Olympia Yacht Club to join in on the holiday fun with lighted ship parade

The Olympia Yacht Club is returning its Lighted Ship’s Parade this weekend after the COVID-19 pandemic halted the holiday festivity last year.

This year’s parade will take place 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, according to a news release from the Olympia Yacht Club.

Spectators are encouraged to arrive at Port Plaza Park at around 5:30 p.m. to listen to the Capital High School choir perform, with winter drinks being offered from Batdorf & Bronson.

The decorated boats will sail north from Percival Landing, past Port Plaza Dock and then north along the east side of Budd Inlet to Boston Harbor. They will then return to Olympia by 8 p.m. along the west side of the inlet, according to the release.

The best areas for viewing the parade are at the landing and Port Plaza, though it can be viewed from the east and west sides of the inlet on East Bay Drive and West Bay Drive.

All South Sound boaters are invited to participate with the yacht club, according to the release. Boats can be registered for the parade on the yacht club’s website.

This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 12:00 AM.

Ty Vinson

The Olympian

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Ty Vinson covers the City of Olympia and keeps tabs on Tumwater and other communities in Thurston County. He joined The Olympian in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at the Northwest Indiana Times, the Oregonian and the Arizona Republic as a Pulliam Fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription