Ask anyone who has lived in Lake Havasu City more than a few years where the jet ski world championship happens, and they will say Crazy Horse. That answer has been correct since 1982. This October it is wrong, or at least out of date, because the property at 1534 Beachcomber Boulevard changed hands earlier this year and now goes by Red Rock Waterside.
The race itself has not moved. The dates have not moved. What changed is the sign, the ownership, and a handful of gate policies that longtime attendees will need to relearn even though they could probably walk the site blindfolded. That is the kind of shift that does not show up on a tourism brochure but matters to anyone planning their October around it, which in this town is most of us.
Forty-four years, one venue, one new name
The SBT World Finals, run by the International Jet Sports Boating Association, has been held in Lake Havasu City every single year since the sport's first world championship in 1982. Forty-four consecutive years at one location is not a streak most American motorsport events can claim, and it is the reason the 2026 edition carries the number 45.
That number stayed intact through everything else changing this year. IJSBA confirmed the venue formerly known as Crazy Horse Campgrounds is now Red Rock Waterside following a change in ownership, and asked competitors and spectators to expect new gate and security procedures under the new operator even though the race dates and location are unchanged. Racing runs October 3 through 11, admission for spectators is free, and the field draws competitors from an average of 33 countries, which is a wider international pull than most people driving past the pits on Beachcomber Boulevard would guess.
Here is what to actually expect if you are timing errands, dog walks, or dinner reservations around the event this year:
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates | October 3 to 11, 2026 |
| Location | Red Rock Waterside, 1534 Beachcomber Blvd (formerly Crazy Horse Campgrounds) |
| Cost to watch | Free for spectators, no parking fee for general attendance |
| Field size | Competitors from an average of 33 countries |
| Theme | 80s throwback PWC Fest, tied to the decade personal watercraft racing took off |
What's still being decided as the gates open
Not everything about this year's Finals is locked down yet, and IJSBA has been candid about it. Last year's event ran seven full days of racing. This year the organization is planning for six, with an acknowledgment that it could shrink further depending on how travel logistics shake out closer to the event, a real concern given a reported surge in visa support applications from international competitors. What is fixed regardless of how the racing schedule bends: opening registration, check-in, the Young Guns program, the Poker Run, and Saturday Night Under the Bridge all have dates that will not move.
One more change worth knowing about before you plan a Sunday afternoon downtown. Race director Brian "Bubba" Smith, a local business owner, has proposed turning the traditional Sunday awards ceremony into a closing event held under the London Bridge itself, in the English Village, rather than at the campground. If it happens, it would put the final Pro Class trophy presentations in the same stretch of waterfront where most residents already spend their Sunday evenings, with the backing of several local businesses. It is a proposal, not a confirmed fixture, but it is the kind of local detail that tells you this event still runs on relationships between the race organizers and the town, not a franchise playbook shipped in from somewhere else.
The parade that hasn't needed a rename
Not even two weeks after the World Finals wrap, McCulloch Boulevard hosts the 55th Annual London Bridge Days Parade on Saturday, October 24, starting at 10 a.m. This is the same event, run by the same civic tradition, dating back to the years right after the bridge itself was reassembled over the channel that gave the city its shape. Where the World Finals venue changed ownership for the first time in its history this year, the parade has not needed a single rename in 55 runs. Both events sit in the same October, on the same handful of streets, but they tell you something different about how this town holds onto its fixtures. One institution just changed hands for the first time. The other has spent over five decades proving it does not need to.
Where the town actually eats through both weekends
Restaurant turnover in Lake Havasu tends to move faster than event ownership does, and this fall has its own version of that churn. At The Shops at Lake Havasu, a new spot called 360 Grind & Grill has opened in the space formerly occupied by Social Bean and Chicago Grill, right next to Star Cinema. The owners, Candace Christie and Dustin Steele, already run 360 Deli on West Acoma near Mohave Community College, so this is an expansion from an established local kitchen rather than an outside chain testing the market. The Grind side keeps the cafe-lounge format with gourmet coffee, smoothies, and boba, while the Grill side opens on a slightly later timeline due to additional equipment checks.
For race weekend or parade weekend dinners, two spots keep coming up as reliable anchors:
- Jailbreak Brewing Company downtown pours house-brewed ales and lagers alongside a menu built around the London Bridge IPA-battered fish and chips and a house-smoked pulled pork sandwich, both solid choices after a full day standing along the channel.
- Shugrue's at the Island Fashion Mall has a waterfront deck that puts you at a table with a direct view of the London Bridge, and its Colorado River rainbow trout and Sonoran-spiced carne asada are the two dishes most tied to the region's identity rather than a generic supper-club menu.
Reading the season
None of this changes what October in Lake Havasu has always felt like from the outside: warm water, cooling air, a channel full of lights and boats and a bridge that should not exist in a desert but does. What changes this year is underneath that surface. A venue that has hosted the same world championship every October since Ronald Reagan's first term just changed hands for the first time. A parade that started decades before some of its float sponsors were born is turning 55 without so much as a new name. And a family that already runs one of the town's steadier lunch spots just bet on a second location instead of waiting for someone else to fill the space.
That is the actual shape of a small city's fall calendar. Some things get replaced. Some things just keep showing up.
If you already call Lake Havasu home and you are the kind of person who tracks these shifts because you like knowing your own town, that instinct is worth more than it seems. It is the same instinct that matters when a friend asks what a property near the channel is really worth, or when a neighbor is quietly wondering if this is the year to sell. When those conversations come up, The Modern Desert Group is the team that has been paying attention to both the parade route and the property records the whole time.
