Free Ground, Published
The Wharf stages the 34th Annual Holiday Boat Parade & Party on Saturday, December 5, 2026. Sixty or more decorated boats run the Washington Channel.
The event page answers the admission question in one line. The parade is free for spectators, and no tickets are needed on the piers or along Wharf Street.
Fireworks leave a barge in the Washington Channel around 8pm. The piers and Wharf Street carry that sightline at no charge that evening.
One Clock on the Page
The page prints 8pm for the fireworks. It prints no time for the landside program.
Landside activity runs through the afternoon and evening. Ornament decorating sits at M Street Landing, Santa sits in The Grove, and the 45-foot tree stands on District Pier. Live music and DJs play on every stage, s'mores cook at the Camp Wharf fire pit, and the ice rink sits on Transit Pier.
A planner who writes a 5pm to 9pm window into a contract writes a window the venue has not published. Ask the venue for its own hours that night.
Four Hotels and No Published Rate
The Wharf's hotels page names four properties: Pendry Washington DC, Canopy by Hilton, Hyatt House and InterContinental.
The Pendry entry carries 131 guest rooms and suites. No rate, no December minimum and no block term appears on the page for any of the four.
Space by Published Capacity
The event space page prices nothing and measures everything. The Dockmaster Building holds 2,000 square feet at 140 standing and 100 seated, and it sits at the end of District Pier.
District Pier runs 8,000 square feet of outdoor space at 800 standing. Transit Pier runs 7,000 square feet of tentable space at 700 standing. Recreation Pier extends about 400 feet into the channel.
District Pier and Transit Pier publish 1,500 standing places between them. The Pendry carries more than 7,500 square feet of event space.
The Alcohol Rule
District law bars drinking in public streets, parks and piers. The parade page repeats the rule: guests may drink inside restaurants, inside a restaurant's licensed patio area, or inside a licensed event area.
The page bars outside alcohol. A group that wants a drink beside the parade books one of those three places, and the licence term and closing hour go into the contract.
The Rink Sells Separately
The Wharf Ice Rink sits at 970 Wharf Street SW on Transit Pier. It closed for the season and reopens in December 2026.
Admission prices read coming soon for adults, children 12 and under, seniors 65 and over with military, and groups of 10 or more. Public skating runs first come, first served.
The rink takes no reservations, and last admission sells 15 minutes before closing. Private rentals run through an inquiry to the rink's own team, and the page publishes no capacity and no rate for a private booking.
The Parking Ladder
Three underground garages run around the clock. The weekend ladder runs $6 for the first half hour, $11 to the hour, $24 to two hours, $29 to three, $38 to four, and $49 for four to twelve hours. The weekday ladder reads $39 at the four-to-twelve-hour rung. The twelve-to-twenty-four-hour band reads $62 either night.
Special event rates take effect at 4pm on dates with shows on The Anthem calendar and on additional special event days. The page names the mechanism and no dates. Rates reset at 4am.
A guest who parks at 5pm and leaves at 9pm pays the weekend four-hour band of $38. A guest who parks at 4pm and leaves at 9pm pays $49. The garages offer no prepaid or reserved space.
Access and House Rules
Waterfront Station sits a five-minute walk from the piers, and L'Enfant Plaza connects through the free Wharf Shuttle. Public restrooms sit at the Fish Market, Transit Pier, 800 Water Street, the Oculus and The Terrace.
The venue bars chairs and coolers. Cameras take lenses up to six inches, and the gates bar tripods, monopods and selfie sticks.
Three Quotes, One Order
Ask the hotel for the room rate on the night of December 5 as a single line. Ask the venue for the pier or Dockmaster licence as a second line. Ask the rink team for a private quote as a third.
The parade carries no admission charge. The three quotes carry the spend, and each one negotiates on its own scope.
The Cost of the Ask
hotelhaggle lists Florida, Hawaii, Iowa and Washington as states it cannot serve. The District of Columbia sits outside that list, and the platform charges nothing to submit a request.
A December group request for The Wharf costs the planner nothing beyond those three quotes.
