In Huntington Harbour, the Boats Come Out to Thank the Houses
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
Huntington Harbour's boat parade exists to thank the houses along the water. The volunteers behind the 64th Huntington Harbour Boat Parade describe it on the parade's site as their "way of saying 'thank you' to the Harbour residents for decorating their homes." Six days after the parade opens, the ticketed Cruise of Lights® takes paying guests past those same homes, and that is the committee's main fundraiser.
The homes come first in the Harbour's December. Both events, the free one and the paid one, depend on neighbors putting up lights, so the season's first deadline falls on a porch, not on a dock. That deadline is Monday, November 30.
Here is how the 2026 season lines up, counted from this Thursday:
A house that's lit by the end of November is part of all of it, from the parade weekend through the last cruise.
The parade and the cruise come from the same people. The Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee produces the parade, and its own site points out that the event "is not produced or managed by a marina company, City, or Chamber of Commerce. It is an entirely volunteer effort."
The committee is made up of six groups: Admiralty, Islander, Marina-Windjammer, Sandpiper, Seal Beach and Trinidad. It supports the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, which the committee describes as the county's oldest nonprofit music organization. According to the committee, more than a quarter of a million Orange County students, from kindergarten through high school, take part each year in the Youth Programs that the Society's committees provide, and more than 1,500 presentations by professional musicians and trained docents go to public and private schools at no charge.
The committee's About page puts the connection in its own words.
"Our main funding project is the annual December Cruise of Lights®. For this year's holiday celebration, we are encouraging all our Harbour neighbors to decorate their homes and participate in the decorating contests so that we can carry on the spirit of the Cruise of Lights®."
So a string of lights on a Harbour dock does real work in December. It gives the parade something to thank and gives the cruise something to sell, and the cruise pays for music programs in classrooms across the county.
The 2026 Boat & Home Entry Form is online now. You can enter a home as an individual or as a group, and the form sorts homes into three types:
The second and third types matter for a lot of Harbour residents. A home doesn't need a dock to compete, and condo and townhome residents have a category of their own. House awards include Sweepstakes, Best Tribute to Theme, Most Beautiful, Judges Special Trophy, Holiday Season, People's Choice and Most Religious.
This year's theme gives decorators something to build around: "America 250 Music" and "To The Moon & Back." The 2026 Grand Marshal is Norman Huniu. The music thread runs through years of past themes, including "Rock & Roll Fantasy" in 2019, "A Space Odyssey" in 2018 and "Symphony Of Lights" in 2016. That fits a parade run by a committee that raises money for music education.
The form covers boats too. Individual, group and yacht club entries are listed, and a boat with any commercial references carries a $300 fee. The parade site's advice for anyone who wants a good view is direct: "One of the best ways to see it is to be in it by entering your boat!"
The parade goes on rain or shine. On land, the committee warns that the public viewing areas at the beaches fill up quickly and that parking is very limited.
If you'd rather not fight for a parking spot, the committee streams the whole weekend:
Because the awards are virtual, a homeowner whose house places can watch the results from that same house the next morning.
The 64th annual Cruise of Lights® is a 50-minute narrated boat tour through the Harbour's waterways. The Philharmonic Society's Cruise of Lights page describes it as featuring "thousands of lights on boats, decks, docks and homes." Ticket sales fund the Philharmonic Society of Orange County's Youth Music Education Programs, which the Society says reach more than 100,000 students across Orange County each year at no charge.
Tickets for 2026 are on sale now. Here is the schedule from the 2026 ticket form:
| Night | Departures | Adult | Child, ages 2–12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 18 | 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 p.m. | $28 | $20 |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 p.m. | $28 | $20 |
| Sunday, Dec. 20 | 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 p.m. | $28 | $20 |
| Monday, Dec. 21, Special Value Night | 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 p.m. | $26 | $18 |
| Tuesday, Dec. 22 | 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 p.m. | $28 | $20 |
Babies under 2 ride free with an adult ticket. For a family of four with two kids in the child range, the Monday value night costs $88 instead of $96 on the other four nights. The ticket page says space is limited, and gift certificates are available by phone at 714-840-7542. Tickets are nonrefundable unless a cruise is canceled, and if you can't attend, your payment is treated as a donation to the committee.
Guests park free in the rear lot at Huntington Harbour Mall, 16889 Algonquin St., and ride a shuttle. The Society asks guests to arrive at least 15 minutes before their cruise time for the shuttle. According to the Society's accessibility and parking guidance, the cruise is wheelchair accessible, but power chairs aren't allowed. Guests who display a valid State of California Disabled Person Parking Placard can skip the shuttle and go directly to the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club at 3821 Warner Ave. Everyone else who drives to the Yacht Club gets redirected to the mall.
For questions, the committee's Huntington Harbour office is at the same Algonquin Street address, phone 714-840-7542, email [email protected].
Elsewhere in Huntington Beach, the season's lights go up in shared places, run by the downtown district, Pacific City and the nature center. Those events fill the weeks between the Harbour's entry deadline and its boat nights:
Huntington Harbour's December happens at people's homes, which is why its first date is a home entry deadline. For more on how the year moves across town, see our locals' calendar for Huntington Beach and our Huntington Beach neighborhood guide.
If your Harbour home is getting its lights this year, whether you're decorating a waterfront dock or a townhome balcony, I'd love to hear about it, and I'm happy to share what I'm seeing along the water this season. Let's Connect with Vanessa Moore.
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