Friends of the River's 20th Annual Holiday Boat Parade on the Hillsborough River in Tampa
![]() |
Photo by Gary Gibbons, Outings Leader for Holiday Boat Parade |
![]() |
Riverfront resident Mayor Jane Castor applauds boaters community spirit, with Tampa Bay Sierra Chair Kent Bailey. Photo by Marcia Biggs |
An especially Floridian way to celebrate the holidays is the
illuminated holiday boat parade. Unlike most waterfront events limited to huge yachts,
the Tampa Bay Sierra Club holds its holiday boat parade as an Outing, featuring
dozens of paddlers and more modest powerboats. It’s a celebration of the
restoration of the Lower Hillsborough River’s tidal estuary, a community
tradition begun and carried on for 20 years by grassroots ally Friends of the River. Fox13 once again carried an excellent story.
Friends of the River organized in December 1999 when a
handful of river activists did what no one else could or would – they challenged
Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (SWFWMD) minimum flow rule that
would have forever guaranteed the demise of Tampa Bay’s main estuary. Since the
early 1970s, growth in withdrawals for lawn irrigation had eliminated Tampa’s
ability to provide any freshwater flow most of the year over the City’s dam 10 miles upriver
from downtown. The result was a disastrous decline in the number and variety of
fish in the river and bay.
![]() |
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kimberly Overman speaks before riding in Friends' electric Safety Boat with her grandson. Photo by John Ovink |
Friends, supported by Tampa Bay Sierra Club, won its
challenge against SWFWMD, the City and Nestle, which sells Zephyrhills bottled
water from an upriver spring. This was the 1st successful challenge of a Florida water management district minimum flow rule. A daily minimum flow begun in 2007 has
substantially restored fish and wildlife populations. Today, Friends and Sierra
are reviewing SWFWMD’s 5 year reassessment of the flow strategy, preparing for public
engagement on the question of how well the daily flow is now being met, and
whether the river needs a bit more fresh water in dry months to fully function as Tampa Bay’s
nursery, the place where life begins for one of America’s largest estuaries.
Sunday, December 15, hundreds of residents held parties along the Hillsborough to cheer on dozens of paddlers and boaters as they made their way from Lowry Park to Sulphur Springs, where a community holiday party greeted boaters. Mayor Jane Castor joined Tampa Bay Chair Kent Bailey in sending boaters off upriver to the procession at the Springs park, where residents of a diverse, low income neighborhood welcomed neighbors from across and down the river that flows through Tampa.
The Mayor was clearly impressed by the enthusiastic turnout for this celebration of environmental restoration and the River that unites the City’s neighbors. The 20th Annual Holiday Boat Parade was a holiday event with a purpose, and a promise of dedication to this urban river’s continued recovery from decades of abuse and neglect. Once written off as dead, the River is now embraced by Tampa as its thriving heart and soul. As those who love Florida’s other springs and rivers fight to preserve their natural resources, take heart in knowing that, if you organize and persevere, you too can prevail. It’s never too late to bring back the life and vitality of your own waterway.
Sunday, December 15, hundreds of residents held parties along the Hillsborough to cheer on dozens of paddlers and boaters as they made their way from Lowry Park to Sulphur Springs, where a community holiday party greeted boaters. Mayor Jane Castor joined Tampa Bay Chair Kent Bailey in sending boaters off upriver to the procession at the Springs park, where residents of a diverse, low income neighborhood welcomed neighbors from across and down the river that flows through Tampa.
![]() |
Volunteers Liz Taylor & Marcia Biggs collect Sierra Outings forms before the big parade. Photo by Gary Gibbons |
The Mayor was clearly impressed by the enthusiastic turnout for this celebration of environmental restoration and the River that unites the City’s neighbors. The 20th Annual Holiday Boat Parade was a holiday event with a purpose, and a promise of dedication to this urban river’s continued recovery from decades of abuse and neglect. Once written off as dead, the River is now embraced by Tampa as its thriving heart and soul. As those who love Florida’s other springs and rivers fight to preserve their natural resources, take heart in knowing that, if you organize and persevere, you too can prevail. It’s never too late to bring back the life and vitality of your own waterway.
![]() |
Photo by Kathy Badloe Hostetler |
![]() |
Photo by Gary Gibbons |
![]() |
Photo by April Sparkles |
![]() |
Photo by Kathy Badloe Hostetler |
![]() |
Photo by April Sparkles |
![]() |
Mayor Jane Castor address Holiday Boat Parade paddlers. Photo by John Ovink |
![]() |
Photo by Gary Gibbons |
Phil Compton, for Tampa Bay Sierra Club and
Friends of the River