Spurred by the continued popularity of that event, a not-for-profit organization, WINTERFEST, Inc., was formed in 1981 to administer the Boat Parade and to build a festival around it. The rest, as they say, "is history."

1983 "A Tropical Fantasy" is chosen as the first WINTERFEST theme. Participating boats add animation and props to interpret the theme.

1984 WINTERFEST goes national with Boat Parade Grand Marshal Willard Scott, famed meteorologist of NBC’s Today Show. The genial weatherman’s descriptions of the wonders of the festival, accompanied by televised scenes of the action, triggers an avalanche of national publicity. WINTERFEST adds the "WINTERFEST Beach Ball" on Fort Lauderdale’s world- renowned beach. The Ball attracts nearly 40,000 people who enjoy a fun day of beach and water-related activities, as well as live entertainment.

1985 The WINTERFEST Ball joins the roster of events and welcomes national entertainers including The Four Tops, The Spinners, The Coasters, The Chiffons, Chubby Checker, Tonight Showband leader Doc Severinson and David Wayne Thomas of Blood Sweat and Tears.

1986 Winterfest welcomes Co-Grand Marshal’s Willard Scott from NBC’s Today Show and the host of Hour Magazine, Gary Collins. This year the increasingly popular celebration brings "Magic Memories" to all the adults and children lining the 10 mile parade route. This year’s Beach Ball entertained thousands with the Grammy Award winning group, The Commodores.

1987 The 1987 WINTERFEST season takes a giant leap into fame when it hosts "Bob Hope’s Christmas Special" - with guest stars Brooke Shields, Morgan Fairchild, Reba McEntire and more. An estimated 42 million TV viewers watch the popular yearly spectacular. Grand Marshal for this year – Willard Scott of the NBC Today Show. WINTERFEST steals the national spotlight again when Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and TV Guide mentioned the event.

1988 WINTERFEST, Inc. introduces a new event called "Light Up Lauderdale." The New Year’s Eve extravaganza attracts 30,000 people to Downtown Fort Lauderdale for an evening of music, entertainment, food, game booths and fireworks. Dan Marino – Dolphin’s Quarterback and Entertainment Tonight’s correspondent Jeanne Wolf are co-Grand Marshals.

1989 Winterfest Boat Parade gets more national exposure when it is highlighted on "Live With Regis and Kathy Lee." Regis Philbin helps Winterfest "Light up the World" with another famous face that, ironically, shares the same name as his daytime host. Cathy Lee Crosby joins Regis as Co-Grand Marshal and shares their exciting experience with the world.

1990 WINTERFEST soars to new heights when it aligns with the Blockbuster Bowl and changes its name to the Sunshine festival, which expands its schedule of events to run throughout the year. Due to tremendous liability accompanying large-scale event production forces the board of directors to take another look at the festival’s role in the community. To contain costs, the festival redirects its energies on producing traditional WINTERFEST events. Grand Marshal and new resident of South Florida – Lee Majors.

1991 The festival reclaims its former and better-known name, WINTERFEST, and focuses on producing events that brought success to the festival. "Back to basics" events include the Shoreline Decorating Competition, Grand Marshal Reception, Boat Parade, WINTERFEST Ball and Blockbuster Bowl Reception and Light Up Lauderdale. Grand Marshal Joan Rivers presides and more than a half million on-site spectators take part. Some of the more sensational entries include the Swap Shop Circus Barge, complete with elephants, bears, acrobats and clowns as well as a Broward County Transit floating bus. The WINTERFEST Black Tie Ball and Blockbuster Bowl Reception attracts 700 bejeweled guests who boogie to the nostalgic tunes of the Four Tops.

1992 Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Ed (McMahon that is) lead the 21st Annual WINTERFEST Boat Parade during "One Enchanted Evening." Martha Reeves and the Vandellas headline the spectacular Black Tie Ball and Blockbuster Reception. Live attendance at the Boat Parade swells to more than 750,000.

1993 Regis Philbin, the Grand Marshal, broadcasts 7 minutes of highlights of the Boat Parade on his nationally syndicated "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" television show the Monday after the parade. The Spinners headline the elegant WINTERFEST Ball and CARQUEST Bowl Reception. Television coverage expands to three new markets, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.

1994 Once again, Regis Philbin of the television show "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" comes back to WINTERFEST as the Grand Marshal. The television coverage of the parade has expanded to over 34 million households from Miami, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta. The program was shown live on the Sunshine Network and televised on independent cable. The headlining act at the Black Tie ball is "Dion."

1995 The Grand Marshal for this year’s parade is George Hamilton, famous for his part in the movie, "Where the Boys Are." Winterfest put on the best Black Tie Ball ever hosted on the new Princess Cruise Ship, Sun Princess. Over 800 people were in attendance on this new luxury cruise ship.

1996 The 25th Anniversary of the Continental Airlines Boat Parade celebrates with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as the Grand Marshals. "By the Lights of the Silvery Moon" is selected as this year’s theme to enhance the nostalgic year. Walt Disney World, also honoring their 25th Anniversary, provide magical entertainment at the Winterfest Black Tie Ball. WSVN Channel 7 and Comcast Communications collaborate to provide WINTERFEST with an extravagant television program that is syndicated all over the world.

1997 The 26th annual Winterfest Celebration takes on a whole new look. Officially called "The BellSouth Winterfest Boat Parade Presented by Nokia." Winterfest is extremely excited about our new partnership that will take us into the millennium. Mr. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s and Miss USA 1997, Brandi Sherwood celebrated with us as the 1997 Grand Marshals. The theme for this year is "Hail the Decks with Bells and Holly." The Winterfest Black Tie Ball featured Joey Dee and the Starliters at the Signature Grand on December 5.

1998 was a spectacular year for Winterfest. The theme was "Holiday Theater of the Sea" in honor of our first Official "Commodore" Guy Harvey, who also illustrated this year’s poster. It was an honor to have this internationally famed sea-life artist participate for the first time. Our Grand Marshal for our 27th anniversary was acclaimed movie actress and singer, Ann Jillian. The Black Tie Ball hit an all time attendance record and featured the music of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The parade was more spectacular than ever as we had over 94 parade entries with national corporate partners showing great community support. The showboats out shined the shoreline, in an effort to entertain the 800,000 parade enthusiasts. What a great year; and we’re just gearing up for the very last parade of the 20th century.

1999 showcases "The Last Sail of the Century" Florida style. With a record number of decorated yachts and overwhelming attendance from the shores, Winterfest really is bigger and better than ever and even named the 20th Best Parade in the World by The International Festival and Events Association. Since the event has achieved such international recognition in the past few years, Winterfest organizers were especially excited to welcome the first Latin Grand Marshal in the event’s history, acclaimed singer Julio Iglesias, Jr. The Black Tie Ball once again hosted almost one thousand top corporate representatives, VIP’s and celebrities. Howard Schnellenberger was honored as the 2nd "Commodore" of the Celebration. Winterfest truly has become South Florida’s most popular holiday event.

2000 "The World on Water" saluted our International status. A record 850,000 spectators joined in this millennium celebration encompassing the diversity of our culture. The parade encouraged the 100 entries to showcase their own cultural heritage and honor our community as a melting pot of all nationalities. Three Grand Marshal’s joined us this year: Michael Gelman, producer of "Live with Regis" and his wife, CBS Entertainment reporter, Laurie Hibberd along with Jose Solano from Baywatch represented Winterfest in grand style. Mentions and clips made it on "Live with Regis" creating even more awareness for this South Florida tradition! Nascar driver Geoffrey Bodine celebrated with Winterfest as this year’s Honorary Commodore.

2001 "On a River of Dreams" celebrating "30 years at the Holiday Helm" with Grand Marshal Donald Trump. In light of the tragic events of September 11, this year's parade had a special tribute to our nation and its citizens' continued commitment to patriotism. The firework's show-float was titled "Salute to America." We had a record year in sponsorship and spectators with the shoreline coming alive with Red, White & Blue. The Seminole Tribe of Florida's Councilman Max Osceola was honored as this year’s commodore. The Winterfest Black Tie Ball played tribute to honor the Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitor’s Bureau President Nicki Grossman with over 700 guests in attendance.

2002 "Pirates in Paradise" is the theme for the 31st annual celebration. With Co-Grand Marshals Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. This spirited event will honor Kaye Pearson as this year’s commodore and Joe Millsaps as Boat Parade Captain. The Winterfest Black Tie Ball joins the rest of our events with Double-the-honors as Patricia Collier (Cingular Wireless) reigns as Belle of the Ball with Edmund Ansin (Sunbeam Corporation – WSVN Channel 7) as Admiral.

2003 "Once Upon a Time" is the theme of the December 13th celebration marking the 32nd year of this unique parade. Winterfest was ranked the Second largest event in Florida based on attendees by the Florida Festival and Events Association and is the 7th largest one day spectator event in the country. The Cingular Wireless Winterfest Boat Parade presented by Nokia will host the Swap Shop Circus Barge this year as well as many new and impressive entries. David Cassidy will lead this year's festivities and our Black Tie Ball will feature a special appearance by the Rockettes, straight from Radio City. The Winterfest Celebration will also include the Queen Mary 2 Inaugural Gala on January 30th.

2004 "Rock'n Roll FantaSea" was the theme of the December 18 th event in celebration of the parade's new title sponsor - Seminole Hard Rock (parade's official new name: Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade). The Black Tie Ball will also be hosted at the Seminole Hard Rock with a special performance of Legends in Concert and this year's Belle of the Ball - Cindy Rodriguez. Marinelife artist - Carey Chen will be this year's Honorary Commodore and designer of the parade's poster. Shaquille O'Neal was the Grand Marshal for this world renown event.

2005 "Jewel of the Nile" was the theme of the December 17th parade as Winterfest celebrates the opening of the internationally famous King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (a National Geographic Exhibition). The event is sure to reach new heights as it is partnered up with this feature presentation at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art. Carey Chen will once again create the poster artwork to showcase the parade theme. Local artist Pat Anderson will design the Winterfest "limited" ornament (the fifth ornament in a series she has created). The black tie ball hosted at the Seminole Hard Rock expands to include an exclusive area for the Silent Auction and Cocktail Reception. Randy Jackson from American Idol was Grand Marshal.

2006 Winterfest celebrated 35 years of Holiday Magic with the theme “Broadway on the Waterway" which brought lights, cameras and musicals to the Intracoastal. Internationally acclaimed pop 3-D artist Charles Fazzino created a poster that was used to design a Broward County Transit bus. Frankie Valli of “The Four Seasons” was Grand Marshal. The celebration festivities included the addition of the Winterfest White Party and a two-day art event – “Taste of Paradise” featuring renowned artist Jules Burt. Other highlights included a surprise visit by past Grand Marshal Shaquille O’Neal at the Black Tie Ball.

2007This year’s celebration hosts the historic move of the parade's starting location to the New River and will feature an ice rink and motorcycles on the water. Grand Marshal is Soprano's Star and wine owner - Lorraine Bracco. Our television partners, WSVN Channel 7 (Fox, network affiliate) in conjunction with Comcast Communications (cable affiliate) produce a 1-hour television special that is run throughout the holiday season, both locally and in Boston (via WHDH-NBC). It is also made available throughout various COMCAST Systems around the country as well as in the state of Florida on the FOX SportsNet and our reach continues to grow. Look for details on this year's poster artist - Pat Anderson and more in the Sun-Sentinel.