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Provo • Cars lined either side of Center Street, and people milled about a fire pit, sipping cocoa while waiting to see a Christmas lights display.
Unlike the drive-through exhibits in parts of Utah, or the lights on Salt Lake City's Temple Square, Ben Allen's Christmas display has a distinctly nautical approach.
Guests board one of Allen's two small riverboats and then glide along the Provo River, listening to Christmas carols as they pass the lights and displays along the banks and strung across the water.
Santa Claus makes an appearance, trading his sleigh and reindeer for a canoe and paddle.
For some of those who braved the subfreezing cold one recent December night, it's a holiday tradition.
"We've been coming the last couple years, and we really enjoy it," said Adam Evans, a Provo resident. "It's a nice time, listening to the carols and enjoying the lights."
Allen said about 100,000 people have taken the boat ride during the past 15 years.
The tradition started in 1996, three years after he opened his CLAS Ropes Course, a climbing-based team-building school, on the banks of the Provo River.
Some Boy Scouts whom Allen worked with suggested the gnarled trees made it the best place for a spook alley.
"The boys were up in the trees dropping spaghetti on people," Allen recalled.
But Allen said his wife didn't think scaring the daylights out of people fit with the family-friendly theme of the business. So he started thinking about a Christmas activity. After a business trip to San Antonio, he went to that Texas city's famed River Walk and landed on his inspiration: boat cruises.
The first Christmas cruises — in 1999, he launched Halloween cruises, too — used a pontoon boat rigged with a pedal-powered paddle wheel. But the boat carried only a dozen passengers, and, on one occasion, tipped enough that some water came over the side.
So Allen upgraded to boats similar to the ones used in Texas, which hold 40 people and are more steady.
Still, he hasn't given up using human power to propel the boat. Instead of pedals, Allen has rigged overhead ropes along the river, which he and his employees use to pull the boats through the course.
"It's not as smelly or loud," Allen said, referring to the boat's engines.
The river's slack water reflects the lights, creating the impression that there are even more lights. One strand is arranged as a half-star, with the reflection completing the figure.
The 20-minute trip starts with a view of Santa's workshop, elves and toys. That's when the jolly elf comes up on a canoe, high-fiving passengers and passing out candy canes.
"It was unique to see the lights and Santa on a canoe," said Andrea Carlson, who came with her family from Draper.
Her daughter Eden said Santa's visit was the highlight. "He gave me a candy cane," she said.
Then the trip takes on a more spiritual turn. As Allen plays "Mary's Boy Child" on a portable stereo, the boat drifts past a Nativity and a cutout picture of Thorvaldsen's "Christus" statue.
Provo resident Kim Hendershot said the Nativity was her favorite part of her first cruise.
Allen worries that the tradition may not last. He said the federal Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission is proposing to redirect the river to create a natural delta where larval June sucker can mature. He fears the plan could leave him high and dry, with the river reduced to an unnavigable trickle.
At the end the cruise, he urged people to sign a petition asking that the plan at least keep enough water flowing past his place to float boats.
Twitter: @donaldwmeyers —
CLAS Ropes Course Christmas Cruise
P The last day for this year's Christmas Cruise is Dec. 26. The charge is $8 for ages 2 and up. For more information, go to http://www.clasropes.com/canoe.html