Virus sinks Winterfest Boat Parade
Chalk up yet another South Florida event canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced Tuesday morning that the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12, is a no-go due to “coronavirus concerns.”
In fact, the Winterfest board of directors has put the kibosh on all Winterfest live events. This is the first time the flotilla of yachts and boats decked out in Christmas lights has been canceled since its inception in 1971.
“Even after 9/ 11, we questioned it,” Lisa Scott-Founds, president and CEO of Winterfest, tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But we wanted to be here for the community, [so] we changed our theme to reflect what was going on in the country.”
The theme in 2001 was changed from “On a River of Dreams” to “On a River of American Dreams.” The grand marshal that year was Donald Trump.
“Our parade is 12 miles long and we have something like a million live spectators,” ScottFounds says. “The crowds was the biggest issue for us.”
Winterfest event director Dawn Read adds, “We’re all disappointed. It’s a 49-year South Florida tradition and it’s not going away.”
In its place, there will be a television special produced by WSVN-Ch. 7 that will show the best of parades in the past. The TV show will air sometime in December on both WSVN and
Fox Sports Sun and then repeat Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
The Boat Parade and its ancillary events bring in $50 million per year to Broward County’s economy, according to the producers. And while it became an organized event in the ‘70s, there were unofficial and informal boat convoys along Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway — especially around the Yuletide holidays — stretching all the way back to 1955.
In 2021, the organizers hope to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the boat parade and say that sponsors are already on board.
“That is our life blood,” Read says. “We are a nonprofit. Not a lot of people realize that.”
Scott-Founds adds, “If anyone has any ideas in the community, we’d love to hear them. We’re in creative mode.”