By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Naples waters have been graced with two parades this year. 

Naples’ connecting bodies of water — Brandy Pond and Long Lake — have served as the venue for not just one, but two, night-time watercraft parades this summer.

One decades-old watercraft parade,  sponsored by the Mountain View Woodies Classic Boat Club (MVWCBC) was postponed in 2020. That previously cancelled parade has resurfaced this year, and it will be held Friday. 

Another parade that emerged as a result of COVID-19, took place last month. That was the Christmas In July watercraft parade. 

On Friday night, the long-standing parade of vintage wooden and fiberglass boats will take place. It has been referred to as “a summer highlight of the Northeast,” on the club’s website. 

The boat parade starts around 7 p.m. Also, starting at 5:30 p.m., there will be live music and water-based activities around the bridge and on the Causeway Marina property. 

The parade is an approximately 20-year tradition, organizers said. The club’s boat show has been an annual event for 28 years and the evening-time parade evolved as one of the events the club members decided to do.

“We’ve been doing it for 20 years, but about 10 years ago, we switched from 5 p.m. to 7,” according to club member Rick Filiauwho mentioned that Jeff Murdock ran the club prior to his involvement. 

“At least 10 years we’ve been doing it at 7. The advantage is that is when the crowd is starting to build up,” Filiau said. 

That after dinner and right around sunset time-slot seemed to hit the sweet spot for onlookers. 

“We added a Friday night pre-show parade. We realized it was nice to have it a few hours later, at 5 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.,” according to club member Jon March.

“It has become more and more popular as people are finishing up dinner and stroll to the bridge and take in a vintagewatercraft parade, complete with period music,” he said. “This is the anchor watercraft parade of Naples.”

March takes on the role of Emcee for the boat show on Saturday. On Friday, he provides entertainment by showing up with his amphi-car. He’s not the only one with a head-turning vehicle. There is a club of amphi-car owners who will make an appearance. On Friday night, before the parade, from 5:30 until 7 p.m., the amphicars will be parked on the Causeway Marina property, March said. The amphibious vehicles will use the marina’s boat ramps to get into the water. 

The public loves looking at the amphi-car.     

“When, for the first time, the kids see the propellers on the amphicar, it is a fascinating moment. When the kids stop as ask, ‘Are those decorations? Do those work? That doesn’t go in the water, right?’ And I answer, ‘Nope, those work. Those are real propellers,’ ” March said. “And you literally see their world view change for a while. They think, ‘Holy cow. This is possible. What else is possible?’ Realizing what was possible in the past leads to realizing what could be possible in the future. It makes children think about engineering.” 

“I was 8-years old when I saw my first amphi-car at the World Fair in 1964, and that is where my brain went. ‘What else is possible? I want to own one of those when I grow up,” he said. “That was my geek out moment —  when I saw my first amphicars.”