NEWPORT BEACH : Boat Parade Still Afloat After Deal

The recently scuttled Character Boat Parade has been refloated under a new agreement to sponsor the event by the local American Legion chapter and the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.

Under a deal worked out last week, the two groups decided to take over the parade after the Commodores Club, a group at the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce, decided to kill the event last month.

“A lot of the Commodores will still be involved,” said Bill Hamilton, skipper of the Commodores. “I think it will be a nice, easy transition and one that will work out well.”

The parade has been a tradition in Newport Harbor for 30 years, giving boat owners the chance to show off older, rare vessels and dress up modern craft in wild costumes.

A couple of months ago, the Commodores voted to end the parade after a poor summer turnout in which only a few dozen boats participated. The event used to draw more than a hundred vessels and up to 100,000 spectators during the 1970s.

But after much public opposition to the cancellation, the club rescinded its vote. A few weeks later, however, when Hamilton was out of town, the commodores voted again to end the parade.

Richard Luers, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber should not sponsor the event if it is going to draw such a marginal crowd, but he supports the new groups that have decided to take it over.

Hamilton said the parade might return to its earlier theme of showing older, historic boats instead of those decorated in wild costumes.

The character parade, which is not associated with Newport’s annual Christmas boat parade, is scheduled to be held next year on July 4.