Longboat Harbour Condominium hosts annual Lighting of the Docks ceremony

The Longboat Harbour Condominium complex hosted its annual Lighting of the Docks ceremony earlier this month.

The ceremony held on Dec. 4 raised $5,280 for Toys for Tots, according to condo commodore Bill Coughlin. The condo’s previous record contribution was $2,635.

“I’m an old coach, so everything’s winning and losing with me, so I have to beat last year,” Coughlin said. “We got to get more lights than last year, we got to raise more money than last year, and we did.”

Longboat Harbour residents take pride in their annual contest to see which of the condo’s 53 docks has the best holiday lights setup.

“It was the best ever,” Coughlin said. “(We had) perfect weather. We had about 100 people.”

Coughlin said the community takes pride in the friendly competition to see which dock has the most spirit.

“It’s a contest too,” Coughlin said. “We’re all trying to beat each other with the decorations, so it’s fun. All week, we’re spying on each other, and then I’m badgering them to give money to Toys for Tots.”

Coughlin had great joy describing the festivities of the beloved ceremony.

“You have Santa Claus on the golf cart and I’m in the front golf cart with the two evaluators,” Coughlin said.

Coughlin said many of the residents in the community are graduates of Big Ten schools. The two judges of the docks are retired professors: Darlene Sedlock from Purdue University and Linda Beekman from the University of Michigan.

“One of the guys who won, (Dale Mackovjak), he’s a University of Michigan (graduate),” Coughlin said. “I said, ‘Yeah…that’s because one the judges was (from the) University of Michigan.’”

The five first-place winners received $100 Lazy Lobster gift certificates. The five second-place winners received $25 Lazy Lobster gift certificates.

Coughlin, who is a Michigan State graduate, takes pride in his setup with green lights even though he didn’t finish in the top 10.

“Everybody gets a bottle of wine if they decorate the dock, but I was not top 10,” Coughlin said. “And, that lets you know how good the docks were because my dock is gorgeous, and it’s not like I deserve to be top 10.

“There were 10 better than me. That’s how good they are.”