By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Decked out in holiday lights and decorations, more than a dozen boats will sail down Sitka Channel in the annual boat parade this coming Sunday, weather permitting.
“The boat parade is kind of like the Fourth of July parade,” event director Beverly Caldwell said in a phone interview. “It’s where everyone participates ....
“Because of this pandemic it’s not as much fun down on my dock as it normally is, so we’re not having any connections on the dock prior to the parade.”
She described the event as fun and all-inclusive.
“People have different beliefs on Christmas, but this is something that everybody believes in. It’s like putting on a show for everyone, especially for kids who really enjoy it,” she said.
She noted that last year, before the global pandemic, she gave out hot cocoa, coffee, and cookies at her boat before the parade. She skippered a 42-foot nordic tugboat glittering with decorations.
This year, Caldwell has opted for a red, white and blue color scheme along with an American flag and a white sign reading “Sitka is the Heart of Alaska.”
She said the event, which had lapsed awhile back, has grown each year since it restarted.
“The first year (2017) there were about five of us, and the second year when I took over there were about six, and then the third year maybe seven or eight. And then this year I think there’s close to around 15 or 16,” she said.
Caldwell said Lee Hanson will head up the parade.
“Lee Hanson leads the parade. And he has a tug, a 66-foot tugboat. The name on his boat is Salvation and this is his third year,” she said.
A decorated boat glides through Sitka Channel in 2019. (Sentinel File Photo)
The large boat, she said, clears a safe path for the other boats, which even included a kayak last year.
“His 66-foot Salvation leads the parade in case there’s anything in the water that could damage anyone else’s boat. It won’t damage his boat… he leads the parade because he knows the waters and he clears the path for us all,” she said.
Hanson said over the phone that he got involved several years ago when now-deceased John Rouse revived the boat parade.
“The gentleman that had revived the boat parade had a real small boat and there really weren’t many people participating… I just decided at the last minute I was going to decorate our tug. So I showed up at the starting time. The weather was pretty bad and I don’t think John (Rouse) – who had organized the parade – had a radar. When we showed up in our tug, which is pretty big, he called us on the radio and said, ‘Why don’t you go up front?’ And the rest is kind of history,” Hanson said.
He acknowledged his large boat’s role in the safety of the parade as well.
“It is kind of a safety thing. We’ve got good electronics, and being a tugboat we’re not going to get damaged if we hit a log or something like that. That has happened in the past when we’ve seen a log and were able to warn the boats behind us,” he said.
Hanson uses the tug boat in his marine salvage business. He plans to decorate the Salvation as he did last year, with white trim and a blue star.
“We’re going to do the same thing as last year. I basically just outline the shape of the boat with white lights and we have a blue star,” he said.
Hanson recalled boat parades in Sitka when he was a child in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
“When the boat parade originally started here, it was when our pulp mill was in operation and they had a tug that served the mill out of Seattle. And one year they showed up here in town with the boat decorated… It’s just kind of a fun fact that there is a tug leading the parade now and that’s what started it,” he said.
After weeks of stormy weather that has caused flooding and landslides around Southeast, Caldwell hopes for decent conditions on Sunday.
“Each year the weather has been fairly kind. Right now its just weather pending… I’m just hoping it will snow, because that would be just beautiful,” she said. (A chance of snow is in the National Weather Service forecast.)
As for safety at the boat parade, Caldwell noted that wind presents the biggest risk.
“It can rain and it can snow, just as long as it doesn’t blow,” she rhymed.
The event begins at the Longliner Lodge on Katlian Street at 5 p.m. this Sunday and the boats follow the course of Sitka Channel southward. Caldwell said the boat judged to have the best decorations will win $1,000, and the second place winner will receive a free dinner for four at the Longliner. She noted that more than a dozen businesses have also thrown in gift cards for other participants.
“Donors are everything from SeaMart at one end of town to the Fortress of the Bear which is at the other end of town. And many people in between,” she said.
It’s not too late to join the parade either, Caldwell said.
“Absolutely, yes. You’re welcome to join up. It’s open for anybody that has a boat. Last year we had a kayak that was the most special of all the parade. It was small and he was able to follow us through the harbor but didn’t go beyond the breakwater,” she said.
Any Sitkan interested in participating should contact Beverly Caldwell at (907) 623-7038. Prize winners will be announced on Dec. 20 at 5 p.m., also at the Longliner. At the parade itself, Hanson said, he will monitor radio channels 13, 16, and 68. He encouraged boaters in the parade to keep to 68 for general communications, in order to keep 16 clear for emergent traffic.
