GREAT WEEKENDS

Jolly Good Fun at London Bridge Days – Boats, Bands and a Renaissance Festival

October means London Bridge Days in Lake Havasu City, and I am here with photographer Kerrick James to record the celebration of merry olde England in the desert. Best known as the new desert home for the old London Bridge, this thriving town of 45,000 along the Colorado River draws more than a million visitors each year. Balmy weather, water sports and a variety of holidays and celebrations make Lake Havasu City a natural destination for yearround fun. It seems incongruous to come upon in the desert, but when chain-saw magnate Robert P. McCulloch, who founded the town in 1963, wanted a famous point of interest, he learned the London Bridge was for sale. McCulloch and his partner, C.V. Wood, paid nearly $2.5 million for the bridge and three years later, all 10,000 granite blocks of the rebuilt span connected Lake Havasu's mainland and island sections. Our weekend of fun actually starts Thursday with Big Band Night, held in the English Village, a district of rock-faced shops and restaurants, performing areas and wide lawns under the eastern end of London Bridge. Listening to the big band sounds of the 1940s, we eat dinner at the London Arms Pub & Restaurant in the village. With all this English atmosphere, I order oxtail soup followed by a Brighton Bay shrimp Caesar salad. I choose to stay at the Ramada Lake Havasu, one of nearly 30 overnight accommodations in the city. This hotel boasts a nine-hole golf course, and The Island Golf Course, which connects to the mainland over the famous bridge, provides 18 holes. Although a mecca for water-sports lovers, Lake Havasu City offers many other activities, and we plan to take in all we can. Lake Havasu State Park, with its 32 campsites, two boatlaunch ramps and personal watercraft ramp, covers 11,000 acres along the lake's eastern shoreline. A popular 1.5-mile walk here showcases the desert scenery and offers a chance to spot herons wading along the shore. At the English Village, we stop at London Bridge Candles to watch Jean DeJonge carve multicolored wax into fancy candles. I'm fascinated by the steps she goes through. DeJonge says, "It takes about a year and a half of steady practice to learn to carve the elaborate designs. You have only 6 to 8 minutes to carve before the wax sets up too hard." At Main Street District in downtown Lake Havasu City, we visit an antique store where a turn-of-the-century carousel horse catches Kerrick's eye. I like an ornate hand-painted wooden sled from the 1880s. I could spend hours here discovering treasures.

We take a breather at the Captain's Table at The Nautical Inn Resort and decide on their appetizer specialties, including crab-stuffed mushrooms, along with the shrimp cocktail and some steamed clams. Then we take a ride on the 120-passen-ger double-decked Dixie Belle, a red and white replica of an Old South sternwheeler. The boat begins its tour near Lon-don Bridge then slowly circles The Island while the narrator regales us with stories about the city. She notes that the Lon-don Bridge is registered as "the world's largest antique." Larry Sisk of WACKO, West-ern Arizona Canoe and Kayak Outfitters, suggests another way to explore Lake Havasu and the Colorado River. While the trip by road covers 35 miles, his take a ride on the 120-passen-ger double-decked Dixie Belle, a red and white replica of an Old South sternwheeler. The boat begins its tour near London Bridge then slowly circles The Island while the narrator regales us with stories about the city. She notes that the Lon-don Bridge is registered as "the world's largest antique." Larry Sisk of WACKO, West-ern Arizona Canoe and Kayak Outfitters, suggests another way to explore Lake Havasu and the Colorado River. While the trip by road covers 35 miles, his kayaks and canoes follow the current for a mere 13-mile float through Havasu National Wild-life Refuge. We pass Blank-enship Bend, a large sandbar popular with the spring break crowd for picnics and sand cas-tle-building, and explore Butch's Cove, a small quiet inlet tucked under spectacular rock walls. An army of waterbirds, includ-ing ducks and geese, call the refuge home. Farther north, the lake nar-rows and winds through To-pock Gorge, one of the last stretches of the Lower Colorado River unchanged by man. Here the Devil's Elbow features wildly eroded red and black meta-morphic rock. Sisk says he reg-ularly spots bighorn sheep and feral burros along the rugged shoreline, and often hears the slap of beavers' tails. During the full moon, he takes kayak-ers on a nighttime trip from Topock Gorge down to Lake Havasu City. Back in town, we're hungry, so we hit Shugrue's Restaurant & Lounge in the Island Mall. Its glass-enclosed dining room offers the best view of Lon-don Bridge. We watch as the soft light of sunset fades and the bridge lights come on. I choose the broiled Ahi tuna served with Greek scallops and shrimp; Kerrick tackles sword-fish and margarita shrimp. As if that isn't indulgence enough, we top off the dinner with three-nut rum cake and mint cheesecake delicious enough to be illegal. We walk back across Lon-don Bridge to the Renaissance Festival, a major attraction of London Bridge Days. Joe Bethancourt from Phoenix en-tertains with songs from the Renaissance, accompanying himself on the lute, recorder and harp, just some of the 65 unusual instruments he plays. Members of The Society of Creative Anachronism, dressed in period costumes, cheer with

loud huzzahs when bagpipers announce the “Quit Rent Ceremony,” during which city officials symbolically hand over ownership of the bridge from England to the tenants of the English Village for another year. On Saturday, Kerrick and I choose our spot on McCulloch Boulevard to greet the annual London Bridge Days Grande Parade. The Marine Corps Band from Twenty-Nine Palms, California, marches sharply by and I hum along with the Marines' Hymn. Doleful bagpipe music mingles with that of high school marching bands, adding to the gleeful sounds of children, as floats, drill teams, equestrian clubs and color guards vie to win “Best-of-Show” in their categories. My sense of time requires major adjustment following (ABOVE LEFT) The London Bridge Square Dance Jamboree. (ABOVE) A speeding Crackerbox racing boat on Lake Havasu. (LEFT) A lord and lady at the Renaissance Festival.

In the parade, when we make our way back to English Village to participate in the Renaissance Festival once again. Costumed crowds mingle freely with the modern-day blue jeans set, and we meet Cheryl Van Englelen and Robert Pennington Fowler from Lake San Marcos, California. They're wearing elegant green velvet outfits Van Englelen designed. “I love attending these fairs. It's like living in the past, and very romantic,” Van Englelen says. Vendors sell dangling jewelry, polished knives and strangelooking shoes under brightly colored tents. One of the Oasis Belly Dancers saunters by in gauzy costume, and I pet her boa constrictor, Ssssydney, who slithers up my arm in a friendly fashion. The Merry Misfits of Doom and Sound and Fury perform hilarious skits, and we cheer and gasp as the Imperial Knights charge each other on horseback during a joust. It takes yet another adjustment to go from the Renaissance Festival to the sounds of countrywestern music, and the sight of colorful skirts twirling at the London Bridge Square Dance Jamboree. Dancers from across the country come to do-si-do under the famous bridge. Kerrick and I wind up our trip with dinner at Angelina's Italian Kitchen. After trying both the stuffed shrimp and a chicken dish, we understand why this is one of the locals' favorite Italian restaurants. A visitor-friendly town, Lake Havasu City provides a “jolly good time.” I'll return next year for London Bridge Days and another touch of merry olde England in the Arizona desert.

WHEN YOU GO

Location: 200 miles northwest of Phoenix.

Weather: October average temperatures: high, 95°; low, 63°.

Phone Numbers: All are area 520 unless noted; 800 numbers are toll-free.

Lodging: Ramada Lake Havasu, 855-1111 or (800) 528-5169; London Bridge Resort, (800) 6247939; The Nautical Inn Resort, (800) 892-2141; Islander RV Resort, 680-2000.

Restaurants: Angelina's Italian Kitchen, 680-3868; Bridgewater Cafe, 855-0888, ext. 4400; Captain's Table at The Nautical Inn Resort, 855-2141, ext. 410; London Arms Pub & Restaurant, 855-8782; Shugrue's Restaurant & Lounge, 453-1400.

Attractions: Bridgewater Links, 855-4777; Dixie Belle sternwheeler replica, 453-6776; The Island Golf Course, 855-5585; Lake Havasu State Park, 855-2784; London Bridge Candles, 855-9097; Western Arizona Canoe & Kayak Outfitter, 855-6414, www.azwacko.com.

Events: London Bridge Square Dance Jamboree, October 20-21; Big Band Night, October 26; Marine Corps Band Concert, October 27; 28th Annual London Bridge Days Grande Parade, October 28; London Bridge Days Renaissance Festival, October 28-29. Additional Information: Lake Havasu Tourism Bureau, 453-3444 ог (800) 242-8278; Lake Havasu Chamber of Commerce, 855-4115; www.arizonaguide.com/lakehavasu.