Submitted by Mike Henry, fleet captain

San Juan Island Yacht Club

All are invited to the Friday Harbor waterfront at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, for the island’s annual Opening Day Boat Parade. Visualize a Fourth of July parade on the water. The parade can best be viewed from Spring Street Landing and adjoining waterfront locations.

Starting at 5 p.m., after the parade, the Yacht Club is hosting a community open house and dinner with a Cinco de Mayo theme. All are welcome, as the club’s guests, to learn about the island’s most popular club while enjoying a pig roast and taco feast on an infinity deck overlooking the harbor. Tickets are available at http://www.sjiyc.com or at the door.

The boat parade’s theme is A Community Afloat — inviting all community members and organizations to participate. Our grand marshall will be Mayor Farhad Ghatan, hosted on Baten, a wooden supply boat built in Friday Harbor in 1978 and skippered by Dr. Carolyn Haugen.

Led by the American Legion Color Guard, boats will parade before local dignitaries and judges, with prizes awarded in five categories: most creative display of the theme, nautical display of traditional signal flags, classic wooden boat, human-powered craft and commercial.

Boats of any size, whether power, sail or human-powered, are eligible to enter the parade. Registration is free, but entrants must register and receive a number to be in the parade. Register online at www.sjiyc.com. The Port of Friday Harbor is giving a free night of moorage on either Saturday, May 4, or Sunday, May 5, to all parade entrants.

The Parade Awards Ceremony will be held at the San Juan Island Yacht Club, 273 Front St., at 4:30 p.m. Boat parade participants, skippers and crews are welcome to stay for the opening day dinner after the awards ceremony.

The parade is sponsored by the San Juan Island Yacht Club in partnership with the Port of Friday Harbor.