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the Holiday issue

Christmas On The Water by Jyl Benson

H oliday boat parades are common from Newport Beach, California, to Palm Beach, Florida. In most cases massive yachts are decorated by hired hands and the vessels’nattily attired owners and their friends watch the procession of boats float by from the comfort of their waterfront homes or a yacht club terrace. Usually, there is hefty admission fee to have your boat included in a spectacular parade that’s really just a cocktail party with aquatic entertainment. This year the 31st Annual Sarasota (Florida) Holiday Boat Parade of Lights will offer expandedVIP seating.Save for the occasional sloppily decorated dinghy captained by a teenager just for kicks, the affair is, once again, expected to be a brilliantly hued

pageant of one-upmanship. For the most part things are quite different throughout Louisiana and along the western Gulf Coast. Founded over 20 years ago, the Ala Bayou Terrebonne Christmas Boat Parade has become a family tradition and everyone in every clan pitches in to decorate and bedazzle the shrimp trawlers and Carolina skiffs upon which the families’ livelihoods depend. Thus adorned the flotilla will make its way down Bayou Terrebonne from the Bourg Volunteer Fire Station to Dugas Cemetery in Montegut to a blaring soundtrack of holiday tunes. Along the waterline VIP seating goes to those who show up first with their lawn chairs and ice chests. Celebrants crack open

their beers lit by the glow of burning bonfires on the shoreline meant to guide Santa’s boat through the gloom. When Santa makes his appearance he will wave from the dock of the Genesis, Kevin Belanger’s 60-foot boat, attired in his customary plush red suit and ridiculous pompom-adorned hat. He will also be wearing crabbing gloves and white shrimp boots — because that’s how Santa rolls when he’s down in these parts. “For the towns of Bourg and Montegut, the water is a major part of our lives,” says Joey Pierce, a spokesperson for the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “For many of our families, these boats provide work and a means of support. When we celebrate, the

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2016