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, is a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Place. Established on July 1, 1906, the Balboa Pavilion played a prominent role in the development of Newport Beach by attracting real estate buyers to an area formerly designated as "swamp and overflow" land.
The Balboa Island Car Ferry is a ferry service in Newport Beach, California.
The Balboa Fun Zone is a family destination located on the Balboa Peninsula in the city of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The Balboa Fun Zone offers both an ocean and harbor experience for an estimated seven million annual visitors to Newport Beach.
The recorded history of the Newport Beach, California region began when the area was first explored by Europeans in the 1500s. Prior to that time, Native Americans such as the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño people had been living in the area for thousands of years. Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo mapped the coastline in 1542, but it was 200 years before Europeans settled the area. In 1769, Newport was a small portion of the land grant of Don José Antonio Yorba I, first under Spanish and then Mexican rule. After the Civil War, the land was developed by American settlers: for ranching by James Irvine and for shipping by James McFadden. A small settlement was built around McFaddens’ Wharf and it became the largest business of Orange County, California. Following the opening of the San Pedro Harbor in Los Angeles in 1899, the commercial shipping industry in Newport declined. Newport Beach developed into a tourist and recreational boating community. in August 1906, Newport Beach became incorporated as a city.
Naples is a neighborhood of Long Beach, California, United States, built on three islands located in Alamitos Bay. The islands are divided by canals which open into the bay. Most of the streets on the island have Italianate names. The center of Naples features a large fountain which serves as a popular meeting spot. The city was named after the Italian city Naples.
Fisherman's Village is a waterfront mall, commercial boat anchorage and tourist attraction located in the world's largest man-made small boat harbor in Los Angeles County at Marina del Rey, California. The Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve is just east of Fisherman's Village and immediately to the south is the federally-owned riverine estuary of Ballona Creek. The historical Fisherman's Village, built in 1967, is nestled on the eastern bank of main harbor entrance channel between Whiskey Reds restaurant to the south and the Windward boatyard to the north.
The Balboa Bay Resort is a 160-room resort hotel in Newport Beach, California, United States on 15 acres (6.1 ha). The facility was founded in 1948 as the Balboa Bay Club, a private yacht club. The Balboa Bay Club includes a 130-slip marina, private beach, waterfront pools, private restaurant, a spa and fitness center, and 145 apartments on the Newport Beach Harbor waterfront on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Lido Isle is a man-made island located in the harbor of Newport Beach, California. Surrounded by the city, Lido Isle was incorporated as part of Newport Beach in 1906. At that time it was part sandbar and part mudflat. There are no commercial facilities on the island other than a small snack bar open in the summer, and its only link to the city is a small bridge. The man-made island is solely residential with approximately 1,800 people living on the island.
The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce is a Newport Beach, California-based business organization of almost 1,000 members representing over 25,000 employees. The Chamber consists of five councils, committees, staff and members, and works with city officials, local businesses and the community to promote the local economy.
Joseph Allan Beek was the longest-serving Secretary of the Senate in California history (1919–68). The Secretary of the California State Senate is a nonpartisan officer of the Senate who advises the presiding officer and Senators on parliamentary procedures and is the chief recordkeeper of the Senate. The Secretary is elected by majority vote of the Senators for each two-year session.
Beek's Place is a location in North Eastern Orange County California, elevation 2,820 ft (860 m).
Boat parades are a waterway event with illuminated boats. Some of the well known water parades include locations such as Walt Disney World, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade, and Fort Lauderdale.
The Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival is an annual event held at the Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California. The festival celebrates wooden boats of all sizes including wooden canoes, kayaks, and dinghies, as well as yachts and tall ships.
Christmas ships are boat parades held at Christmastime, typically featuring boats festooned with Christmas lights or winter/holiday decorations.