Our boat parade was last night in Essex, Ct. (Nov 27) and we won the show thanks to a great crew prepping all day.
Lost of great info listed above.
Only red lights on the flybridge, light strands always on something, railings, pedestals etc.... No loops in the air, someone will get caught on them and trip.
We had PFD strobe lights attached to all of the kids vests. Zip ties are your friend. We had 3 wireframe reindeer with a 2" x 4" thru their body extended out past the bow pulpit. Of course the first reindeer had a red bulb on his nose.
Vocal spotters are a must, they need to be able to get the Captains immediate attention. Rules of the road are not used. We even had Kayaks going between the boats because they thought it was fun, UGH.
Definitely do a practice lighting the night before to verify the genn
y can handle it and your loads are distributed throughout the outlet zones.
Inflatable items never seemed to "wow" the crowd. This year we went with lots of different kinds of lights. Plus it probably helped that we were escorting Santa to the dock. If I knew how to post picture I would.