Punta Gorda's 2010 Lighted Boat Parade Will Light Up Charlotte Harbor December 4

Christmas in waterfront communities takes on a unique character.  Sure in our tropical town there is no snow--at least not the real kind.  Believe me having just been in snow country -- it's pretty -- but given the choice I'll take the fake variety that the Punta Gorda Chamber distributes come the first week in December.  

What we can brag about is the lights.  The lights that are strung from the canal front homes, the lights that adorn the boats on the harbor and canals making the vessels stand out like stars in the night sky, the lights in the Village and Downtown.   But best of all are the lighted boat parades... the boats decorated with colored and white lights spectacularly lighting the night sky...the boats with Santas, and nodding reindeer, and music and all that stuff that gets you excited about Christmas   And the first of those parades  is coming, coming  very fast...fast enough that you have to start thinking about your plans for viewing it now, if you haven't already decided on that. 

This Christmas season, the 21st Annual Parade launches on Saturday December 4th around 6pm.  As usual it is expected that the parade will attract throngs of people from all over to Charlotte Harbor. 

There are many ways to view the parade -- from restaurants like Harpoon Harry's in Fishermen's Village or Laishley Crab House -- near the last stop on the route.  You can also, if not too late, get a hop on one of the boats that participates in the parade, which is a terrific way to experience the parade as you pass all the parties taking place in canal front homes along the route. Better yet get invited to one of those parties.

Or take out your own boat and anchor east of Edgewater Lake.  The best viewing land spots to watch the "floating opera"  from are Edgewater Lake in Charlotte Harbor, Fishermen's Village, the bridges of US41 North and Southbound (no chairs will be permitted at this location) and Laishley Park Marina as the final stop. 

The chamber has released the tentative  route map providing estimated times of arrival of the parade at each stop. For further details, call the Punta Gorda Chamber at 941 639 3720.