Scroll to the bottom of the City of Highland Haven's own homepage this summer and you'll find two notices sitting one on top of the other. The first says fireworks within city limits are prohibited at all times by ordinance, no exceptions, no seasonal waiver for the Fourth of July. The second says Camp Champions has released the dates of its upcoming fireworks displays, and residents should bring their chairs and blankets.
That juxtaposition offers a starting point for understanding Camp Champions' place in Highland Haven's summer.
Camp Champions Fireworks in Highland Haven
Highland Haven is small in the way that matters for city budgets: a City Hall building dedicated to former mayor Roscoe L. Holt, a Board of Alderman that meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Community Center behind it, and a total land area under half a square mile. Camp Champions, the co-ed summer camp founded in 1967 on the Lake LBJ shoreline, has been lighting up the sky above the water for close to six decades, and Highland Haven sits close enough to watch every show from its own parks.
The city's notices also make clear that, when there's a burn ban in effect, as there sometimes is during dry Hill Country summers, the camp's shows are subject to the same restriction everyone else lives under. Residents can watch the camp's displays from nearby parks.
The Camp Behind the Sky
Camp Champions has more history than its fireworks alone suggest. It was founded by Hondo Crouch, Darrell K Royal, Horton Nesrsta, and Pete Runnels, a group that included a University of Texas football coaching legend and a former Major League infielder, and it opened as an all-boys camp before adding girls just three summers later, in 1970. Steve and Susie Baskin bought the camp in 1995. When the camp marked its 50th summer in 2016, the anniversary celebration included what the camp itself has called its biggest firework shows yet, a detail that tells you these displays were never an afterthought tacked onto the regular session calendar. They're part of how the camp marks its own traditions, and Highland Haven happens to have a front-row seat.
That's worth sitting with for a second. A private overnight camp built for kids ages 5 to 18, running one to five week sessions through the summer, has become part of the town's summer calendar. Over time, checking the city website for the camp's schedule became as routine as checking it for a Board of Alderman agenda.
Where the Town Actually Goes to Watch
Highland Haven has six parks scattered along its stretch of Lake LBJ shoreline, and locals have sorted out which ones work for what without anyone posting a guide. Highland Haven City Park is the default gathering spot, with open lawns and picnic areas that put it at the center of most community events, not just fireworks nights. Dove Park is the boat crowd's answer, built around a deluxe launch capable of handling large lake craft, which means it's less a place to spread a blanket and more a staging ground for getting out on the water before the show starts. Robin Hood Park leans quieter, its shaded areas and grassy lawns better suited to families who want space without the boat traffic.
None of these parks were built with Camp Champions in mind. They predate the current fireworks arrangement by years. But they're what makes the arrangement work logistically. A town without public lakefront access would have no way to absorb a neighbor's fireworks show into its own summer. Highland Haven has the shoreline infrastructure to make watching someone else's tradition feel like participating in its own.
The Fireworks Ordinance and Camp Champions
Highland Haven bans fireworks within city limits. Separately, the city's drought notices describe local summer conditions. As of the city's most recent posting, drought status had eased to Stage 2 Moderate, with a voluntary 10 percent water use reduction in effect from late May through the end of 2026.
Camp Champions' displays give residents a summer fireworks event to watch, while the city's prohibition on fireworks within city limits remains in place.
What This Says About Living Here
Highland Haven's summer includes Camp Champions' fireworks, which residents can watch from city parks. The town's civic calendar also includes Board of Alderman meetings twice a month.
Together, those details offer a glimpse of Highland Haven's local rhythms beyond the fireworks themselves.
If you already live along this stretch of the lake, none of this is new information, just the version of it laid out end to end for once. And if you're weighing whether Highland Haven's slower, smaller rhythm fits how you want to spend your summers on Lake LBJ, our Highland Haven neighborhood guide goes deeper on what daily life here actually looks like beyond one summer night.
Lake LBJ Partners has spent more than two decades working this exact shoreline, from Highland Haven's quiet coves to the busier docks further down the lake. If you have questions about what it's like to actually live here, not just visit, contact us and we'll give you the straight answer.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
