Lake Havasu City Wins at the Fiesta Bowl

A replica of the Buffalo (NY) Lighthouse and the London Bridge won the Sweepstakes Award for Most Outstanding Float in the recent Fiesta Bowl Parade, held in Phoenix, Arizona on December 28. The float was part of a $40,000 sponsorship package contracted by the Lake Havasu Convention and Visitors Bureau. Walking next to the float in the parade were representatives from the Lake Havasu City Fire and Police departments and Lake Havasu City Magistrate Clyde Andress. According to the walkers, there was a loud, enthusiastic response to the float from the crowd. Photo of the winning float is below, from an unknown submitter to the story at the Havasu News Herald.

So, just what does the Buffalo Lighthouse have to do with the landlocked city of Lake Havasu? Read on…

London Bridge and Lighthouses

Lake Havasu City, Arizona, perhaps best known as the city that bought and moved the London Bridge from overseas, also has another unusual collection…lighthouses. Lake Havasu City is home to the Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club, which is dedicated to replicating the continent’s real lighthouses around Lake Havasu, although on a small scale. Why? The local boaters wanted navigation lights, and rather than just go with plain old generic ones, they decided to build replicas of lighthouses around the lake.

Right now, there are thirteen built, several more under or awaiting construction and more being planned. Lake Havasu sits on the Arizona and California border, with an island in the center. Lights from the East Coast of the US and Canada are on the east (AZ) side of the lake, while the west side (CA) has the Pacific lights. And the island? That has the Great Lakes lights. Below is the club’s replica of Cape Hatteras.

These aren’t your lawn ornament type lighthouses. They are working aids to navigation, and have been approved by the Coast Guard. They mark dangerous areas (usually shallows) on Lake Havasu, and certain of the lights are also used to mark marinas and points of safety. Those have specially approved yellow lights to show the safe zones. Otherwise, the lighthouses follow the normal navigational lighting system.

So Why Lighthouses?

The club was inspired by lighthouse replica at one of the marinas on the lake, and decided to solicit sponsorships to build more. According to their site, their mission is to provide aids to navigation on the lake, in the form of miniature lighthouses. The lights would be replicas of famous lighthouses around the country. They would enhance safety for boaters and provide an additional attraction for visitors to the lake.

One of the greatest pleasures of boating on Lake Havasu is enjoying the warm desert evenings, under a canopy of stars or bathing in the moonlight. It’s an inspiring experience but it can also be a frightening one. Too many people have lost their lives, suffered injury or damage to their vessels during night boating accidents on the Lake. Its curves and bends can be deceptive - they can be deadly. Knowing this, a group of Lake Havasu City boaters formed the Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club to address the need for improved navigational lights on the lake.

Their Lighthouses

As mentioned, they have thirteen completed (listed below). On their website, they have descriptions and pictures of the following lighthouses. They also have three delightful navigational charts on the site showing the locations of all current and future lights.

• Lake Havasu Marina (AZ)
• West Quoddy (ME)
• Cape Hatteras (NC)
• Buffalo (NY)
• Robert. R. Manning (MI)
• Split Rock (MN)
• Currituck (NC)
• Sandy Hook (NJ)
• Vermillion (OH)
• Table Bluff (CA)
• East Quoddy (NB)
• Alpena (MI)
• Mount Desert Rock (ME)

Arizona is a huge retirement state. I wonder how many of these people are retirees that miss their lighthouses. I know I would if I retired to a landlocked state. To help them out, they have items on sale at their site, including cards and made to order license plates.

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