Letter from Wayne Bunn

All Invited To Boat Parade

Plan to float your boat—weather permitting—in the Otsego Lake Association’s annual “We Love Our Lake” Decorated Boat Parade to be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 6.

This year’s theme will be “Let’s Celebrate Scottie Baker.” Scottie Baker, who passed away in April 2024, was a longtime, dedicated member of the OLA Board of Directors, editor of the award-winning “OLA Journal” (formerly called “Newsletter”), and coordinator and judge for the boat parade.

The parade will form off Three Mile Point, then proceed slowly along the westerly side of the lake, and end at Lakefront Park in Cooperstown. The lead boat, the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station barge, will be marked with OLA banners and decorated.

There will be judging of the boats and awarding of first-, second- and third-place awards plus bags of candy will be given out to all boaters. Boaters are requested to assemble no later than 2:45 p.m. so the judges can record the name of the boat owner, note the decoration or theme, and photograph the boat.

All boats, large and small, are welcome—including antique or classic, human powered, wind powered, electric powered, jet powered, outboard powered, inboard/outboard powered and, of course, “flying boats” like the one we had in 2023.

We encourage you to decorate your boat using the theme “Let’s Celebrate Scottie Baker,” but you may decorate your boat anyway you wish. It can be unusually decorated, humorously decorated, patriotic-theme decorated, joyful/party-theme decorated, sports-theme decorated, military-theme decorated, and so on.

If you prefer, you do not even need to decorate your boat—just join in the parade and view the other boats. You can even join the parade at anytime or anywhere along the route, especially for non-motorized boaters who might not want to travel the full route.

If you are unable to float your boat, you can watch from shore at various points along the parade route, including Three Mile Point, Brookwood Point, Fenimore Art Museum, the Cooperstown Country Club (for members only), The Otesaga Resort Hotel and Lakefront Park.

There are no fees, registration forms, rules, or regulations except travel slowly, stay in line, and be courteous to other boaters. Last year, we had one of our largest boat parades, as between 35-45 boats participated in the parade plus many more just observing.

The parade is meant to be a fun-filled, family event for all boaters to celebrate our love for Otsego Lake. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Wayne Bunn, Boat Parade chairman, at bunnwayne@gmail.com or (518) 542-6630. You can also view photographs of past years’ boat parades at www.OtsegoLakeAssociation.org. We look forward to seeing you on July 6!

Wayne Bunn
Boat Parade Chair
Otsego Lake Association