| Venetian
Night Parade of Boats
In
response to a request made by Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1959, the
Chicago Yachting Association organized Chicago's First Venetian
Night Parade of Boats. Colonel Riley, who at that time headed what
is now The Mayor's Office of Special Events, met with representatives
from a majority of the Chicago yacht clubs, and together created
a Venetian Night to match the splendor of Chicago's beautiful lakefront.
Mayor Richard J. Daley expressed his appreciation to the participating
boats on November 10, 1959 with these words:
"Chicago
is blessed with a lakefront which affords facilities for boating
unsurpassed anywhere in the United States. We must develop these
to their maximum potential. Our yachtsmen have joined enthusiastically
when called upon to support those civic programs which their participation
made spectacular…"
Today,
Venetian Night features a fleet of up to forty boats, both power
and sail, and is held annually in Monroe Harbor. The beautiful and
imaginatively-decorated fleet of boats is led, then and now, by
King Neptune. As the parade of boats concludes its appointed route
through Monroe Harbor, the city's most dazzling array of fireworks
begins as a fitting finale to this extravaganza.
|
