By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The Alafia Lighted Boat Parade promises to be bigger and brighter than last year’s milestone anniversary year, which marked a 40-year community tradition, despite hurricane struggles that caused many boaters to bow out.
At the helm again this year will be Michael Broussard, with organizers, including Barbara Howard and members of the Rotary Club of FishHawk-Riverview. They are actively seeking decorated boat entries for the event. The boat parade in recent years has been held annually the first Saturday in December.
Rotarians adopted the event years ago after the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce, formerly known as the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce and known now as the Brandon Riverview Chamber of Commerce, stepped aside.
Broussard has been active with the event ever since he moved to Florida and joined the Rotary club more than a decade ago.
In an interview this week, he discussed the drive to keep the lights on after hurricanes Helene and Milton last year and for the foreseeable future.
“Because of the hurricanes, last year was rough, but we wanted to keep the tradition alive and to give kids their time with Santa visits,” Broussard said. “We were short on boats. Some boats got flooded; some people couldn’t afford to put lights on their boat. And even since then, some people have sold their boats and moved out.”
The aim this year is to fill the river with parade boats. The call is out, Broussard said, and boaters are welcome to sign up, whether their boats are all decked out or more casually decorated. While the entry fee is $25 per boat, each entrant gets a $25 tab at River’s Edge to use during the 7 p.m. post-parade celebration, where recognition and awards are given.
Parking and viewing are free for the Alafia Lighted Boat Parade at the Riverview Park and Civic Center, at 11020 Park Drive.
Billed as an opportunity to “celebrate the holidays Florida style,” indoor events kick-off at 4 p.m., featuring a famed chili cook-off; Girl Scouts, gingerbread houses and wish trees; Santa and kid-friendly crafts; and decorated trees showcased by local organizations. Food and drink, for a nominal cost, will be available as well, with a $5 charge for the chili cook-off.
Sponsorships are sought for the highly visible event, which spotlights Chris Ligori & Associates, injury lawyers, as title sponsor. Funds raised help support the FishHawk-Riverview Rotary Club Foundation, which works to help alleviate poverty, hungry, illiteracy and disease, locally and globally.
The annual boat parade joins the annual Crawfish Festival as signature events for the Rotary Club of FishHawk-Riverview, and Broussard, a native of Louisiana, is behind that effort as well. The festival in 2026, featuring crawfish fresh from the bayous, is set for April 18 at the Winthrop development in Riverview.
Following last year’s parade, weeks after the forceful hit of Hurricane Milton, social media posts duly noted that this annual event and its sponsors demonstrated the power to endure. “There were so many beautiful things about last night,” read one such post on Facebook, “the children laughing, playing and crafting, the joy of having Santa and all his elves, the community connecting and the beauty of the lights on land and water.”
That Broussard and fellow Rotarians aim for a grand display of lights this year is no surprise. “It’s a lot of fun to see everybody’s creativity,” Broussard said, “even as you have some boats that are more mellow, more basic in their displays.
They just like being part of the parade.”
For sure, though, the grand spectacle is the river itself, the mighty Alafia, which is widely believed to be a native word meaning, “River of Fire.”
“This is a great opportunity to showcase a river that people drive over and see but never necessarily realize how beautiful it is, right here in our community,” Broussard said.
For more on the Rotary Club of FishHawk-Riverview, visit www.fishhawkriverviewrotary.org/. For more on the event, as well, visit www.alafiaboatparade.com/.