Saturday night lights

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The sun had not yet completely set as the boats lined up for the procession, maneuvering within the narrow banks of Bayou Terrebonne near the Company Canal.

The Christmas boat parade is one of the least-heralded but clearly necessary events occurring on our local waterways. Sponsored by no church or other organization, proclaiming no agenda, the tradition had its birth 18 years ago – or thereabouts – born of a desire by folks in Bourg and Montegut to celebrate the holiday and their unity as communities.


Fortunately it is in no way commercialized. People who live along the bayou – or know someone who does – light bonfires and wait with excitement for the sights to come.

Kevin Belanger, who is usually heavily engaged in high-level meetings and projects as head of South Central Planning and Development, which slowly is changing the face and infrastructure of this region, is a driving force behind the parade.

But he will tell you it is the people who come with their boats, willing to burn fuel and cope with occasionally inclement weather, who are the real heroes of this thing.


Saturday night on the marine radio he conversed with the captains. Shrimp boats, little skiffs, a few big yacht-type vessels like his own, all played a part.

“We especially want to thank all of you who came here from Houma,” he said on the radio. Kevin knows that it’s a big deal to move a boat from its normal mooring to some other place, and the design of the waterways can make for a lot of travel.

As the multi-colored Christmas lights on the boats twinkled and shined the blue 360 beacons of a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff ’s Office patrol boat,


Sgt. Chris Guise at the wheel, came into view, heading northward to meet the armada and safely lead them back south all the way from the Company Canal through Bourg.

“I think it is important because it is free to the public, visually pleasing to the children and the adults and it brings you back to where we didn’t have cars and buggies and boats were predominantly used for parading,” Kevin says of the parade. “As a tradition in the southern part of Louisiana this is very important.”

The Genesis is Kevin’s pride and joy, and led the parade. Santa Claus – Kevin would not say who Santa was – waved from the bow of the 60-foot yacht.


The decorations on the boats were stunning, some with unicolor themes, others flashing like neon advertisements for the holiday season, all with hands on board who clearly were having a good time. They reveled in the cheers from those gathered to watch on the banks, braving just enough of a winter chill to make it feel like Christmas, and there is no doubt that at least a few cups of hot chocolate were consumed by some of the spectators afterward.

The boats with their lights were a sign that we are here still very much a maritime community, a fact that is not always appreciated as much as it should be.

In addition to those who paraded there were other heroes Saturday night, one in particular unsung.


At her lonely outpost on the Klondyke Bridge, which links Country Drive to Highway 24, at the point where it becomes the Bourg-Larose Highway, was one Mary Daffron. It is her job to raise and lower the bridge for marine traffic, which is sparse on this bayou, at least so far north from the busier areas closer to the Gulf of Mexico.

On the marine radio Kevin communicated with her.

He had concerns that the boats, after turning around at the end of the parade, might reach the bridge later than she was going to work, since its operation is limited in the night-time.


He needn’t have worried.

“We’ll make sure they all get through,” said Mary, who contacted her boss, David Rome, to make sure it was okay. David, of course, had given his blessing.

And so, with the festivities over and the boats headed homeward, nobody needed to worry about missing the bridge. As it turned out, everyone who needed to be north of the bridge made it back before Mary’s 10 p.m. quitting time; there was no need for her to stay and nobody was stranded.


Those who brought magic to an already magical bayou said they will return next year, on the Saturday before Christmas, with a parade bigger and better than ever before.

Boat paradeJAMES LOISELLE | THE TIMES