Hop aboard this boat and take a tour of this town's seaside holiday lights!
Every year the Huntington County Philaharmonic puts on "The Cruise of Lights" where locals can hop aboard a tour boat and check out the holiday themed floating nautical show.
Video Transcript
- Every year we have a theme for the Cruise of Lights. This year, our theme is "Rock 'n Roll Fantasy." We all hope you enjoy the holiday season!
KIM WEDDEN: The Cruise of Lights is a spectacular display of lights in Huntington Harbour. My name is Kim Wedden. I'm the president of the Committees of the Philharmonic Society, and I am also a member of the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Islander group. Every holiday season, the Huntington Harbor Philharmonic puts on the Cruise of Lights.
We are in our 57th year for bringing in large boats and taking people out on a 45-minute narrated cruise. So it's a very well-oiled machine by now. We expect up to 10,000 people every year. They're usually large whale-watching boats. We can take anywhere from 100 to 149 people out at once. We're blessed to have so many residents that decorate for us.
VALERIE JONES: The family as a whole has been participating in over 40 years.
RENATE JONES: And the whole family decorates it, too. Definitely a family affair.
KIM WEDDEN: Every year we have a decorating theme. This year is "Rock 'n Roll Fantasy."
VALERIE JONES: We come together starting in September at dinners, and discuss what kind of decorations we want to provide for our display. And we ended up doing a giant jukebox, because we decided that with the programmable LEDs where you can program every pixel, that we would be able to provide a better display for our neighbors and for the guests who come aboard the boats.
KIM WEDDEN: There are awards given for on-water decorating and off-water decorating. There are sweepstakes. There's Best of Theme, Most Beautiful, Most Religious. I mean, the list goes on.
VALERIE JONES: And we were lucky enough to win Best Tribute to Theme.
- The Cruise of Lights was a lot of fun. Definitely going to come back next year.
- We definitely want to come back next year.
KIM WEDDEN: This has become a holiday tradition for families to come from all over to go out on the Cruise of Lights. We have people from our own backyard that are coming on the Cruise of Lights. And they might even come from the East Coast. We've had people from Colorado and Kansas. We even had a family from Japan. And what's really wonderful is we've got people who have been coming back every year. The Cruise of Lights is the fundraiser for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.
RENATE JONES: This is our way of contributing to the musical program for the kids of Orange County.
KIM WEDDEN: Music is everywhere. It's for everybody, and it has a powerful impact on children. I have co-chaired Cruise of Lights nine times, and every year I think I couldn't love it more than I do. But it is such a tradition, the fact that all these people will decorate their homes, and the harbour just lights up.
RENATE JONES: We have a good time doing it.
VALERIE JONES: I think the most rewarding part of decorating for the Cruise of Lights is the family time that we end up spending together.
RENATE JONES: And it actually brings us closer as a family.
KIM WEDDEN: The boat parade is really our thank-you to all the residents who decorate their homes, their docks, their boats for Cruise of Lights.
VALERIE JONES AND RENATE JONES: Merry Christmas.
- Happy Holidays.