After an uncertain start this year, 2022 Portage Lakes Boat Parade is a go, organizers say

The annual Portage Lakes Boat Parade will resume this year after a two-year pandemic pause, organizers said Friday.

The July 9 event had been in danger of being canceled due, in part, to confusion about its status. But fans of the parade reached out to the Portage Lakes Fireworks Association to help organize the event and sign-ups have now passed the minimum of 10, said committee member Michael Boyle. By Tuesday night, 18 boats were on board, and more are expected.

“Having had a late start, people weren’t sure it was going to happen,” he said in a phone interview Friday. “... (But) we know the parade is definitely happening at this point.”

As of Memorial Day weekend, he said, the parade was grounded due to a lack of volunteers to plan it.

But Boyle and other local residents reached out to support the Fireworks Association to organize the boat parade and solicit entries. The couple who owns and operates Shriner Marine on Turkeyfoot Lake Road took the lead, handling reservations from boat owners.

“Andy and Danielle Shriner, they stepped up to help coordinate it and move it forward,” Boyle said.

Dani Lenarz-Lamer, a past participant of the event, said that when she inquired about the event earlier this year, she was surprised it wasn’t on the agenda,

this year.

The organization plans the lakes’ annual pyrotechnics show, but hadn’t scheduled the boat parade, which takes place during the day and leads into the nighttime fireworks.

“What do you mean they’re not having it this year?” Lenarz-Lamer said when she found out. “This year I thought for sure we’d be up and running. (But) it wasn’t.”

Lenarz-Lamer said her family watched the parade for years before entering the  competition in 2019. Thousands of residents and visitors to the Portage Lakes turn out to view the procession from different spots along the parade route, with many staying into the night for the fireworks display, Boyle said.

A sand castle building contest held between the parade and fireworks won’t be held this year.

History of the Portage Lakes Boat Parade

The Portage Lakes Boat Parade marks its beginnings to 1976, when it was organized to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial anniversary, Boyle said. Similar, less formal events had taken place before then.

After the 1976 event, however, it was held annually until the coronavirus pandemic, when permits and permissions couldn’t be arranged.

“We weren’t able to get the permits,” said Danielle Shriver. “This is the first year (since COVID-19) we’ve been able to have an official one.”

Boyle said the Shriners obtained permission from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office Boat Patrol put together the judging format and agreed to handle registration for the event.

WrestleMania III, rockets and 'Thriller' on the water

This year, Boyle said, there’s no planned theme as there has been in some prior boat parades.

“In 2015, the theme was ‘The 1980s,’ ” he said. “My group did WrestleMania III. There was a ‘Thriller’ boat.”

In 2019, Boyle’s team constructed a replica of the Apollo 11 rocket in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The float won second place, with a “Toy Story” design placing in the top spot.

Boyle and his friend, Green resident Matt Maier, have finished first two times and second four times in the competition. Boyle said his children, Grace, 9, and Will, 7, have been excited about helping with the design his boat will take this year.

Although winning entries can be elaborate displays, Boyle said newcomers to the parade shouldn’t opt out if they don’t have the time to build a miniature rocket or movie set.

“People think, ‘I need to work on this for weeks,’ ” Boyle said. “But get three or four people to decorate the morning of and you’re going to have a fun boat and people will enjoy seeing it.”

Boyle is keeping this year’s display a secret, but Lenarz-Lamer said her boat will have an ’80s theme, with nods to MTV, Rubik’s Cube, and music and clothing from that era.

“Anything ’80s,” she said. “We’ll all be dressed up in ’80s clothes.”

'It's an experience'

Boyle said Frank Weaver Jr., one of the original founders of the event, will be grand marshal, leading the procession on a pontoon.

The parade begins at 1 p.m. at the former Kieffer Marine on the north end of East Reservoir, winding through the East and West reservoirs, Turkeyfoot Lake and Rex Lake before winding up about 3:30 p.m. at Portage Lakes State Park.

Boyle said the parade’s popularity and size has varied over the years, but participants and onlookers always seem to appreciate it. He estimates thousands of people watch the boats at various points along the route.

“They say there are about 2,000 homes on the lake and the parade goes past about two-thirds of those homes,” he said. “Thousands watch it in a normal year.”

Lenarz-Lamer said the boat parade and fireworks show make for a family-friendly day.

“It’s an experience you have to have at least once,” she said.

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.

Keeping the Boat Parade afloat

• Want to participate? Boats can be registered for the 2022 Portage Lakes Boat Parade at Shriner Marine, 533 W. Turkeyfoot Lake Road, New Franklin. Contact Andy Shriner at 330-400-4470 for more information.

• Want to contribute to the post-parade fireworks? Go to https://plfa.net/.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 2022 Portage Lakes Boat Parade is a go this year, say organizers