Who Lights Up Huntington Harbour in December? The Volunteer Calendar Behind the Boat Parade and Cruise of Lights

The organizers of the Huntington Harbour Boat Parade describe who runs it on the parade's own site. The parade "is not produced or managed by a marina company, City, or Chamber of Commerce. It is an entirely volunteer effort."

That volunteer group, the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee, runs much more than one weekend of boats. It runs a fall boutique, a home and boat decorating contest, the 64th annual parade and the Cruise of Lights. All of these depend on the same thing: harbour homes lit up along the channels. The parade and the cruise are two ways of seeing those homes, a week apart. The calendar starts this weekend.

The Season Opens Tomorrow at Huntington Harbour Place

The committee's season starts on land. Its Holiday Boutique runs Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, at Huntington Harbour Place, 16889 Algonquin Street. According to the Cruise of Lights events page, shopping proceeds go to youth music education.

Keep that address in mind. In December, Cruise of Lights riders check in at the same spot, 16889 Algonquin, behind Trader Joe's at what the cruise FAQ calls Huntington Harbour Mall. One shopping center hosts both the fall fundraiser and the cruise check-in.

The Homes Come First

The parade's own description of itself puts the homes at the center. The organizers call it the committee's "way of saying 'thank you' to the Harbour residents for decorating their homes."

"It is that time of year when we get excited about the upcoming boat parade, where we have the opportunity to view our traditional favorites, while adding new and unique entries."

The Huntington Harbour Boat Parade organizers

The 2026 Boat & Home Entry Form sets two deadlines:

1. Home entries: due Monday, November 30
2. Boat entries: due Tuesday, December 1

From the day this post publishes, that leaves a little over five weeks to enter a home. The home contest has its own categories for waterfront homes, off-water homes, and waterfront condos and townhomes. A house set back from the water can still enter. Home awards include Sweepstakes, Best Tribute to Theme, Most Beautiful, Judges Special Trophy, Best Tribute to the Holiday Season and People's Choice.

The boat side has even more categories. Beyond the headline trophies, the form lists Most Religious, Best Display of Originality, Best Animation, Most Traditional, Most Effective Use of Lights, Design Excellence, Most Whimsical, Most Contemporary, Best Commercial, Best First Time Entry and Award of Excellence. A first-time skipper with a modest boat can still compete for something.

This year's theme is "America 250 Music" and "To The Moon & Back," and the grand marshal is Norman Huniu.

Last year's schedule shows how the judging works. The committee's 2025 information flyer set home spotting for December 9, home judging for December 10, home trophies for December 12 and boat judging for December 13. The 2026 dates have not been posted. If the committee follows a similar pattern, decorated homes would need to be lit in the first days of December, well before either public event.

Two Ways to See the Same Lights

Once the homes are lit, the committee gives the public two ways to see them. On parade weekend, decorated boats pass the homes while viewers watch from shore. During cruise week, a narrated boat carries riders past the homes. The two events fall one week apart:

The parade's week comes first, so a household could watch from the beach on December 12 or 13 and then see the same homes from the water a week later.

Parade Weekend, From the Shore

The organizers suggest entering a boat as one of the best ways to see the parade, and they explain why. Public viewing areas at the beaches "fill up quickly with very limited parking."

The organizers have not posted a 2026 route or start time. Their parade route page still shows 2025 information, and last year's route map listed "5:15 p.m. sharp" for December 13 and 14, 2025. The Enjoy Orange County guide listed below gives 5:15 p.m. in one place and 5 to 8 p.m. in another, so check the organizer's route page as the weekend gets closer. The live parade tracker shows where the boats are once they leave.

For where to stand, the event guide Enjoy Orange County lists these viewing options:

• Davenport, Humboldt, Trinidad and Gilbert island beaches
• Peter's Landing
• Admiralty Island
• The Huntington Harbour bridges
• Seabridge Park

Most of these are small neighborhood beaches and a park, not big public venues. That fits the organizers' warning about limited parking. Neighbors within walking distance of a channel have the easiest evening.

Cruise Week, From the Water

The Cruise of Lights is the slower look. The Philharmonic Society of Orange County describes a 50-minute narrated tour through Huntington Harbour's waterways, past decorated boats, decks, docks and homes.

Logistics, per the Cruise of Lights FAQ:

• Park and check in behind Trader Joe's at Huntington Harbour Mall, 16889 Algonquin Street.
• Take the five-minute shuttle to Huntington Harbour Yacht Club to board.
• Guests with a disabled-parking placard may go straight to the Yacht Club at 3821 Warner Avenue.

Each night offers three departures, at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Monday, December 21, is the Special Value Night, at $26 for adults and $18 for children, $2 below the standard $28 and $20. Babies under 2 ride free but need to be with an adult ticket holder. The ticket page says tickets are on sale now. For a family of four with two children ages 2 to 12, Monday saves $8 compared with any other night.

Ticket sales fund the same mission as the October boutique. According to the committee's about page, cruise proceeds support the Philharmonic Society's Youth Music Education Programs, and the Huntington Harbour committee also returns part of what it raises to nearby schools.

The Society's education programs include Music Mobile and Digital Music Mobile, Concerts for Second Grade and Concerts for Fifth Grade, California Journeys, Sounds Around the Globe, Tix for Teens, Ensembles On Tour, the Orange County Youth Symphony and String Ensemble, the High School Orchestra Festival, Strike Up The Band, Musical Reinvestments and Fund the Bus.

The Dates to Hold

Every one of these dates is put on by volunteers, and every one depends on the homes along the water being lit.

If you own a Harbour home that's part of the show every December, the Kent Martin Group can tell you what it's worth on the market the rest of the year. Ask us for a free home valuation, and we'll base it on your specific stretch of the channels.