"After listening to neighborhood feedback, we changed the date, and the response spoke for itself." That's how the Riviera Bay Civic Association's Winter 2026 newsletter summed up last year's Christmas Boat Parade. The letter said the number of boats was "tremendous" and called it "one of the most memorable parades we have seen in years."
Moving one event rearranged the rest of December. The parade used to share Christmas Eve with the luminaria. Now each event has its own night, and the last night of the season goes to the tradition that pays for the rest.
Christmas Eve used to carry two traditions
The 2024 boat parade was set for December 24. Boats lined up at the Sunlit Cove Boat Ramp at 6:15 p.m. and launched at 6:30. The association's Fall 2025 newsletter also called Christmas Eve the night for "our time-honored luminaries." So one evening carried both of the neighborhood's best-known holiday traditions, one on the water and one on the street.
The association changed the parade date for 2025, and the 2026 calendar keeps it off Christmas Eve. This year's Christmas Boat Parade runs Saturday, December 19, from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m., starting at the Sunlit Cove Boat Ramp, 3706 Sunlit Cove Dr NE. December 24 now lists one event only, "Luminaries – Light Up Riviera Bay," from 6 to 11:30 p.m.
The season, night by night
With the parade moved, the RBCA's December spreads across four dates over two weeks. Here's the order from the association's calendar:
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.: Holiday Golf Cart Parade, from the Riviera Bay Community Playground on the 9400 block of 2nd St N.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:15 to 11 p.m.: Holiday Block Party, right after the parade.
- Sunday, Dec. 13, 6 to 10 p.m.: Holiday Decor Contest.
- Saturday, Dec. 19, 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.: Christmas Boat Parade, from the Sunlit Cove Boat Ramp.
- Thursday, Dec. 24, 6 to 11:30 p.m.: Luminaries, Light Up Riviera Bay.
In her Fall 2026 letter in the RBCA newsletter, RBCA President Vanessa Pugliese lists these as the traditions that fill October through December. She also says the November General Meeting is the association's last meeting of the year. That meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, so the next big public gathering is the golf cart parade on the 12th.
The candles are also the membership drive
The luminaria sits at the end of the calendar, but most of the work happens weeks earlier. The RBCA luminaria page calls it the "annual RBCA Membership and Candle Sales Drive held each December." Volunteers go door to door across the whole neighborhood, handing out candles and signing up neighbors who want to join or renew.
The same online form handles both. Membership costs $10 per household per year for Riviera Bay residents, and candle sets are priced in steps of five.
| Order | Price |
|---|---|
| 5 candles and bags | $5 |
| 10 candles and bags | $10 |
| 20 candles and bags | $20 |
| 30 candles and bags | $30 |
| 40 candles and bags | $40 |
| More than 40 | $5 per extra set of five, written in under "Other" |
| RBCA household membership | $10 per year |
The form steers people toward Zelle, sent to [email protected], with your house number and street in the memo so the payment lands on the right account. If you'd rather pay by cash or check, you can drop it off at 9198 Sun Isle Dr NE. Volunteers selling door to door also take cash and checks. The form says you can preorder, so you don't need to be home when the volunteers come by.
The dates matter for anyone who wants a say in how the association runs. Memberships expire every December 31, and the form says dues have to be paid before the January 2027 Annual Meeting to vote there. So the household that buys candles on its doorstep in mid-December is usually renewing its vote in the same transaction.
Pugliese makes the same connection in her Fall 2026 letter:
"It also gives us a chance to knock on doors, talk with our neighbors and connect with people face-to-face. That's one of the things I love most about our neighborhood: so much of what makes Riviera Bay special happens because neighbors are willing to pitch in."
This is the oldest tradition on the calendar. A 2023 community notice thanked one longtime volunteer who had been part of the luminaria since 1993, and it described volunteers picking up candles and bags in mid-December to deliver around the neighborhood. The golf cart parade, by comparison, was promoted as the sixth annual event in 2025. Now that the boats sail on the 19th, the most established tradition has Christmas Eve to itself.
Membership also shows up in the prizes
The candle drive isn't the only place the $10 comes up in December. For the 2025 golf cart parade, carts had to belong to RBCA members, signed up by December 13, to be eligible for prizes. Everyone was asked to arrive by 6 p.m., and carts competing for a prize checked in by 5:45 p.m. The awards were Best Decorated Golf Cart and a runner-up, and spectators were invited too. Those were last year's rules. The 2026 parade starts at the same playground at 6:15 p.m., and the calendar is the place to check this year's check-in details.
The Holiday Decor Contest follows the next evening. In 2023 the judges were kept anonymous, displays had to be lit by the judging hour, and first place won $100 plus bragging rights. This year's contest window is Sunday, December 13, from 6 to 10 p.m. Pugliese's fall letter says she is hoping for "some serious Clark Griswold-level decorating."
What the boat parade asked of boaters last time
With its own Saturday, the boat parade doesn't have to fit around Christmas Eve plans anymore. The most recent published format for boaters is from 2024:
- Line up in the canal by the Sunlit Cove Boat Ramp.
- Tune the radio to Channel 69 for updates from Captain Lance Obst, who led the parade.
- Stay with the parade from start to finish so the whole neighborhood sees the boats.
- The parade ends in the large section of Sun Lit Cove.
- Organizers asked for a volunteer boater to play Santa Claus.
- Best Decorated Boat won $100 in cash.
Neighbors without a boat were invited to watch from shore. The association keeps an "RBCA Christmas Boat Parade Route" map on its Parade Maps page, which is the best way to find the stretch of canal closest to your dock or street before the 19th.
The 2026 parade keeps the same 6:15 p.m. start and the same ramp. On a Saturday a week before Christmas, there's also time for the boats to come back in and their crews to watch the candles go up five nights later.
Before the lights go up
The association's calendar also has quieter dates at Riviera Bay Park, 8131 Macoma Dr NE. Butterfly Garden Maintenance runs Saturday, November 21, and again Sunday, December 27, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. each time. Volunteers and donated butterfly-friendly plants went into restoring the garden as a home for butterflies and bees, and by spring 2024 it was being described as recently restored. The Adopt-a-Mile cleanup follows on Saturday, January 9, 2027, from 8 to 9 a.m.
For a household planning December, it comes down to a few dates. Decorate the cart by the 12th, light the yard for the 13th, rig the boat for the 19th, and order candles early enough to line the curb on the 24th. The preorder form is open now, and $10 more renews your membership for 2027.
If your dock is on the boat parade route this year, or you're picturing what a canal-front December might look like for your own family, I'd love to talk Riviera Bay with you. For a sense of where your home stands this season, reach out to Kym Coyle and get your instant home valuation.
