Mystic River Yacht and Boat Club Commodores with Father Joe Forster, Rep Paul Donato, Former Mayor Gene Brune, and WHYC Commodore Bill Rogers. – Photo by William Tauro

By William Tauro

This past Saturday the Winter Hill Yacht Club of Somerville along with the Mystic Wellington Yacht Club and the Riverside Boat Club of Medford, invited former Somerville Mayor and current Middlesex Registrar of Deeds Gene Brune to represent The City of Somerville, and Medford State Representative Paul Donato representing The City of Medford, to be part of the over thirty year old tradition of the “Blessing of the Fleet” on The Mystic River for its 2012 boating season.

The day long annual series of events began at the Riverside Boat Club in Medford at 8 a.m. where over a hundred members from all three boat clubs on the Mystic River enjoyed a full breakfast together on the boat club’s outdoor patio deck to commence celebrating the blessing festivities.

Next, the festivities continued to the Somerville Boathouse Waterway on Shore Drive where Father Joe Foster formally of Francis Church of Medford blessed the fleet of over two hundred boats with splashed holy water as they passed alongside in a single file of the vessel “Jolly Rogers” where Father Foster, Mayor Brune, and Representative Donato were stationed aboard with the three club’s commodores.

After the blessings, the procession of vessels then continued up river to the Mystic Wellington Yacht Club in Medford where over two hundred and fifty boaters of Somerville and Medford attended an afternoon old fashioned luncheon/cookout under white banquet hall size tents full of activities including turtle races and children moon walk rides.

The events then continued to dinner later into the evening. It was a great family function event enjoyed by all attendees. Medford Mayor Mike McGlynn as well as candidate for Middlesex County Register of Deeds Maria Curtatone were also in attendance during the evening activities at the Mystic Wellington Yacht Club. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who annually attends the blessing event, was not in attendance do to a conflicting schedule on Saturday.

For the past 30 years Somerville’s Winter Hill Yacht Club, along with the three other yacht clubs on the Mystic River, have gotten together as an annual tradition to have their boats blessed by a priest as a way to kickoff a safe boating season for all.

This year Somerville’s Winter Hill Yacht Club is celebrating their 100-year anniversary as a club on the Mystic River.