beachbites 15 describes turning off Santa’s illumination whenever the jaws closed. “And then we heard some kids saying ‘Mommy, Jaws is eating Santa Claus!’ I said, oh man, they’re going to be traumatized, have some bad dreams.” It’s all in good fun, though. Jernigan says humor is a common ele-ment Gobble, Gobble Strut Your Stuff By MARIMAR MCNAUGHTON www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM in every one of his themes. “We just wanna make everybody laugh,” he says. Although he’s placed first in the Powerboat 22-foot and under category several years, it’s not just about winning. It’s about the experience of tossing around ideas with his brother, gathering materials and seeing the final product come together. He says the unique shape and size of his boat influences his decora-tions. What the Craig Cat lacks in size, the Jernigan brothers make up for with creative themes. “We can’t dance around on deck of course, and most people prob-ably can’t even see us from the bridge. So I like to try and make the decorations do something . . . try to make it animated in some way.” He pauses before revealing a few future themes he’s been contemplating. “I want to try maybe a snow white dove with flapping wings,” he says, “or a little tank with a spinning turret.” Even though the flotilla is still a few weeks away, he figures he has some time before he has to nail down a theme for this year’s parade. “The ideas pretty much come to us at the end, and then I’ve got the PVC pipe laying all over the yard for a month, kind of looking at how we’re going to engineer it. Then my brother comes in on Thursday night, and we go at it Friday all day and part of the night and then all day Saturday. We’ve actually finished it the last three years right in the parking lot when they blew the horn to line up. Then we turned the lights on to make sure it would work!” As far as what character the Craig Cat will take on during this year’s flotilla, Jernigan only says to “expect the unexpected.” Seeing an 11-foot pontoon boat in a parade of yachts and sailboats might seem unexpected enough. But, if past years are any indication, it would not be unexpected to see the tiniest boat in the parade take home the top prize. The North Carolina Holiday Flotilla weekend begins Friday, November 28 with a 5:45 pm tree lighting and visit with Santa Claus at Wrightsville Beach Town Hall, followed by the kick-off party at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort at 8 pm. Saturday, November 29, the festivities continue with Day in the Park, 10 am until 4 pm. The annual boat parade begins at 6 pm culminating in waterfront fireworks at 9 pm. More than 1,000 runners and walkers will make room for the turkey dinner the morn-ing before the feast when they hit the John Nesbitt Loop in Wrightsville Beach during the tenth annual Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity Turkey Trot, Thursday, November 27. Prizes for the Thanksgiving Day 5k run and untimed 1-mile fun walk will be awarded to the top three overall males and females and top three finishers in each age group, best individual costume, best team spirit/costume, biggest team and fastest team. Official T-shirts are guaranteed to those who register by November 7. Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity’s tenth annual Turkey Trot run/walk around the John Nesbitt Loop will take place Thanksgiving Day, November 27 at 8:30 a.m. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE CAPE FEAR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
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