Meet some of the people who started the District Holiday Boat Parade at the Wharf—and who keep it going.
It was a dark and stormy Saturday night in December 1992. More than 30 boats lit up DC’s waterfront, draped in twinkling lights and ready to usher in the holiday season. In the end, however, just five boat captains braved the rough winter waters and sailed their way up the Washington Channel for what was the city’s first-ever holiday boat parade.
”The genesis of the parade was actually a competition among the boaters who lived along the waterfront at the Gangplank Marina, and those who belonged to the Capital Yacht Club, who would decorate their [docked] boats every holiday,” says Barbara Ehrlich, who helped to organize the first parade in 1992.
“Happy that I can say 30 years later, I’ve never missed one of the parades. And I’m happy to still be a part of it,” Ehrlich says. “It’s a great part of my life.” Kopp moved onto a boat at what is now called the Wharf Marina in November 2007. In his 15 years in the neighborhood, Kopp estimates he has taken part in seven or eight holiday parades, piloting his own boat five or six times.
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