Most of our other Lake Powell guides cover the lake regardless of the calendar -- when to visit, which marina to launch from, how to plan a houseboat week. This page is different: it's the list of dated, organized events that actually happen on and around Lake Powell itself, verified against each event's own listing rather than assumed from a template. One thing worth saying up front: Lake Powell the reservoir and Page, AZ the town run separate event calendars. Page has its own civic events -- a hot air balloon festival, a street fair, a Fourth of July celebration -- covered in full on our Page events and festivals calendar. This page sticks to what's organized around the lake, its marinas, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area itself.
Six things make up Lake Powell's real annual calendar below, running from a September charity boating weekend through a November balloon festival that we cover briefly here and in full on the Page page, since it launches over the lake but is organized as a Page event. Unlike some of the bigger hubs in this guide network, Lake Powell's own calendar leans heavily toward registered-participant endurance and fishing events rather than free community festivals -- a reflection of a destination built around a reservoir and a national recreation area rather than a town center. We cover what each one actually is, what's confirmed and what's changed, and where to verify current details before building travel around any of them.
Powell3 Triathlon Challenge (October)
The closest thing Lake Powell has to a signature endurance event pairs a swim leg with the reservoir itself. The Powell3 Triathlon Challenge is a USAT-sanctioned race based at Wahweap Marina, 100 Lakeshore Drive in Page -- swim, bike, and run legs built around the same red-rock buttes and cliffs that define every other Lake Powell photo. The 2026 edition's exact date hasn't been locked in publicly as of this writing -- the organizer's own registration listing currently carries only an estimated date, not a confirmed one -- so check the current Powell3 registration page directly for the confirmed date before booking travel. We were not able to independently confirm the exact swim, bike, and run distances from public listings, so check the current registration page before assuming a specific course length.
Lowdown verdict: If you or someone in your group races triathlon, this is the one Lake Powell event worth building an October trip around -- a USAT-sanctioned race in one of the more scenic settings in the Southwest. Confirm the current-year date and distances directly before registering or booking travel.
Horseshoe Bend Ultras (October)
Lake Powell used to have an established point-to-point Lake Powell Half Marathon, run from Page to the Stateline Boat Ramp near the Utah border since 2013 -- but that race is retired. Its organizer, Vacation Races, lists it as "in the vault" with no future dates planned, so don't build a trip around it. In its place, a different organizer has built a genuinely current race series covering similar ground: the Horseshoe Bend Ultras, hosted by Underground Runner out of the Page Sports Complex, with three distances -- a 50-miler, a 55K, and a half marathon -- each finishing with views of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam after crossing terrain near Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. The 2026 edition is scheduled for October 17, with registration open as of this writing.
Lowdown verdict: This is the current answer if you were looking for "the Lake Powell running race" -- just know it's ultra-distance-focused (50 miles and 55K are the headline distances) with a half marathon as the shortest option, not a beginner-friendly 5K. Register through Underground Runner's own listing and confirm the current course map before you commit.
Lake Powell Challenge (September)
Most Septembers, Antelope Point Marina turns into a high-performance powerboat rally for a long weekend. The Lake Powell Challenge is an annual charity poker run -- roughly 50 boats and 300 participants in a recent year -- centered on a run to Rock Creek Bay, with vessel safety inspections, sponsor socials, beach parties, and an evening gala and live auction built around it. The 2025 edition ran September 18-21, but the 2026 edition was called off over low water levels on the lake, with organizers targeting a return in September 2027 (exact dates not yet set). It's organized by the Lake Powell Challenge Charities Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3), and the specific beneficiary nonprofit has varied by year rather than staying fixed, so don't assume a particular cause without checking the current year's page.
We could not confirm from public sources exactly how open the marina is to general spectators versus registered participants and their guests -- treat it as a participant- and boating-community event rather than a walk-up festival, and check the Foundation's own Facebook page or Instagram (@lakepowell_challenge) for any public viewing options before planning to watch rather than ride -- its lakepowellchallenge.org website was not resolving at the time of writing.
Lowdown verdict: Not a typical tourist draw, but worth knowing about if you're boating or staying near Antelope Point that weekend -- expect the marina to be busy with high-performance boats and evening events. If you want to participate or donate, go straight to the Foundation's own site rather than a secondhand listing.
Check Page, AZ Hotel Deals
Page hotels and Lake Powell houseboats both book up fast around October's race weekends and the September Lake Powell Challenge.
Check Page Hotel Deals →Affiliate link — we earn a small commission at no cost to you.
Lake Powell 3-Day Itinerary
The dam, Wahweap, a canyon or boat day -- a base plan to build event days around.
See the 3-Day Plan →Utah Bass Nation Lake Powell State Team Qualifiers (Spring & Fall — Current Status Unconfirmed)
Utah BASS Nation has a documented history of running State Team Qualifier bass tournaments at Lake Powell's Bullfrog Marina twice a year -- a three-day event in spring (recent editions in late March) and another in late October/early November. These are team-format competitive fishing tournaments, not spectator festivals, open to registered Utah Bass Nation members rather than the general public.
Two things make us flag this one as uncertain rather than confirm it outright for the coming season. First, Bullfrog Marina itself relocated across the lake to Halls Crossing for the 2026 season because of low water levels -- a real operational disruption to the marina these tournaments are normally based out of. Second, Utah Bass Nation's own site currently lists its VP/Tournament Director role as vacant, which is exactly the kind of organizational gap that can affect whether a recurring tournament schedule holds. We'd rather flag both of those honestly than assume the spring and fall qualifiers will run on their usual schedule.
Lowdown verdict: If you're a competitive angler tracking this series, confirm directly with Utah Bass Nation (utbfn.net) whether the Lake Powell qualifiers are running this year and from which marina -- Bullfrog's low-water relocation to Halls Crossing makes this one genuinely unsettled rather than a simple date lookup.
Glen Canyon NRA Ranger Programs (Summer — Wahweap Campground Amphitheater)
The National Park Service runs free evening ranger programs at the Wahweap Campground Amphitheater, with rangers presenting on topics tied to Glen Canyon's geology, wildlife, and history. These aren't single dated events but a recurring seasonal program, running primarily in summer and weather-permitting, with topics and exact nights varying through the season rather than a fixed calendar date. There's no admission fee and no reservation required.
Lowdown verdict: A good add-on rather than a trip-planning anchor -- if you're camping or staying near Wahweap in summer, check the current schedule posted at the campground or call the park at 928-608-6200 rather than expecting a fixed night. This is the kind of low-key programming that rewards showing up rather than booking.
Page-Lake Powell Balloon Regatta (Late October/Early November)
One more event is worth a mention even though it's really the neighboring town of Page's headline event rather than a Lake Powell-organized one: the Page-Lake Powell Balloon Regatta, billed as Arizona's largest hot air balloon festival, launches dozens of balloons over the lake and surrounding red rock from Lake Powell National Golf Course each year in late October or early November. Because it's run out of Page and paired with the downtown Chamber Street Fair, we cover it in full -- including the Saturday-night Balloon Glow, ticketing, and lodging notes -- on our Page events and festivals calendar rather than duplicating that writeup here.
Lowdown verdict: If a hot-air-balloon weekend is what brought you to this page, this is the event you want -- see our full Page Events and Festivals Calendar for the complete rundown, since it's organized as a Page event even though the balloons fly directly over Lake Powell.
What We Left Off This List
A few things worth mentioning that didn't make the calendar above, and why. We looked for a formal, named "houseboat season kickoff" event and found none -- Memorial Day weekend functions as the informal start of Lake Powell's busy boating season, and marinas do get noticeably busier that weekend, but it's not an organized event with a schedule or a name, so we're not presenting it as one. We also could not confirm any currently-running striper, walleye, or smallmouth fishing derby open to the general public on Lake Powell -- the Utah Bass Nation qualifiers above are the only organized tournament series we could verify, and those are member-only, not open-entry derbies.
We also found no evidence of any organized event tied specifically to Rainbow Bridge, the Beehives, or the lake's other backcountry landmarks -- those remain sightseeing destinations covered in our other guides, not calendar entries. And we're deliberately not listing additional Bullfrog Marina or Halls Crossing community events beyond the bass tournaments above -- with Bullfrog's 2026 relocation to Halls Crossing still an active, developing situation tied to lake levels, we didn't find any other organized public event at either location worth including with confidence.
Confirm Before You Book
The pattern worth internalizing from this page: almost everything here is either a registered-participant endurance or fishing event, or a single marina's charity weekend -- Lake Powell doesn't have a Page-style municipal events department running a shared community calendar. That means dates live on each organizer's own site rather than one central source, and at least two entries here -- the Powell3 Triathlon's 2026 date and the Utah Bass Nation qualifiers' marina and schedule -- were genuinely unconfirmed or in flux at the time of writing. Go straight to the organizer for each one: the Lake Powell Challenge Charities Foundation's own Facebook page or Instagram for the Challenge (its website was not resolving at the time of writing), Underground Runner's own race listing for the Horseshoe Bend Ultras, the Powell3 registration page for the triathlon, utbfn.net for the bass tournaments, and nps.gov/glca for ranger programs and any other NPS-run activity.
Building a Trip Around One of These Events
If you want a Lake Powell trip with a dated event as its anchor, October is the strongest month on this page -- both the Powell3 Triathlon and the Horseshoe Bend Ultras land there, and fall's cooler temperatures make it one of the more comfortable times to also be out on the water or in the slot canyons. See our 3-day itinerary for how to build days around Wahweap, the dam, and a canyon or boat day regardless of which race weekend you land on.
If your interest is really the Balloon Regatta, plan the trip around Page rather than Lake Powell itself -- book lodging and any Antelope Canyon tour early, since the Regatta weekend's late-October/early-November dates add real demand on top of an already-strong shoulder season. Our Wahweap Marina guide and marinas compared post are the better starting points if boating rather than a specific event date is really what's driving your trip.