Unalaska’s annual boat parade is happening Wednesday night.
Participant Dan Loy says this is his fifth or sixth year driving his 20-foot boat, The Escape Plan, in the community event, which started in 2013.
“It started as a really impromptu thing by two community members, Cody Lekanoff and Shawn Schomer. And it's kind of become a running tradition after that,” Loy said.
He said there could be up to 20 boats this year, based on posts from a Facebook group of local boat owners who take part in the event.
Loy said boats will be covered in lights, lit-up reindeer and santas, and Christmas trees. There will even be fireworks launched from their decks.
“There's no set of rules for what you have to have on your boat or anything,” he said. “It's just basically everybody feeling the Christmas cheer and wanting to spread it, you know?”
Boats will leave the Carl E. Moses boat harbor around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. They’ll then make their way through East Channel, along Front Beach and turn around near the cemetery.
Loy said since he’s a participant, he’s never seen the parade from the shore. But he recommends watching it from Front Beach.
The event is weather dependent and will be rescheduled if weather doesn’t cooperate.
