New Starting Location Revealed for Winterfest Boat Parade

By Felix DoBosz

FORT LAUDERDALE — On July 26, five months before the annual Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade takes place on Dec. 15, a press conference was held to announce its relocation. The parade route used to begin at Port Everglades, a limited view starting point, and will now start in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale on the New River at the Broward Performing Arts Center.

It then cruises east to the Intracoastal Waterway, then north to its customary destination Santa Barbara Lake in Pompano Beach. This change will allow an additional estimated 250,000 spectators to cheer while lined up on both sides of the narrow New River. Home owners, condo owners and guests will have a fantastic view from their homes and balconies as well as restaurants and hotels.

This year’s boat parade should prove to be the best ever because it will not start in the limited-view Port Everglades. The new route will provide an abundance of viewer vantage points that will allow cheering fans to be much closer and participate in the holiday light spectacle on the water.

Lisa Scott Founds, president and CEO of Winterfest, Inc. welcomed everyone with great excitement to the afternoon press conference. She explained the plan to expand the boat parade route by changing the starting place to downtown, which will allow for greater viewer ship and greater audience participation.

Founds then introduced invited guest speakers and dignitaries. Each spent a few minutes on the podium explaining how excited they are about the change in the parade route. Many also discussed the positive impact this will have on ringing South Florida cash registers. It translates into millions more dollars and increased revenue flow for the local economy.

Hollywood Tribal Council Representative Max B. Osceola Jr. and Seminole Gaming CEO James Allen attended the press conference.

“You know Ft. Lauderdale is known as the ‘Venice of the United States’ and historically Seminoles used waterways,” Osceola said, speaking on behalf of the Tribe. “I can remember my elders telling me that they used to go canoe down the New River. They would bring the furs, or whatever they wanted to trade to the original Downtown Ft. Lauderdale, which was the Stranahan House. So this was our downtown, and this is where the history of the Tribe began and the history of Ft. Lauderdale.

“So we must remember this, and when we pass by the Stranahan House we’re going to wave because a long time ago they took care of us,” he continued. “Now, today, we’ve been blessed. We’re able to be this year’s sponsor not because we have to, but because we want to. Thank you for coming here and during the parade we need you on the shore; we need you on the boat; we need you waving and we need you here.”

At a later interview with WSVN-TV reporter Nicole Linsalada, Osceola said: “Our ancestors traveled down the New River in canoes, and now we will be traveling down the River on yachts. Isn’t it cool?”

Lined-up and on hand smiling to meet and greet the guests were the famous Holland Family Soldiers. The family has participated in Winterfest parades, dressed as toy soldiers, for more than 30 years. Each year the soldiers get shot by a canon to the great delight of the cheering crowds along the shore.

This will mark the 36th year of the parade and the theme is Magical Movie Moments. Spectators should be on the lookout for re-creations of scenes from classic Hollywood films on the boat decks.

The Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade is billed as the seventh largest spectator event in the country and Top 20 parade in the world, according to www.winterfestparade.com. Billed as a Rock and Roll Fanta-Sea, the new slogan for Winterfest is “New River, New Direction, Same Tradition.”