This year George Washington’s Mount Vernon will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of George Washington taking over command of the Continental Army in 1775. To celebrate this occasion, there will be a huge boat parade that day starting at noon, and anyone can participate! If you’ve never been in a boat parade before, it’s a LOT of fun!
On Flag Day June 14th, bring your decorated (or not) boat up to the entrance of Dogue Creek around 11:30AM. All the boats will assemble there and line up, and the parade will start at noon. The parade will be lead by a really cool classic wooden power boat named The Sheik, and will begin in the main Potomac channel, turning port into the Mount Vernon channel. Once you travel down the Mount Vernon channel, turn to starboard following the privately maintained Little Hunting Creek buoys past George’s house and then continue following the buoys and lead boats back toward the Potomac River Channel. Basically, just follow the other boats!
Here’s a map of the parade route:
Participants are encouraged to monitor VHF channel 72 for communication during the event. Once the parade is finished, boats can anchor in front of Mount Vernon for an afternoon of river enjoyment. High tide is around 11AM so there should be plenty of depth!
There’s an event page on Facebook, in case you have any questions. This is a really cool way to spend a Saturday, and we look forward to seeing everyone out there!