(Photo courtesy of Rainer Schael.)
The annual boat parade conducted by the Palmetto Bay Canal Association (PBCA) ran into a little bad weather this year on Dec. 10, but it still managed to accomplish most of its mission. The event is to spread holiday cheer along the canals of Palmetto Bay as well as collect food items as part of a charity drive.
The parade was created by Rainer Schael and his wife, Noel, and the procession of small powered craft follows a canal path that winds through the village. It started at Coral Reef Park around 5:30 p.m., then headed south past Sadowski Park and points south.
Members of the PBCA decorate their boats with lights and other Christmas-themed touches, sometimes wearing costumes to add to the fun.
And they stop at docks along the way to collect canned food donations to add to the village’s charitable food drive.
“It was okay, although we were definitely hampered by the rain this time,” Rainer Schael said. “We did get about 400 cans of food donated.
Normally we would have gotten around 2,000. There were a number of people along the waterway who coordinated with us, and when the weather cleared up after a while it did get better.”
Schael and his wife originally created the parade so that Palmetto Bay residents could come together as a community to both ring in the holiday season and support those in the community in need.
Residents also were able to drop off canned food donations at Village Hall prior to the parade.
For updated information about the food drive and other holiday events, visit the official website at www.palmettobay-fl.gov/ or call 305-259-1234.
