Every year Bend’s most ded­i­cated paddling enthusiasts dress up their canoes and kayaks in bright lights and hol­i­day garb and pad­dle around the Deschutes River for a few hours for Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe’s Holiday Lights Winter Paddle Parade in the Old Mill Dis­trict. This is one of those events that gets the whole town in the spirit and feels very authen­tic to Bend.

Pad­dlers should meet us at Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe on Fri­day, Decem­ber 13, 2019 from 2-3:30 p.m. to decorate. After the crowd assem­bles, we’ll depart from the dock around 4:00pm behind the shop and pad­dle upstream up to the Flag Bridge. On our way back down, we’ll assem­ble in for­ma­tion; this will give fam­ily and friends the oppor­tu­nity to take pho­tographs of our dec­o­rated boats.

PLEASE NOTE: Spec­ta­tors should plan on see­ing our dec­o­rated boats from about 4:15 – 6 p.m.

In past years, the paddlers of Bend have gone all out dec­o­rat­ing their boats with lights, trees, wreaths and gar­lands. Bring some hol­i­day cheer to your pad­dling experience!

You can find bat­tery pow­ered lights for your boats at Lowe’s, Ace Hard­ware (rec­om­mended!), Fred Meyers or Amazon online, but the local stores often sell out, so get them soon.

After the pad­dle, we’ll gather back at the shop for some warm bev­er­ages and good com­pany. This is also the kick off for our Holiday Sale.