Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu, Arizona

This is is the 14th year of the Lake Havasu Balloon Festival 2025 with over 80 balloons. This is a charity event – we didn’t know this before – and last year they raised $250,000 for charities, organizations and non-profits right here in Lake Havasu. That is amazing!

All Set Up For Dry Camping With Lake Behind Us, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

Checked in with the Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona, ranger and then followed signs to the Camp Host for check in. I must say, so far I am very impressed with Lake Havasu Balloon Festival organization; they have it down! The event is at this state park. We were greeted and given papers and information. Then a guy got on a golf cart and we followed. We are in section 2A and he was letting us pick where we wanted to park. This is a parking lot with large parking lanes – used for trucks and boat trailers.The nice thing is that you get 2 parking lanes. That gives good room for slides, truck on the side, and place to sit in your camp chair. Again, impressed with the planners. It is all good new-looking asphalt and it levels down to the water. Of course set up was fast since we are dry camping – no sewer, water, or power to hook up. HA Kevin did set out the generator and locked it to HOWE (footnote 1).

White Caps, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

Our site is wonderful! We have a full view of the lake on two sides. By this time we were both really hungry. I said I could cook but Kevin decided on Red Robin. Sounded great and it was. That night Kevin went right to sleep and I read for a few minutes. We were both tired. We hope the wind will die down for the festival but, I told him, if not, it is fine. The booklet shows a lot of activities including booths, food trucks, concerts, and more. 

This is the first time we have used our new lithium battery. It worked out great! We have one solar panel on top of HOWE. It keeps the battery charged and we wouldn’t need to even run the generator if we didn’t have Starlink (footnote 2) and computers plugged in for Kevin’s work. We unplug those at night and it saved on the battery.

After work the next day we took a short drive. First we drove to the end of this state park campground. We looked at the dump station and saw they have fresh water in a different lane from the sewer. That is good! We will dump and fill here before going to our next event. Next we drove to Maverick to get gas for the generator. Kevin has a new gas can so he wanted to get it filled. While getting drinks inside, Kevin overhead two employees talking about some teens had just come through and tried to steal beer. The teens saw they were getting caught, dropped the beer and ran out. Good for observant employee. 

Lake Havasu Balloon Festival Actives, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

Lake Havasu Balloon Festival actually started on Thursday, but the campground was available to let people camp here from Monday to Monday as part of the RV ticket for the balloon festival. Sadly, the wind is again very strong today and the balloons were unable to launch. At the festival site the wind had been strong and some vendors had their tent awning ripped off. We walked around the vendors and most had left. We walked over to the main stage and saw/listened to the band for a few minutes. Kevin said they were very good (I am deaf). So glad we hardly feel the wind in HOWE.

Lake Havasu Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

The next day we saw more people at the festival and the vendors were all open. We walked down each row like we did yesterday. Didn’t see anything we wanted. Although, Kevin saw a booth with homemade stuff for dry hands. He tried the sample. I refused. While the scent was nice he had to keep rubbing and rubbing his hands; the greasiness wouldn’t go away. We had a chuckle as I am always saying the only grease-less hand lotion that actually works is Posh. It is true. The greasy lotion bothered him and I pointed out the washstands next to the port-a-potties. He washed up good and used paper towels. Felt much better. 

Kevin’s Pic: Lake Havasu Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

The main stage had a band and we stood around and watched/listened for a little bit. Kevin said they were good. At 4:15 p.m. we decided to find the balloon launch site, in case they could launch at 4:45 p.m. At this point there was no wind. I remembered the Facebook page would have a guy talking and giving updates before each scheduled launch. I pulled it up and handed it to Kevin to listen. Yes, there was no wind here but above us the wind was 20 mph, no launch.

Blowing Up A Hot Air Balloon, Lake Havasu Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

We hung out for a while and then walked over to the balloons for Night Glow. It was a lot of fun watching the balloons get set up. They didn’t launch but it was fun to walk among them and see the glow of the fire as the darkness came.

View From Inside HOWE! Lake Havasu Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

The next morning launch, at 7:45 a.m. happened. This is the first launch they were able to do, due to winds. Where were we? In the comfy warmness of our home, HOWE, watching through the windows. It turned out perfect viewing area!

Kevin’s Wide-Lense Pic: View From HOWE, Lake Havasu Balloon Festival, Lake Havasu State Park, Lake Havasu, AZ 01/25

After the balloons were down we dumped our tanks, got fresh water in the tank, and then drove to SARA (special activities recreation area) Park on the other side of Lake Havasu, 6 miles. HA Ready for the next event and another week of dry camping.

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. Starlink is satellite internet. It works even when you are out of cell coverage area. You can make phone call through it, too. The company named the user terminal “Dishy McFlatface” and every calls it “Dishy” for short. 🙂