Museum Riverboat Will Be Alight Tonight

The Pride of Newport will once again light up the north end of Newport Harbor. Thousands of tiny white lights adorning the riverboat that houses the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum will be turned on tonight for the first time in several years.

Jet Rutter, a museum board member, said replacing the bulbs on the 19th century paddle wheeler replica re-creates the vessel as many residents remember it. The lighted steamboat was a landmark, Rutter said, when it was the Reuben E. Lee restaurant.

When the restaurant donated the boat to the museum 1 1/2 years ago, the electrical system was in poor shape and the museum did not have the money to repair it.

Immediately, they set out to raise the $5,000 it would take to throw the switch back on. Rutter said the lighting of the boat is the first, most visible sign of the renovations underway on the vessel.