Parades, Coastal Style
Holiday flotillas to light up area waterways
AVA WERSTLEIN and her husband started making their first wood cuts last month in preparation for this weekend’s flotilla boat parade in Wrightsville Beach.
And then there are the lights.
“I bet that there are between 3,000 and 3,500 lights easily,” says Werstlein, who will be one of the entrants in this year’s North Carolina Holiday Flotilla on November 29. Even more twinkling, decked-out boats will hit the waters at the Island of Lights Holiday Flotilla in Carolina Beach on December 6.
The holiday processions on water with vessels standing in for parade floats are one of those annual traditions tailor-made for coastal living.
“I’d never seen a boat parade either, but it’s such a cool thing,” says Werstlein, who moved to Wilmington seven years ago from Charlotte. “It’s unique to our area.”
Werstlein entered the contest for the first time last year, wanting to raise awareness for the nonprofit she and Leslie Armstrong co-founded to help find homes for rescued animals.
The flotilla entry – a basset hound on a mocked-up Lite-Brite board and the message “Adopt” – adorned the Werstleins’ Carolina Skiff boat. This year’s concept remains a secret.
Like other participants, the Werstleins and Armstrongs have poured numerous man-hours, and no small amount of change, into their projects.
“It’s pretty much all day every weekend and when we can after night at work,” Werstlein says about the construction effort. “It takes more work than you would think.
“My car has not been in my garage in weeks. It’s full of various parts of our creations.”
Though they are reusing lights from last year, there’s still other materials and logistics to consider, such as music and a generator to power the extra wattage to music. And some boat owners go all out.
“Certainly you can go spend $10,000 on lights,” Werstlein says. “We have a moderately-sized boat, but in order to really cover it in lights, it can be quite expensive.”
While Werstlein says they’re not going to go quite that big, they’re aiming for the audience vote, in which spectators who line Banks and Motts channels to watch the flotilla text in their picks for People’s Choice and Crowd Favorite awards.
The work, last-minute stress – last year, there was some emergency duct taping involved – is worth it, Werstlein says, to raise attention on their animal group RescueConnect.
Through it, Werstlein and Armstrong work with rescue groups primarily in the Northeast to place local animals in need of a home. Werstlein says they’ve focused on out of state, helping organize transportation, to where groups can still take animals for care, fostering, and adoption.
“In the South, we are overwhelmed. There are so many groups – they do a great job – but the need so vastly outweighs their capacity to help,” she says.
Though primarily focused on rescue dogs, Werstlein says the group also is branching out to help place more cats and has fielded the occasional exotic pet case, including a giant sulcata tortoise that someone bought from a pet store while it was still small and then became overwhelmed by the growing animal’s dietary needs. RescueConnect helped find Zeke a new home in South Carolina.
During last year’s flotilla, RescueConnect saw the number of its Facebook page likes tick up as the decorated boat floated in the parade, Werstlein says.
Come Saturday at 6 p.m., all the elbow grease for the Werstleins and Armstrongs as well as the other flotilla designers finally will pay off.
“We’re not all that crafty; we don’t build things,” Werstlein says about her and her husband’s boat float building talents. “It’s definitely been interesting. We’re whipping out old geometry skills, but it’s a fun, kind of different thing to do. It’s a challenge for us to do together.”
FLOAT ON
31st annual North Carolina Holiday Flotilla
Saturday, November 29, 6 p.m.
Wrightsville Beach
Other activities: On November 28, there will be a tree lighting ceremony and Santa visit at Wrightsville Beach Town Hall and launch party. Before the flotilla on November 29, a daylong festival takes place at Wrightsville Beach Park, and fireworks will follow the boat parade.
Info and map: ncholidayflotilla.org
Island of Lights Christmas Flotilla
Saturday, December 6, 6 p.m.
Carolina Beach Boat Basin
Other activities: The Island of Lights month-long celebration kicks off with The Lighting of the Lake Ceremony on November 28, with events running through New Year’s Eve.
Info and map: pleasureislandoflights.com
