What is the Colorado River Fall Festival (crff.org)?

The Colorado River Fall Festival is an annual York Rite Masonic festival held in Laughlin, Nevada, described on its site as "the Southwest's premier York Rite festival." It is not a lodge or a local body — it is a gathering where York Rite Masons from Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah confer the Degrees and Orders on candidates as a courtesy to those candidates' home Bodies. The 2026 festival runs October 18–20 at the Riverside Hotel in Laughlin, and registration is open.

Who the festival is for

The site organizes its information around three audiences:

• Candidates — those receiving the standard York Rite degrees and orders over the festival weekend. Sojourning candidates are welcome, and there is a dedicated candidate information page.
• The ladies — a parallel Ladies' program runs alongside the festival, including a hospitality room, a luncheon, and the Royal Arch Widow's Degree.
• Everyone — guest activities at the Riverside and nearby, such as Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon West, and the London Bridge in Lake Havasu.

If you are sponsoring a candidate for the York Rite, the site directs you to start a courtesy-work request. If you want to help run the event rather than attend as a candidate or guest, there is a volunteer option.

What actually happens over the weekend

The conferrals are the centerpiece, held Monday and Tuesday. Around them, the schedule includes:

The festival's own framing is that attending the conferral of the Degrees is the "Masonic Motivation," but the event is really about camaraderie, fraternalism, education, and cooperation. The ritual work is presented as a draw in itself — the site notes the festival has been used by smaller Bodies as a model for their work.

Scale and history

The festival describes itself as having over a quarter-century of history, with the Degrees and Orders conferred on well over 1,000 candidates from twelve jurisdictions across North and South America. The 2026 edition is billed as the 35th anniversary.

Dates and venue

• 2026: October 18, 19, 20
• 2027: October 24, 25, 26
• Venue: Don Laughlin's Riverside Casino, Laughlin, Nevada

The site presents the Riverside location as an opportunity to extend the trip into a vacation, and notes that a guest can find shopping, movies, reasonably priced meals, and Nevada-style entertainment nearby.

How to register or get involved

Registration for the 2026 festival is open. The site offers these entry points:

• Register for the 2026 Festival
• Volunteer to help run the festival
• Start a courtesy-work request if you are sponsoring a candidate
• Register a guest for the Ladies' Luncheon on Tuesday at 11:30 AM

Questions go to the committee by email at [email protected].