The Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival returns September 2 to 6, 2026, and its lineup reads like a playlist from your childhood save files. Simple Plan and Smash Mouth headline the five-day event along the Ottawa River, and one of those bands carries a genuine video game soundtrack credit that most fans have never heard. Add an interactive balloon-flight simulator on site, and the festival quietly earns a spot on a gamer's Labour Day weekend shortlist.
Here is what gaming and pop culture fans need to know before tickets sell through.
The Headliners, and Why Gamers Care
Simple Plan plays the Grande Scène Loto-Québec on Friday, September 4 at 9:30 p.m. The Montreal pop-punk band has one confirmed video game soundtrack appearance: “Last One Standing,” from their 2008 self-titled album, appears on the soundtrack of NASCAR The Game: Inside Line, the 2012 racing title from Eutechnyx. The track is listed on the game's official soundtrack database entry alongside Halestorm, Staind, and Switchfoot.
That is the only verified Simple Plan song in a video game soundtrack, per the game's soundtrack listing. If you remember hearing them elsewhere, you are probably thinking of television. The band performed the theme song for What's New, Scooby-Doo?, appeared as themselves in the episode “Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman,” and contributed songs to chase scenes across the series run.
Smash Mouth takes the same stage Thursday, September 3 at 9:30 p.m. Here is where honesty matters, because a popular gaming memory is wrong. “All Star” was never in Crazy Taxi. That game's soundtrack belongs to The Offspring and Bad Religion. What “All Star” does have is something arguably bigger: the song anchored DreamWorks' Shrek in 2001, then exploded into one of the internet's most durable memes during the 2010s. The song's documented meme revival) spans hundreds of videos, and streaming data ranked it among the most-streamed rock songs in the United States from 2017 through 2021. Much of that second life happened in gaming spaces, from GMod animations to YouTube Poop remixes, so hearing it live lands differently when you grew up on the memes.
The rest of the music bill leans Canadian and family friendly. Half Moon Run headlines Saturday, September 5. Matt Lang opens the festival Wednesday, and Koriass closes things out Sunday night alongside Fredz. Zachary Richard, The Barr Brothers, Lynda Lemay, and Émile Bilodeau fill out the multi-stage schedule.
ORIZON: The Simulator You Can Actually Play
The festival tours its own interactive attraction called ORIZON, a balloon-flight simulation built into a converted trailer. Four nacelles face a large screen while players pilot a hot air balloon through a narrated time-travel story, cooperating as a team to reach the destination. Educational stations outside cover the science, weather, and technology behind real ballooning.
The experience runs bilingually in French and English, and it is wheelchair accessible. It targets school groups and families during the year, but festival attendees can try it on site. For anyone who has flown a balloon segment in a Zelda game and wondered what the real thing demands, this is the closest low-stakes version available in the region.
Balloons, Fireworks, and the Rest of the Program
Beyond the concerts, the festival runs daily balloon ascensions weather permitting, evening illumination events where inflated balloons glow against the dark, and fireworks. The Beauce Carnaval midway brings rides to the site, with one scheduling note worth flagging: the midway is closed Wednesday, September 2, opening Thursday through Sunday.
Tickets and Practical Details
The festival sells a five-day Passport covering all concerts, ascensions, and activities, plus single-day passes for each day of the event. Children ages 2 to 10 enter free, though parents must still reserve a zero-dollar ticket for them. Three VIP upgrades sit on top of general admission: the Avant-scène Rogers standing zone in front of the main stage, the seated Terrasse VIP KO-LAB, and the Loges VIP Tanguay private boxes hosting 12 guests with catering. Ride passes for the midway are sold separately from admission.
Exact prices appear in the festival's online ticketing portal rather than on the website, so check there for current rates. The festival site sits in downtown Gatineau, Quebec, a short drive from Ottawa, with camping available for out-of-town visitors.
Should You Go?
If you are within driving distance of the National Capital Region and either band means something to you, the Friday and Thursday night shows pair well with an afternoon of balloons and the midway. The single-day pass structure makes it easy to cherry-pick one night instead of committing to five days. Just book soon, because VIP quantities are limited according to the festival, and the long weekend fills hotel rooms across the river fast.
