Havasu Balloon Festival and Fair recently was named one of North America’s 100 best events for 2014 by the American Bus Association (ABA), a prestigious trade association. The Jan. 17-19 event scheduled for the Island Golf Club at the Nautical will be in its fourth year when it’s held next year.
This is the first year that the event has received recognition from the ABA. Last year, Fireworks at the Rodeo Grounds was included among the trade association’s top 100 events for 2013.
The ABA doesn’t rank the 100 best events, but it does list a top event, which this year is the “Star Spangled Spectacular,” a bicentennial celebration of the “Star Spangled Banner” being written, at Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
Being on the list is key and could draw more bus tours this year and several years into the future, organizers of the Havasu Balloon Festival and Fair said Monday. It also has a multiplier effect of boosting restaurant, hotel, resort and business revenue, they said.
“We’re very excited that we got (the recognition),” said Marquita McKnight, an executive director of the festival with John Parrott.
“We may not see the full value of listing the fair this year,” McKnight said. But she said that more bus touring companies will be able to see the recognition and plan to include the fair on listings for future years beyond 2014.
“Anytime anybody recognizes you (for the event) it makes you feel good,” Parrott said.
McKnight and Parrott have taken the event’s top organizational posts after Bob McClory and Constant Stoepler have led the effort in past years.
The ABA president and CEO sang the praises of the fair in a press release.
“The attractiveness of the Havasu Balloon Festival Fair as a don’t-miss entertainment value is only part of why its selection this year is such a distinction for Lake Havasu City,” said Peter Pantuso, ABA’s president and CEO in the release. “The real news here is that the Balloon Festival has been recognized as a potential magnet for tourism dollars, at a time when re-energizing domestic tourism is so important to our spirit and economy.”
Ida Jones, Lake Havasu Convention and Visitors Bureau’s director of sales, worked with the trade association to provide it with all the pertinent details about the festival.
“January is a really busy time for us,” Jones said. The balloon festival helps fill up local hotel rooms, she said.
Already for 2014, tour companies from Las Vegas and southern California and Good Sam RV Club are planning to be here, McKnight said.
Two temporary parks for recreational vehicles are being added to the layout — one at Site Six and the other at Crazy Horse, Parrott said. It’s possible to get another 1,000 people here by creating the temporary RV parks, he added.
Being listed on the top 100 list isn’t something that’s guaranteed every year, said Dan Ronan, ABA’s senior director of communications. ABA tries to change it up from year to year with new events listed, he added.
You may contact the reporter at gmoberly@havasunews.com.