3-day Fiesta Hopper begins tonight, parade tomorrow
Three huge Fiesta Hopper days of movies, games, rides, vendor booths, food trucks, concerts, carnival rides, and the traditional Fiesta Parade are in store for thousands of Canyon Lakers and their guests beginning tonight.
The Fiesta Hopper Parade begins tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. when the parade route will be lined with folks several rows deep as they watch floats and dozens and dozens of decorated golf carts cruise down Canyon Lake Drive North and Vacation Drive.
The Tuesday Work Group, a volunteer organization celebrating its 50th year of giving weekly labor at the Canyon Lake Golf Course to keep the course pristine and state of the art, will serve as the parade Grand Marshal.
In addition to the parade, Fiesta Hopper will be held at five locations throughout the community: The Lodge, Holiday Harbor, Eastport, Indian Beach and Sierra Park. Each of the venues will have various forms of entertainment and food.
With Park Hopper events taking place tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, the Memorial Day holiday is available for personal family activity on the lake and around the community.
Fiesta Hopper events begin tonight at the Canyon Lake Lodge with a Movie Night at the Lodge Pool. Food and drinks will be available for purchase until 9:00 p.m. at the Lighthouse Restaurant.
Saturday is loaded, beginning with the headliner, the Fiesta Day Parade, at 9:00 a.m. The parade will begin at the intersection of Mayflower Drive and Canyon Lake Drive North, heading down Canyon Lake Drive North to Vacation Drive, where it will turn right and continue until it ends at Lighthouse Drive.
The balance of Saturday will have entertainment and food from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the five parks: Canyon Lake Lodge, Sierra Park, Holiday Harbor, Indian Beach and Eastport Park. The complete chart of what is available at each park accompanies this article.
Sunday will utilize the Lodge Pool again from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for Pool Mini Paddle Boats as well as food. From 11:00 a.m. To 3:00 p.m., Holiday Harbor will host a Spider Wall and Water Slide as well as utilize its amphitheater for a Rock the Boat Concert featuring Buckle Up & Skynyrd Reloaded, where the band turns and faces the lake to play to bobbing boats. Food options at Holiday Harbor include S&B Tacos, Swag daddy and Tiki Treats. Indian Beach will host a Movie Night at 7:00 p.m. that includes free popcorn and cotton candy for the first 150 people.
Fiesta Hopper Parade route (Click on image for full size view)
The Saturday morning parade is well organized and has rules and road closures to keep all running smoothly.
Closure of streets begins at 8:30 a.m. The Parade Staging Streets are Spray Drive, Smugglers Point Drive, Sloop Drive, and Clearwater Drive. Line-up begins at 7:00 a.m. Staging streets will re-open after the parade ends at approximately 10:00 a.m.
There will be portable public restrooms along the parade route on the corner of Canyon Lake Drive and Vacation Drive, the corner of Lighthouse Drive and Vacation Drive and near staging streets.
Three streets will close at 8:30 a.m. and will remain closed until after the parade ends. Those closing will be Canyon Lake Drive North (Evans Park to Vacation Drive Stop Sign), Vacation Drive (From Stop Sign to Lighthouse Drive) and Village Way at the Main Causeway.
Canyon Club Drive and Lighthouse Drive will be the exit route for the parade participants to head toward any of the five locations festivities are planned at. Please note, Sierra Park and Eastport Park will be accessible after the parade clears.
Canyon Club Drive and Lighthouse Drive will be the exit route for the parade participants.
There will be no parking tomorrow from 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Canyon Lake Drive North (from Steelhead Drive to Vacation Drive), and Vacation Drive to Lighthouse Drive.
For more than 40 years, thousands have crammed into Canyon Lake on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to celebrate not just the holiday, but the unofficial birth of summer.