Spring boat parade floats the way for Fort Lauderdale's Winterfest Boat Parade

     

Winterfest 2018

                                  

By Jane Feehan


One of the highlights of Fort Lauderdale’s winter season is the festive boat parade on the Intracoastal held each year on the second Saturday in December. Thousands line the waterway to catch a glimpse of yachts decked out in holiday lights, themes and revelers. Winterfest, an event planned a year in advance, kicks off the holidays.

The parade has not always been associated with the holiday season.

The granddaddy of Winterfest is “River Revelry,” first launched in 1931 as a 20 year commemoration of Fort Lauderdale’s birthday in March. At the time, festivities played out over two days in that month and included a parade of barges and other floats – not necessarily yachts - that wended down three miles of the New River. 

The first event included a Florida Power and Light float with a model of its new power plant replete with smoke emerging from smoke stacks. The 1931 winner was the Fort Lauderdale Shrine Club’s barge with a sultan, palm trees and live music.

In 1936, it was announced the boat parade would be held during February to "afford winter visitors an opportunity to learn of the advantages of Lauderdale that it is the only city in the country with 240 miles of waterways where a celebration of this nature can be held."

Today, boat parades are held throughout the state on waterways and lakes. Fort Lauderdale's Winterfest leads the way.

Copyright © 2021  All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
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Sources:
Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale: The Venice of America. Charleston: Acadia Publishing (2004).

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 30, 1931
Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 29, 1936
Miami News, Jan. 6, 1937
For more information, see: www.winterfestparade.com

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale boat parade, holiday boat parade, Winterfest Boat Parade, film research, Jane Feehan, Fort Lauderdale history