The Boat Parade Starts in North Palm Beach. The Water Belongs to It.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, the Parker Bridge is expected to open. A traveling Zambelli fireworks display will move north up the Intracoastal Waterway, and behind it comes a fleet of decorated boats bound for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. North Palm Beach is the starting line of the 32nd Annual Palm Beach Holiday Boat Parade. The village sees the parade first, while the fleet is still bunched tight and the fireworks are still overhead.

Being the starting line also makes North Palm Beach the stretch with the least room for spectator boats. The water off the village is set aside for the parade. The best ways for residents to watch are from land, from their own docks, or from a boat they have taken well north of home before dark.

The first hour runs on bridge openings

The Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County presents the parade with Safe Harbor, and it runs rain or shine. Organizers say weather, wind, tides and currents make exact timing impossible to predict. They publish estimates based on past parades, and their permits allow each bridge to stay open for up to an hour.

1. Parker Bridge, around 6:00 p.m.
2. PGA Bridge, around 6:15 p.m.
3. Donald Ross Bridge, around 7:00 p.m.
4. Indiantown Road Bridge, sometime around 7:30 p.m.
5. Jupiter Federal Bridge, around 7:45 p.m.

The fleet is due in Jupiter at about 8 p.m., and the grand finale is at the lighthouse.

North Palm Beach gets the opening quarter hour. Parker Bridge and PGA Bridge sit just 15 minutes apart on the estimates, so the parade passes through the village quickly and close together, with the fireworks right there. The gap to Donald Ross is 45 minutes, which means the fleet spreads out and slows as it heads toward Juno. By the time the Jupiter Federal Bridge opens around 7:45 p.m., the fleet will have been under way for close to two hours.

For anyone driving US-1 that evening, the Parker Bridge estimate is worth noting. A raised bridge carries no cars, and the permits allow the opening to run as long as an hour.

Why the anchorage starts north of the village

On November 6, the North Palm Beach Police Department reposted the U.S. Coast Guard restrictions for the parade. Here they are in the Village's own words:

Anchoring is strictly prohibited in all red highlighted areas on the map. Spectator boats are not permitted to anchor, idle, or drift through the parade channel before or during the event.

The same notice says spectators who want to anchor must use the green highlighted area, which "extends north into Jupiter." The parade organizers name two North Palm Beach locations outright: anyone anchored in front of North Palm Beach Marina or North Palm Beach Country Club will be asked to move by law enforcement. For people who want to watch from a boat, the organizers suggest Ski Beach or anywhere between Donald Ross Road and Indiantown Road where the boat stays out of the parade's way.

The village's stretch of the Intracoastal is where the fleet forms up and pulls out, so it has to stay open. The recommended anchorage begins north of Donald Ross Road, the point the parade isn't expected to reach until about an hour in. A North Palm Beach boat owner who wants to watch from the water ends up watching from the Juno-to-Jupiter stretch, miles from home.

Four places to watch from land in or near the village

The parade's official list of public viewing sites runs from North Palm Beach to Jupiter. Two of them are in the parade's first quarter hour.

• North Palm Beach Country Club is the first public site on the list. It is also the shoreline where boats are turned away, so the view from land should be clear.
• Waterway Cafe at PGA sits at the second bridge on the route, where the opening is estimated around 6:15 p.m.
• Bert Winters Park and Juno Park in Juno come next. They suit anyone who wants to see the fleet after it has spread out and the boats can be seen one at a time.

Farther north, the list includes Sawfish Bay Park, Lighthouse Park, Waterway Park, the Riverwalk, Harbourside Place, Charlie and Joe's at Love Street, Square Grouper Tiki Bar, U-Tiki and Jetty's. All of those sit on the last stretch of the route, closer to the finale at the lighthouse. For anyone who wants to follow the boats past the village line, WPBF carries the parade live on its app and Facebook page.

The toy fleet comes to the dock

The other way to watch, and the one the organizers mention before any public site, is a private gathering at a waterfront home. For North Palm Beach households on the water, the dock does more than give them a view.

The parade is also a toy drive for Toys for Tots and Little Smiles of South Florida. A "toy fleet" of boats from Tow Boat, Sea Tow and other volunteers travels the route making pickups during the parade. To donate from a dock, wave a flashlight at a boat showing a flashing amber beacon and/or Toys for Tots signage. Uniformed Marines and volunteers will pull up to the dock to collect new, unwrapped gifts.

Spectator boats can't sit in the parade channel, but these boats come right to the seawall. Last year the parade collected 16,000 toys for Palm Beach County children, according to the MIAPBC's 2025 performance report.

For households without a dock, Little Smiles lists North Palm Beach Recreation among its 2026 toy drop-off locations. The organizers also say Little Smiles collection boxes will be at businesses around the community in the weeks before and after the parade, and they ask everyone heading to the lighthouse finale to bring a new, unwrapped toy.

For the village boats entering the parade

The rules that keep the channel clear for the fleet work in favor of North Palm Beach boats that join it. Entry is free. The 2026 application asks for a refundable $50 deposit for the number boards, which is returned when the boards come back by January 30. Boats compete in four classes: under 25 feet, 25 to 35 feet, over 35 feet, and corporate.

Judges score lights, enthusiasm and themed decor. Best of Parade wins $500 cash, plus another $500 if the boat belongs to an MIAPBC boater member. Fan Favorite wins $500, and first-year entrants compete for Rookie of the Year and $250. Captains are required to attend the captain's meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1, at The Twisted Tuna, according to Boating Industry.

Last December's results give a sense of the competition. Nauti Kitty won Best of Parade, Pink Pony Pontoon was Fan Favorite, and Whiz Whit took both Rookie of the Year and the over-35-foot class. Palm Beach Peter Boat, Nailed It and Party Up! won the under-25-foot, 25-to-35-foot and corporate classes.

The rest of December, farther up the route

The parade is only one of several holiday events up the waterway. The Palm Beach Post's season roundup lists Luminary Nights at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum on December 11, 12, 18 and 19, from 6 to 9 p.m. It will have glowing pathways, a light installation at the historic banyan tree, a tunnel of lights leading to the lighthouse, and timed climbs after dark. On Sunday, December 13, the 50th annual JTAA Christmas Parade steps off at 1 p.m. in Abacoa and runs north on Central Boulevard.

On December 5, though, the season starts at the Parker Bridge. At 6 p.m. the fireworks pass over North Palm Beach, and the toy fleet's amber beacons start moving north along the village seawalls.

On parade night, the toy fleet stops at docks on the Intracoastal. If you're weighing what your own frontage is worth, Reback Realty can walk the seawall with you and explain how the market values it. Request a Confidential Home Valuation and we'll start at the water.