SeeCalifornia.com

While place such as Oxnard’s Historic District offers a free walking or driving tour to see residential lights, Mission Inn hosts an annual, free 5 million lights attraction which is the owners’ gift to the public, and Altadena proudly touts its delightful Christmas Tree Lane decorated by community volunteers for the holiday season, Huntington Beach’s Cruise of Lights (shown in photos) charges a fee–and with good reason.

Like all the other lights displays mentioned, Cruise of Lights on the waterways of Huntington Harbour is 100% produced by volunteers and relies on the residents of the Harbour to decorate their waterfront homes to make the 57th annual display a great success. As the biggest annual fundraiser of the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic, a non-profit group that supports music programs in schools, the price of admission to ride on a yacht or boat and enjoy a 45 minute narrated tour of decorated homes is a win-win. The public gets to see something they might otherwise miss and in so doing, their purchases bring the gift of music to hundreds of thousands of school kids.

Having volunteered, myself, to supply photos and publicity for this worthy event, I have been amazed at the go-getters who make this happen each year. If you want to check out this worthy group, see cruiseoflights.org

Cruise of Lights Overcomes Challenges

• Legal issues: One year they solved insurance issues in use of privately-operated boats for the public to ride.
• Weather: Each and every year they cope with weather conditions that can affect attendance.
• Competition: Newport Beach’s Boat Parade is held around the same time. While not necessarily competing, some people do opt to attend just one of these two events.
• Volunteers: Some dedicated volunteers have come and gone (even passed away, sadly.) Maintaining a base of volunteers is always a challenge.
• Education: It’s a constant effort to educate Huntington Harbour newcomers about the event and rally them to participate. Themes typically tied to music engage all religions and faiths.