Shop for unique gifts and stay for the lighted boat parade.

GULFPORT – Holiday Hoopla is a celebration of arts, crafts, foods, holiday music and roving holiday characters set in a waterfront atmosphere.

Visitors will be enchanted by a variety of festive and fun holiday-themed music, holiday carolers, dance performances, and roving street performers. The festival will provide shoppers with one-of-a-kind gifts that cannot be found anywhere else, and all of your holiday shopping can be done in one place! Come early and shop the decorated streets filled with talented exhibitors and unique shops & galleries and stay late to view Boca Ciega Yacht Club’s Lighted Boat Parade.

BCYC members spend many hours planning and then decorating their boats in hopes of sharing the holiday spirit. But it’s about more than fun and merriment. As an all-volunteer club, BCYC feels strongly about giving back to surrounding communities. Participants need only a simple fee to enter – two (or more!) unwrapped toys for Operation Santa.

Operation Santa, coordinated by the Gulfport Police Department, collects toys for the children of Gulfport whose holidays would be sadder without the generosity of the community. BCYC  has been part of Operation Santa for 16 years. Both sail and power boats are welcome to join in the fun. Non-members are invited to participate – sail or power. The more the merrier.

Registration is available online at sailbcyc.org and at the club, 4600 Tifton Drive South, Gulfport.

Holiday Hoopla is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 10) at 3101 Beach Blvd. S.

A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit Operation Santa and Gulfport families in need. For general information, go to gulfportma.com or call (727) 322-5217.

Gulfport | Holiday Hoopla | Boat Parade | Boca Ciega Yacht Club | TB Reporter

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