On Saturday evening December 1^st by 6pm it looked like everyone on the whole Grand Cayman Island were gathered at Camana Bay to watch CITN-Cayman27’s Parade of Lights. There were thousand packed down at the Crescent canal.

The brainchild of CITN”s Station Manager, Mike Martin, who brought over the idea from his native USA, the Festival has grown and grown. As this is Mike’s last year of producing the show, he is retiring this month, he promised something special and it was.

14 Boats competed for the $2,000 prize in two categories: Watersports and Private. As I have seen every Parade since it first began at Hog Sty Bay, George Town, I can honestly say these were the most creative and decorated boats in any of the parades.

The evening started off with Christmas songs from the Suite Elite band and followed by Carols from The First Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir. The evening finished with a most spectacular firework display sponsored by Weststar TV. Other sponsors of the event were Hurley’s, Diamond’s International, Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital and Fidelity.

There was also a surprise from the sky water jet propelled chair lift that made both commentators, Ashleigh Lund and John Foster go “wow” as they shouted out they wanted to “try that!”

And back to the main event the boats and although I didn’t agree with the judges decision I do agree it was a very difficult decision. Both categories were judged on creativity, wow factor, use of colour, and overall impression. When the boat with the giant candle on it suddenly lit up like a volcano erupting as it passed us there was the biggest “Wow!” of the evening from the crowd.

And the winners went to:

Red Sail Sports in the Watersports Category

Thompson family in the Private Boat Category

Congratulations to everyone.