Baywood Lighted Boat Parade Returns

The 4th Annual Baywood Lighted Boat Parade is back!  This Sunday, August 31st, the community will gather for an evening of creativity, connection, and fun out on the bay.  Come float, see friends, and enjoy some great live music by the Cimo Brothers, starting at 5:00 pm at the pier in Baywood Park.  We’ll also be awarding prizes and honoring local luminaries Joan Sullivan and Volumes of Pleasure Bookshop for the lasting impacts they’ve had on our community.

About the event:

The Baywood Lighted Boat Parade is one of my all-time favorite events.  There’s an unpolished beauty and magic in the way it comes together.  It’s simply about fresh air and community, wonder and awe, and celebrating the spirit of making cool things, just for fun. 

The assignment is simple: make or find something you can float in, add some kind of illumination, and then come out on 8/31 to float and play together on the bay.

Your floating “boat” could be a kayak you turned into a light-up sea creature, a crew of your friends in theme costumes and a lighted rowboat, a dinghy towing a glowing sculpture, a craftily decorated light-filled canoe, or even you illuminated and gliding across the water on your stand up paddleboard.  If you can imagine it and assemble it, and it lights up and floats, it’s in.  

The “parade” itself tends to be pretty relaxed in form.  Though there may be a circle-ish “route” around the Baywood cove at times, it will likely become a lovely, loosely-shifting constellation of boats stretching out over the bay, with everyone just cruising around, taking it all in, and enjoying the evening.  

The day of the Baywood Lighted Boat Parade tends to go like this: folks begin assembling near the shore by the pier in Baywood in the late afternoon, readying their watercraft and preparing for the evening.  As the first signs of sunset approach, people begin to coax and slide their boats from the beach onto the water.  The sun continues to set and then it happens - the floating lights begin to appear and shine, reflected in countless little twinkles across the water, and for the next hour or two, folks float around the water together - oohing and ahhing and marveling at the magical beauty of it all.  

The Baywood Lighted Boat Parade is free and open to boaters/floaters and folks who’d like to come watch and enjoy.  Since it’s a community gathering/meet-up, everyone is responsible for making safe choices and participating at their own risk.

There are just a few simple rules:

• Embrace the spirit of kindness and community

• Take care of yourself and each other - on the beach and on the water

• Whatever you bring with you (large or small), please bring it back home with you

For more information, visit: https://www.bigbigslo.com/baywoodboatparade.   

Hope to see you there!