Monday, November 24, 2008

Random boat parade not as popular as Christmas boat parade

So as not to exclude those who don't observe Christmas, the eggheads in Patchogue, NY changed the name of their annual Christmas Boat Parade to more inclusive "Boat Parade of Lights". Not everyone was enthused about the change.
About 1,000 people showed up Sunday for the Patchogue (PACH'-awg) Boat Parade of Lights. That's 500 fewer than usually showed up when it was called the Patchogue Christmas Boat Parade.

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Organizers say the parade still was a success.
Well, of course they said that, and it was successful in the sense that a parade actually took place. But driving off a third of your usual audience is hardly a "success".

2 comments:

Rita Hennessey said...

I remember the NY area TV coverage when the name change was first announced. All the man-on-the-street interviews supported the Grucci Fireworks position (and I'm guessing that a lot of the people who stayed away did so because without the fireworks, why bother?)

Eric said...

Well, yeah...I'd probably need fireworks to make me stand outside in the winter and watch boats float by.

And free beer.