Southport’s Christmas By Joanne Wesson Executive Director Southport 2000, Inc. A great big "thank you" to the city electrical crew and to the Southport Board of Aldermen for the wonderful display of lights downtown. The Whittier’s Bench tree is magnificent, with hundreds of white lights twink ling. When you drive down Howe Street toward the water it’s like traveling in a magical fantasyland with white, twinkling lights on cither side of the street guiding you along toward the display at the foot of Howe Street. This week the 200th Christmas celebration kicks in with activities begin ning at 9 a.m. on Saturday with a holiday market. Shop and pick up tanta lizing homebaked goodies on the spot. Bring the kids with you so they can enjoy Christmas stories told by Fclccia Hardy. At 2 p.m. "The Sons of Southport" entertain with various musical selections, followed by the Southport Seacoast doggers at 4 p.m. Then at 5 p.m. the waterfront is will be lighted by luminaries from Rivcrwatch subdivision down to Southport Marina. Also, the candlelight house tour runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Come out and enjoy the luminaries and visit some of Southport’s beauti ful homes as the owners graciously invite you in to share the Christmas spirit. Two very special stops along the tour are the Driftwood Shell Shop and the Southport Maritime Museum. The shell shop’s Christmas decora tions of a nautical flair and the maritime museum with the traditional was sail bowl invite you to stop and linger and enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. Rounding out Saturday’s entertainment is the Chrisunas concert at 7 p.m. by the Sea Notes Choral Society. At 1 p.m. on Sunday Santa arrives to visit with the children and learn of their "wish lists". After visiting Santa, the little folks can stop by the gift making workshop conducted by Susan Hutson and create a treasure for someone special on their Chrisunas list. What is Chrisunas without a children’s choir? The St. James Children’s Choir will present a concert at 3 p.m. followed by a sing-ulong at 4 p.m. Winners are named for parade, flotilla It was a tough job choosing the most beautiful ami unique Boats in this year’s Oak Island Christmas-By-lhc-Sca parade since "all SO of them were so well-done," said Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce execu tive vice-president Karen Hope. "It was good to see the community gel behind the parade, and the kids really enjoyed it," Hope said. "I think the cold weather followed Santa down here, but it got everyone in the Christmas spirit." A panel of judges selected the following floats as this year’s winners: First place, Coldwcll Banker Southport-Oak Island Realty’s "Visiting Sesame Street"; second place, Oak Island Beautification Club’s "Learning is Holiday Fun"; third place, Hope Harbor Home’s "Christmas Around the World”; judges award, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church’s "Nativity Scene with Angel Choir". Winners will all receive trophies. The panel of judges included county manager/atlomcy David Clegg, South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce executive director Bill Dcarman, Southeastern Welcome Center director Sabrina Hodges and Long Beach mayor Joan Altman. The flotilla winners in the sailboat category were: first, George Moore’s Miss Good Night; second, Charles and Miffy Williams’ Why Don't We?; third, Rick Johnstone’s Voltaire. Winners in the powerboat category were: first, Jimmy and Kaye Lamb’s Entropy; second, Robert Creech’s 5 C’s. Flotilla judges included Lynne Repscha of Lynne’s Hallmark and Treasure Room and Miss Brunswick County, Crystal Williams. lit lie1105 (12-9,16c)