ELKHART — This year’s Upper St. Joseph Flotilla will have a new theme as well as a new time of display.

The event will take place at 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. The theme will be “Light the Night;” that’s why coordinators decided to change the time of the event.

For this year’s theme, participants are asked to decorate their boat with lights. While it is not mandatory for the boats to be decorated, only those meeting this year’s theme qualify for any of the awards that will be given.

The Shirley and Dave Chism Grand Prize award and a city flag will be presented to the entry that best observes the theme. The Jim Pettit Award and a city flag will go to the boat decorated the most patriotically. The second- and third-place winners will also receive a city flag.

The flotilla will form at 8:30 p.m. at Bulldog Crossing and will go down the river following a lighted path along the south bank of the river. Some bleachers will be placed at Martin’s Landing on Jackson Boulevard that evening for spectators.

At 10:15 p.m. the participants will be asked to turn off their lights if there is a fireworks display.

Andy Jones, one of the coordinators of the event, said the flotilla will take place despite whether the city will have the fireworks display or not.

The Upper St. Joseph Flotilla was started in 1976 by Dave and Shirley Chism and has taken place every year since. This is the first time that it will take place in the evening.