For the first time, to ensure safety, parade participation is limited to 125 boats. Applicants are selected based on their decorations and their entertainment value.

The Eight Annual Christmas Boat Parade set sail on Saturday, Dec. 15, 1979 at 5:30 p.m. Starting at the turning basin of Port Everglades, the parade, consisting of 180 boats and viewed by more than 250,000 people, headed north on the Intracoastal Waterway, past the reviewing stand at Bahia Mar and on to Lake Santa Barbara at the border of Broward County.

Consider Joining The Christmas Boat Caravan

For the first time, in 1979, the committee decided to let land establishments along the Intracoastal Waterway in on the fun – and the prizes.

Prizes were handsome plaques engraved with a drawing of the winning boat or building.

Bill Davell was the 1979 Chair of the 13 member Christmas Boat Parade Committee of the Fort Lauderdale Area Chamber of Commerce, which included previous chair Kaye Pearson, Ben Symmers and Jerry Pascoe.

Grand Marshal and Honorary Chairman of the parade was Ralph Renick, news director for Miami’s television station WTVJ, Channel 4.

The Chamber’s parade was co-sponsored by the Fort Lauderdale Area Board of Realtors, the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, and the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel.

Grand Marshal and Honorary Chairman of the 1979 Christmas Boat Parade was Ralph Renick, renowned news director for Miami’s television station WTVJ, Channel 4.

For the first time, in 1979, the Christmas Boat Parade Committee added land establishments along the Intracoastal Waterway to the competition for “Best Decorated.”

Ina Lee, Winterfest Boat Parade Chair for the first six years: “The Boat Parade was started back in the 70s by Kaye Pearson, who also was the man behind the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.”