Night in Venice Parade to Dodge Pipes and Shallows

A patrol boat will keep participants in the Night in Venice boat parade away from the half-submerged pipes left by a dredging contractor, and the parade route will skip the shallow Snug Harbor near the Ninth Street Bridge this year.

Ocean City's annual bayfront celebration is set for 6 p.m. Saturday (July 20) with decorated boats weaving in and out of bayside lagoons, but as in recent years, shallow water in the bay will provide some challenges.

A committee met on Tuesday to determine the final parades route, according to Courtney Huff of the city's Department of Community Operations.

High tide at the Ninth Street Bridge is 7:04 p.m., and most of the parade route will have plenty of water. But the parade will not enter the shallow Snug Harbor (between Eighth and Ninth streets) this year. The parade has skipped nearby Glen Cove (between Ninth and 10th streets) in recent years.

The parade route covers the bayside and lagoons between the Ocean City-Longport Bridge and Tennessee Avenue.

Pipes left by a contractor dredging to deepen lagoons and channels between 15th and 34th provide a potential hazard. 

While the pipes are not directly in the parade route, they're near enough to require a patrol boat to be placed atop them to warn other boats — particularly in the area off Glenwood Drive.

The contractor did not meet a Dec. 31 deadline to complete the job and was scheduled to return June 1 to finish. The opening of the permitting window later was changed to July 1.

But the contractor is a no-show, and the city has been unable to resolve the issue to date, Business Administrator Mike Dattilo said last week. He could not say more about the city's options to address the unfinished job.

Hydro-Marine Construction of Hainesport has a $1.8 million contract to complete the work and is bonded to do so.

"I'm absolutely disappointed to know that the contractor is not out there working," City Council President Tony Wilson said on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Wilson — like many other boaters on the bayside — has reported hitting the half-submerged pipes with his boat's propellers.

The boats placed at the pipeline will be among a patrol that includes two State Police boats, two Coast Guard boats and four Coast Guard Auxiliary boats, Huff said. 

As of Tuesday, 52 boats had pre-registered to participate in the parade.