Charleston Christmas Boat Parade and the Mount Pleasant Pier-A Missed Opportunity

This was the view from the Mount Pleasant pier of the Charleston Christmas Boat Parade. This was taken with a 10x optical zoom. As you can see it is barely visible

In todays world a city the size of Charleston and Mount Pleasant should be on a little more on the cooperative side than what was displayed at the 28th Annual Charleston Christmas Boat Parade. Several hundred visitors braved the cold and driving wind to capture what they all thought would have been a perfect Christmas outing at the New Mount Pleasant Park to view the Boat Parade. After about 6:30 p.m is was apperant that all would be severly disappointed, including many young toddlers,mine included, as the boats turned well before reaching the Arthur Ravanel Bridge. I am unsure of exactly who was in charge of the route but a simple 50 more yards toward the bridge would have made all the difference in the world and would have left smiles on many young kids faces. The boats in the Charleston Harbor simply were too far away to even see what kind of designs they had worked so hard building. Many grumbling and upset parents had to make excuses or sooth upset children as they werent able to partake in a unique and historic Christmas time even in the lowcountry. The Mount Pleasant park and Pier also missed their opportunity to promote the event and make the night into a small festival of sorts. Vendors could have been lined up, music, carolers, choirs,bands etc all could have made the night a fantastic and even profitable one for both visitors and the town. That is in the event the had worked out the route coming closer to the pier. Maybethis was a snub by Mayor Riley at the Town of Mount Pleasant, maybe it was an oversight, and maybe noone just cared enough to have the boats come a little closer. I do know who cared, all the young and old visitors that are now heading home that missed a potentially awesome display of boating, lights, and Christmas. Hopefully next year things can be agreed upon. As for this year, i am still trying to figure out what to tell my child as to the reason why. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause, he just didn't visist the Mount Pleasant Pier tonight.