Symphony of Lights Boat Parade Flashed Off and On for a Moment

Ho ho ho. They had just participated in an eye-popping, razzle-dazzle flotilla, but it was the sight of three women frolicking in a Jacuzzi that kept party-goers buzzing after the Symphony of Lights Boat Parade in Huntington Harbour on Sunday.

“They just came out of the water . . . naked!” said a wide-eyed Ed Nicholson, one of about 70 guests whooping it up at the home of Mary and Dr. Jim Thompson. “Plain and simple, they flashed!”

Who were they? “Nobody knows,” said Jodie Miller, wife of parade grand marshal Jim Miller. “But we know they were on Humboldt Island. And we think they were on Barnstable Street.”

Time might tell.

In the meantime, Thompson’s cozy, oak-floored home was the place to be on the night that officially kicked off the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic’s 26th annual Cruise of Lights. (The cruise, narrated water tours to view decorated Huntington Harbour homes, is expected to bring more than $90,000 to the Orange County Philharmonic Society.)

Guests, all Harbour movers and shakers, queued up to steaming soup kettles and other tummy-warmers, and then polished off an array of sugar-dusted holiday cakes.

“This is the night it all comes together, the night we know the committee has again created something unique in all of the world,” said Jim Miller, who kept busy exchanging congratulatory handshakes with past grand marshals.

Bobbitt Williams, chairwoman of the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic, called the parade “a dream.”

“I loved the Musical Memories theme,” she said, “loved the boat that featured rock ‘n’ roll music.”

But the best part of it for Williams, she said, is “the camaraderie, the sharing with neighbors.”

Even nude neighbors? “Well, I think they were wearing itty bitty bikinis,” she said with a giggle.

Parade committee members were Sheri Skerik, chairwoman; Valerie Ingham; Midge Holcomb; Virginia West; Monica Keogh; Pat Doty, Ginger Moline and Maureen La Scala. Deborah Fairon is chairwoman of the Cruise of Lights.

Fa la la la la: Talk about decking the halls. More than 1,000 guests--regal in black-tie and glittering holiday finery--swept into the grand ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel on Sunday night to dine and then enjoy the 15th annual Christmas Candlelight Concert, raising more than $100,000 for the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Presented annually by the Center’s board of directors, the event featured holiday music performed by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Chorale, conducted by John Alexander. Dinner included sorrel bisque en croute, roasted veal and quail and a dessert that even Santa Claus would shout “whoaaaa” for: dark chocolate mousse served up with a white chocolate swan and sour cherries. Carol Wilken was gala chairwoman.

Puttin’ on the Ritz: “Do you have to be blonde to belong?” That’s the question that has been asked of members of the South County Community Clinic Auxiliary, a group chock-full of blondes who raise funds for the medically disadvantaged. The answer? Of course not. Well-tended coifs of all shades were among those that shone in the ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton on Friday when members and guests gathered for the auxiliary’s annual luncheon and fashion show, “A Vintage Christmas.” Proceeds estimated at $20,000 will benefit the South County Community Clinic where, in 1989, a projected 600 patients per month will seek free medical aid. Mamie Mertes and Susan Mathews were co-chairwomen.

Prepared and honorable: Former Angel baseball players Bob Boone and Don Sutton were honored last Thursday when they received “Good Scout” awards from the Boy Scouts of America Orange County Council during a luncheon at the Anaheim Marriott. Sutton is the spokesman for the Orange County division of United Cerebral Palsy and helped establish the Ronald McDonald house in Milwaukee for families of children with cancer. Boone has volunteered with the March of Dimes, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Orangewood.

On the steering committee: Ben W. Perks, managing partner of Price Waterhouse & Co., and William P. Conlin, president of CalComp.