Lisa Scott-Founds, President and CEO, Winterfest, Inc.

May 2026 — Invest: sat down with Lisa Scott-Founds, president and CEO of Winterfest, Inc., to discuss how Winterfest continues to strengthen Greater Fort Lauderdale’s tourism economy while expanding its year-round community footprint. “We don’t want to just be a boat parade with lights and everybody says how nice. It’s got to be unique and different, and we have to challenge ourselves,” Scott-Founds said.

How has Winterfest’s impact on Broward County evolved over the past year, particularly in terms of tourism, local spending, and regional visibility?

The past year was one of the strongest we’ve ever had. The boat parade was the largest in our history, with 105 boats, and that’s something I’ve never seen in my time at Winterfest. Across the board, our events were highly successful, even in a year where people were watching the economy closely and day-to-day life felt heavy for many. What we saw was that residents and visitors were gravitating toward being out together, and that sense of shared experience mattered.

From an economic standpoint, Winterfest continues to generate more than $51 million in impact for South Florida. That reaches far beyond the parade itself. It impacts restaurants that sell out along the waterway, hotels, charter yachts, DJs, vendors, and all the supporting services that make an event of this scale possible. We also market outside of Broward County because we want people across the region, and beyond, to see Winterfest as something they can plan travel around.

A big part has been our viewing strategy. Over the last four years, we’ve focused on activating Fort Lauderdale Beach more intentionally. With our viewing area near Las Olas, it becomes a true weekend experience. People can stay at a nearby hotel, walk to reserved seating, enjoy the parade, and then step back into a full Fort Lauderdale itinerary, whether that is dining, entertainment, or simply spending time in the city.

We’re also seeing valuable data from visitors who tie Winterfest into cruise travel. We learned that more than 20% of attendees in our viewing area were coming in early from a cruise ship or staying after they got off and leaving a day later. That has created a new opportunity for us to work with Port Everglades and market more directly within the cruise industry, because people were finding us even before we intentionally focused there.

Winterfest remains a free, ungated event, and that matters for access and reach. When you think about the scale of the audience and the visibility that comes from that, it reinforces why Winterfest continues to be such a strong driver for tourism and local spending.

Celebrating 55 years, how does Winterfest balance innovation with tradition to keep the event relevant for longtime supporters and new audiences?

We balance it by respecting what people love while constantly pushing ourselves to do something they have not seen before. We have a lot of eyes and ears out there, people who travel, attend major events, and bring ideas back to us, and we evaluate what can translate to the water in a safe and responsible way.

This year, we put motorcycles in a cage on a boat, and people thought it was too complex to execute on the water over a 12-mile route. We also introduced fire dancers, and that created the same immediate reaction, because the assumption is that fire cannot belong on a boat. The difference is we work through the safety planning, the technical requirements, and the right partners to make those experiences possible.

We don’t want to just be a boat parade with lights and everybody says how nice. It’s got to be unique and different, and we have to challenge ourselves, so we keep experimenting with new technology and new creative approaches. We’ve been looking at tools that can create visual effects on the water, like high-speed fans that generate logo-style displays, and portable LED walls that can roll and deploy in ways that weren’t realistic a few years ago. Our goal is to bring those concepts into our environment, test them on boats, and see what actually works in real conditions with movement, tide, and wind.

At the same time, tradition is one of our strengths. We have elements that people look for every year, and that matters across generations. The nutcrackers are a great example, and the 12 Dinghies of Christmas have become a fan favorite since we introduced them when we moved to the New River in 2007. Kids love them, and we also use them as a platform to reinforce messages like water safety and the importance of life vests, especially for children.

So it’s always both. We keep the signature moments that define Winterfest, and we add features that help new audiences see it as dynamic, modern, and worth coming back to year after year.

As Winterfest grows, how are you thinking about workforce needs, including volunteers and event professionals?

A key part of workforce planning is knowing who we are and staying true to that identity. Winterfest has had periods where it tried to do too much, too fast, and we’ve learned from that. Today, we are focused on putting on the best boat parade in Florida, and everything we do supports that priority.

We rely on around 350 volunteers during the year, and that increases as our season ramps up every October. We’re building an experience across multiple touchpoints, not just the parade, and each one requires coordination, staffing, and dependable partners. We start with events like our Launch Party, where we thank sponsors and create a strong foundation for the season. We also host Family Fun Day, which drew nearly 6,000 people last year at no charge, and that takes significant planning and volunteer support because it includes programming that ranges from face painting and food sampling to community health clinics.

We also use these events to expand education and awareness. We’ve added activities like fishing clinics and environmental education, because when you have a large crowd, you have an opportunity to help people learn something meaningful while they’re having fun. One of the things we’re proud of is the diversity of attendees we can reach because our events are free and ungated. Families that may not be able to attend ticketed events can still participate, which strengthens community connection and broadens Winterfest’s long-term relevance.

We also have major moments like the Black Tie Gala at Hard Rock, and that type of event requires a different level of production expertise, vendor coordination, and hospitality planning. In other words, it’s a layered workforce model, with volunteers, event professionals, and public safety partners all playing distinct roles.

Beyond the parade, what other community initiatives are central to Winterfest’s mission?

Winterfest is not just a parade. Through the Winterfest Foundation, we support charitable organizations across Greater Fort Lauderdale, and we also invest in programs that engage students and families throughout the year.

A major focus is our work with kindergarten through fifth-grade students across Broward County, including public, private, charter, and homeschool communities. We create opportunities tied to art and learning, and we partner with the Museum of Discovery and Science to make that experience real for students. One of the most meaningful moments is when children can see their artwork displayed in a museum, because that is something they remember for the rest of their lives.

We also support scholarships, provide resources like laptops, and build programs that create access. In addition, we work with veterans and children who are underprivileged to get them out on the water, because the water can be both calming and inspiring. We partner with organizations like the Guy Harvey and Freedom Waters Foundations to connect children with ocean and environmental education, helping them see a world that may feel out of reach otherwise.

Those layers matter because they reflect our mission. The parade is our signature, but Winterfest is also about impact, access, and community stewardship.

Looking ahead, what strategic priorities will matter most over the next three to five years?

Our priority is to make the parade more compelling every year. We want people to walk away saying they cannot believe that happened on water. That mindset drives everything, from how we think about new technologies to how we think about staging and participation.

We have a board of directors of 50 people, one of the largest boards in Broward County, and we’ve been intentional about setting a clear focus for the next five years. The parade has to be amazing, better, and constantly evolving. Safety is always the foundation, but within that, we want to keep raising the standard for creativity and execution.

One area where we’ve seen the importance of evolution is programming that reaches younger audiences. For example, music is changing quickly, and we need to understand what resonates now, not what resonated ten years ago. Two years ago, I did not even know what EDM stood for, and this year we had EDM in the parade. That is a real example of how we adapt, because we want the next generation to feel like Winterfest belongs to them, too.

We also see marketing strategy as part of future priorities. We work closely with partners who analyze tourism patterns and help identify where visitors are coming from and how those trends shift. That kind of insight helps us sharpen our outreach and keep the event growing in a sustainable way.

What does it take behind the scenes to manage an event of this scale?

It’s complex, and it requires constant planning. This is not a casual lineup of boats. It is a well-orchestrated dance. There are many moving parts, and we manage them through structure, coordination, and strong partnerships with professionals who understand maritime dynamics.
We also have a small but mighty team behind it all. Dawn Diehl, our event director, and Kathleen Keleher, our parade and marketing director, play a critical role in making sure every detail comes together.

We work closely with law enforcement, marine patrol, the Coast Guard, and our boat parade committee. We consider tides, weather, depth, and vessel capabilities. We assign staging locations carefully because different areas have different depth limitations, and not every boat can safely stage or maneuver in every place.

Each year, we prepare well in advance. We mark pilings, map logistics, and take participants out to show them exactly where their boats will dock. We hold mandatory logistics meetings before the parade, and we communicate expectations because the event depends on discipline and coordination, not improvisation.

This year, we saw boat applications flood in starting in November, and that created real challenges. We have limited linear staging space, and we have to balance fairness with the technical realities of where boats can go and how they perform on the route. Not everyone can be in the first 25 boats, and there is always a reason behind placement decisions. When you scale to 105 boats, the operational planning becomes as important as the creative planning.

With Winterfest’s long-standing relationship with the Seminole Hard Rock, what makes the partnership so meaningful?

The Seminole Tribe has been a partner of ours since 1995, and when Hard Rock opened its doors, Winterfest became its first major sponsorship. That started in 2004, and we are now more than two decades into that relationship as a title sponsorship.

It has been a defining partnership for Winterfest because it is aligned in values and in vision. The Seminole Tribe represents a powerful history, and Hard Rock represents entertainment and momentum. Having both of those elements connected to Winterfest has strengthened what the parade can be and what the organization can sustain year after year.

That kind of partnership is not just financial support. It is stability, shared ambition, and an understanding that entertainment and community experience are meaningful.