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Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

My thoughts

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Thanksgiving was a no-holds-barred stellar weekend for those at Wrightsville Beach.

The 32nd Annual North Carolina Holiday Flotilla went off under perfect skies and quite balmy weather, particularly for late November, the finest in memory in fact. Under a full moon and flat seas, a parade of 23 lighted boats wowed and delighted crowds. The smallest craft in the field of boats, Brent Jernigan’s 11.5-foot pontoon boat, earned the top prize of $5,000. The 4,000 round Zambelli Fireworks display was absolutely superb.

What amazed me was the sheer number of people who came to enjoy the event. They were everywhere, many of them walking to and fro once a parking spot was secured. It seemed like a high summer day. Another plethora came by sea. As twilight fell, against the remains of a setting sun, the sounds and channel were filled with twinkling red and green (starboard and port) boat lights, reflected in the flat-calm water. Some were themselves decorated. It was magical.

Small to large spectator crafts juggling for position took up posts along the parade route, often to the frustration of waterfront residents who also wanted clear sightlines for their family and guests who assembled from early afternoon on to eat, drink, be merry and watch first the boats as they slid past, followed by fireworks overhead.

The entrance and main roads in the town are bedecked with jumping dolphins, twinkle and pole lights in the shapes of seabirds, starfish, boats, snowflakes and other wonderful lights. A tall Christmas tree graces the town hall lawn. Businesses, homes and docks are decorated with their own light displays. It is beautiful.

If you have not experienced a Holiday Flotilla weekend, from the Friday night tree lighting with Santa — also the best ever — the Friday night captain and sponsors dance party (open to paying public) to the Festival in the Park (again, best ever), the car show, and then the main course on Saturday of parade and fireworks, you have missed something special.

The event, ranked in the top 20 events in the Southeast, is free, absolutely free to the estimated 50,000 or so who fill the town for the event. In advance of the lighted boat parade every square inch of waterfront is packed with people — people standing, people in chairs, on blankets. Most of them are well-mannered and do not trash the town (except for the Island Drive mini park where the trash can is overflowing as I write).

It is the freeness of the event that sticks with me. Totally free, family fun, stay all day, bring your own cooler full of food, cold drinks, no stipulations. The sheer numbers who come to Wrightsville to enjoy this night under the stars pushes out the seams of the town. Parking is maxed out and traffic backs up for hours on end. It seems every house along the parade route and every dock has a Flotilla party, some with hundreds of guests.

I attended a municipal air show over the Jacksonville Beach, Florida, beach strand and ocean in October which featured the Blue Angels. Past a certain point in the downtown section, where the bathrooms were, nothing consumable could be brought in, not even a bottle of water, and bags were searched by law enforcement at manned checkpoints. Besides the open restaurants, food and drink were sold via vendors and food trucks. It was pricey. Our party of five ate breakfast and lunch there.

The non-profit Holiday Flotilla is put on not by the town of Wrightsville Beach, but by an all-volunteer staff, and funded with tourism dollars allocations through town approval and business sponsorships.

I take it all in and wonder about the number of boats as related to all the spectators. I dream of how many boats the event could draw again if the sponsorships were greater. I can remember the time when it took serious money to enter a boat in the parade and the prizes were correspondingly impressive — not to say $5,000 isn’t impressive. Those were the years of 30-plus boats, and a cut off for registration.

Instead of Flotilla volunteers pounding the pavement to eek out just enough sponsorships, I wonder if each adult gave just $1. Authorized volunteers could be posted near the bridge with buckets for a $1 per adult donation from cars. In my give-back scenario, the house and dock parties could be turned into Flotilla fund-raising parties. Recognition by a second Silver Cup would follow for the party with the largest donation.

What if every business along the route — newly expanded — were to kick in a modest amount as a sponsor in gratitude for the thousands in additional revenue they took in that night because of the Flotilla?

Imagine the prizes, imagine the corresponding boat entries. Imagine the delight.

Not to take anything away from what we had this year, but I am thinking it is time to kick this thing into high gear.

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