NEWBURYPORT — On Christmas Eve a steady stream of cars circled and circled around the Green Street parking lot, each driver vying for a precious space to park in order to do some last-minute shopping downtown.

Yet 150 footsteps away, in the dirt waterfront lots, there was plenty of parking.

That's a typical day in the parking lots of downtown Newburyport. Hundreds of waterfront parking spaces go unused, while in the Green Street lot there's a mad dash for the handful of open spots.

On Christmas Eve, Hannah Selinger of Newburyport spent 10 minutes of precious shopping time trying to find a spot. Others spent even longer — a Hamilton woman said it took about 20 minutes. Selinger said the lot is often as full as it was that afternoon, depending on the day and weather.

Data taken over the past year by The Daily News shows that on average, the 226-space Green Street lot is usually 80 to 100 percent full, while the 360-plus spots in the west and east waterfront lots are usually less than half full.

"I must have a parking angel watching over me today; usually parking is hard, but today I found a spot quickly," said Marlene Barton of Ipswich.

Stephanie Palermo of Newbury, who works at Interlocks, said that workers aren't allowed to park in Interlock's parking lot and spots on the street are usually full, forcing workers to park down the street at the already-packed Green Street lot.

When tourists flock to Newburyport in the summer for Yankee Homecoming and neighboring residents come downtown to shop for holiday gifts between Black Friday and Christmas, the parking pinch is felt even harder.

Between Black Friday and Christmas last year, the Green Street lot averaged at 99 percent full, while the waterfront lots were less than half of that.

Newburyport resident Sonja Raslavicus said that a reason for the empty lots could be because out-of-towners don't know about the waterfront lots.

"I don't think it's advertised well enough," Raslavicus said. "There needs to be a better sign. Actually, I don't think there is a sign."

Even local residents who were aware about the lots had misconceptions about them.

Newburyport resident Deedle McGarr said she knows about the waterfront lots, but, like many, doesn't park there because she thought you had to pay to park there. She also doesn't usually park in the Green Street lot because she has difficulty finding a spot, often opting for Pleasant Street or the Prince Place parking lot, which has 48 spaces.

Those who are aware of the lots still avoid them for various reasons. Many residents, including Amesbury's Lynne Deschenes, said they don't like parking in the waterfront lots because they aren't paved.

"I don't like parking in the gravel and mud because I don't like to track it everywhere I go," said Newburyport's Geoff Raywood. "It's not the distance. It's not an inconvenience for me to even park at the mall. I don't mind the walk."

But many do mind the distance. Though the west waterfront parking lot is only about 150 steps away from the Green Street lot, Selinger, like many residents, chooses not to park there because it is farther away from downtown stores and requires crossing busy Merrimac Street.

"I use the waterfront lots in the summer, but in the winter use (the Green Street lot) for convenience sake," Newburyporter Betsy Farrell said, reflecting the mentality of many people walking to their cars while toting shopping bags in their arms.

Though he found a spot easily on Tuesday, Newburyport's Bruce Menin avoids the Green Street parking lot completely this time of year because of the parking chaos. He thinks that the proposal of the development of a park on the waterfront will create even more problems.

"You can't take away spots without putting in new ones," Menin said, noting that he disagrees with the idea of a parking garage. "I think a better idea would be to ramp up public transportation so people could take shuttles downtown."

Raywood said that during the 10 years he's lived in Newburyport, he's never thought the city would need to go in the direction of a parking garage, like neighboring Portsmouth did.

Amesbury's Nils Menten agrees.

"Even though I sometimes experience trouble finding a parking spot, I think it's reasonable," Menten said. "As much as I like close and convenient parking, the city should develop the waterfront land. I think the use of that space as parking is the most egregious use of the land."