The Washington Harbor District Alliance and the City of Washington is hosting an event to light up the Washington waterfront during the holiday season this year.

The two entities have announced an opportunity for local and visiting boat owners to participate in the inaugural Washington waterfront docks lighted-boat contest, according to Rick Brass, City of Washington dockmaster.

“We wanted to make the waterfront a little more festive,” Brass said. “We thought, ‘Maybe we can have lighted boats at the docks for an extended period of time and that will add to the ambience downtown during the holiday season.”

According to Beth Byrd, director of WHDA, first-, second- and third-place prizes will be given to the top three contestants that “festively convey ‘Christmas cheer,’ anything that makes the heart feel warmer and communicates the special feeling one only gets at Christmas time.”

As an incentive to participate, the City of Washington is treating participants to free docking and power from Dec. 3 to Jan. 4, according to Brass. Currently, there are 14 available slips for participants and six people have already called and expressed interest, leaving eight spots open.

Those interested in participating should make arrangements to bring their decorated and fully lit boat to the waterfront no later than Dec. 5 when judging is set to take place, Brass said. Judging will continue over the course of the following two weeks. Boats must be decorated and lit every night from Dec. 5 through Dec. 19.

“I’m hoping (the contest) gets us some visibility, and I’m hoping it brings some people into town to look at the lights, and maybe while they’re here, they’ll go shopping and go out to dinner and have a couple of glasses of eggnog or a festive beverage of their choosing,” Brass said.

Brass said the city would like to continue this event each year as a new tradition in Washington. In years past, the city hosted a Christmas flotilla, featuring a parade of decorated boats. Due to weather and logistic issues, the flotilla became too difficult to coordinate, according to Byrd.

“I think any time you see such a unique sights as a boat decorated for Christmas, it will be popular,” Byrd said. “We’ve been trying to figure out a way to revamp the flotilla or something similar. The flotilla was so cool, and we wanted to have a way to have it but didn’t have the resources anymore. We hope that it will attract people to downtown to look at the beautiful lights. A beautiful Christmastime thing to do is look at lights and decorations, and we’re trying to add to what the community already does. We just want to wish everyone a merry Christmas and to come join the festivities.”

For more information, contact the Washington waterfront docks at 252-940-1231 or 252-944-6661.