Overview The Cathedral City International Hot Air Balloon Festival is a three-day weekend in the Coachella Valley that begins with balloons lifting off at 6 a.m. and ends two mornings later the same way, with balloon glows, a drone light show and headline concerts in between. It started in 2015; the 2025 festival was the 11th, and Agua Caliente Casinos presented it for the fifth straight year. The festival lists a place among U.S. News and World Report's top 14 hot air balloon festivals and a Palm Award for visitor experience. The event production company Soundskilz runs it. On site The weekend moves between three sites. In the 2026 plan, Friday opened with a sunrise launch at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage, and Sunday's launch lifted off from the driving range at The Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa, followed by a launch breakfast. The festival grounds are the Cathedral City Festival Lawn and Amphitheater, where the evenings run tethered balloon rides, gourmet food trucks, an artisan market, carnival rides and games, art installations and educational sessions led by balloon pilots, with a mini glow and a drone show on Friday and the main Balloon Glow on Saturday night after the headliner. A separately ticketed Grooves at the Westin concert pairs a balloon glow with its own concert. Audience It is a family weekend: carnival rides, kids' activities and tether rides share the lawn with the main stage, and the dawn launches take place on the grounds of two Rancho Mirage resorts rather than at the festival site. Talent and Influencers For 2026 the festival booked Robin Thicke to headline the Saturday main stage, with DJ A-One and the No Doubt tribute Just A Girl ahead of him, and a U2 tribute on Friday. The Grooves at the Westin bill had DW3 and BPM, the trio of Brian Bromberg, Paul Brown and Michael Paulo, with Gregg Karukas as special guest. Track record In 2025 heavy rain on Friday forced some events to be postponed or canceled, and the production team moved performances so the rest of the weekend went ahead. The City of Rancho Mirage signed on as an official sponsor that year, and the festival spread across four locations. Brand presence Agua Caliente Casinos took the presenting position in 2021 and held it through 2025, and the two Rancho Mirage resorts host the launches. Partnerships are built as custom packages. Soundskilz handles sponsor communications and carries partner branding across the website, social channels and on-site signage.