Stamford Harbor Parade of Lights a Booming Success
Boats festooned with dazzling arrays of lights participated in the inaugural Stamford Harbor Parade of Lights on a chilly but calm evening on November 25th. The parade of lights, organized by Andy Liljequist and Dick Gildersleeve of Stamford, attracted thirty sailboats and powerboats – and a kayak! – and was viewed by more than a thousand spectators. In addition to their impressive light displays, many paraders serenaded onlookers with holiday music – one boat had a live band. Another boat played B.B. King’s ”Merry Christmas, Baby,” while the P.A. system aboard Windpath Fractional Sailing’s Catalina rocked the entire harbor.
Awards were presented in four categories. Constant Dilemma, owned by Bill Frenz, won ”Most Original.” Guitarist Frenz and other musicians performed Chuck Berry’s ”Run, Run, Rudolph” as a couple danced on the foredeck. ”I don’t want to hear that [song] again until next year,” Frenz laughed. There was a tie for ”Best Decorated” boat. Mike’s Castle, a houseboat owned by Mike Donofrio (he drove her all the way from the Housatonic River for the parade!) shared the honor with Season’s Reason, the one-night name of Heart’s Desire, a C&C 35 owned by Allen Lovejoy of Old Greenwich. Lovejoy’s daughter Avery, a senior at Washington and Lee University, quipped, ”I put my art major to good use.”
An impromptu award for ”Most Courageous” was given to kayaker Kevin Blagys, who received by far the loudest applause as he paddled to the dock at the Crab Shell restaurant for the post-parade festivities. Blagys’ boat, including the paddle shaft, was adorned with lights, and Maureen Boylan, the evening’s emcee, commended the plucky paddler for his idea to ”put a car battery in a kayak and light the whole damn thing up.”
The prize for ”Most Outrageous Vessel” was claimed by the staff of a certain Long Island Sound sailing magazine, who mounted a 10-gauge racing start cannon (borrowed from the Housatonic Boat Club) on the foredeck of a Beneteau 473 loaned by Sailing Specialties. The plan had been to fire a single round to start the parade at 1800 hours, but with forty minutes of parading and a full box of ‘poppers,’ who could resist? The cannoneers, assisted by Jack Heiden (10) and his brother Ben (6) kept up a booming fusillade for the cheering spectators who lined the shore.
Next year’s Stamford lighted boat parade on November 24th will surely be bigger and more outrageous. Don’t miss it!
Parade News | admin | 
November 30, 2007 4:05 pm
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