The gloriously ambitious Magic Dragon Trail System is happening, and it could expand the Lake’s tourism profile in a groundbreaking way. Photo courtesy of Magic Dragon Trails by Kate Robbins & Nathan Bechtold It’s an enormously ambitious undertaking, and one that could play a major role in the Lake of the Ozarks’ future as a year-round destination for visitors: the Magic Dragon Trail. The planned world-class multi-surface trail system of both hard– and soft–surface trails will be making major strides in 2024, with the construction of a seven-mile trail network in the area of Three Season ..read more

The race to build a casino at the Lake resembles a well-known card game. Photo courtesy of Lake Shots Photography by Nathan Bechtold The Deal In 2020, a group of local investors called Osage River Gaming pulled up to the table, announcing their intent to bring a casino the region. And then in October of 2021, the Osage Nation joined the game. Neither group has found the process as facile as they may have expected. It turns out, getting a casino at Lake of the Ozarks is not unlike a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. In Missouri. The Bet Osage River Gaming In 2020, the group worked with then-State Rep ..read more

This new franchise is bringing national brand power to Lake of the Ozarks vacation rentals “Local heart, national reach.” That’s the tagline for Grand Welcome Lake of the Ozarks, a new vacation rental franchise making a major splash in the Lake area’s vacation rental scene. Franchise owners Zach and Katie Vavak started the business after investing in several vacation-rental properties and then discovering they couldn’t find a vacation-rental management company that met the criteria they were looking for. “So we said, ‘Well, what if we do it?’” Katie recalled. They sold their properties a ..read more

Photo courtesy of Vacasa Lake of the Ozarks is a top tourist destination in the U.S. with all the miles of shoreline, tasty restaurants, and amazing real estate. And that’s why Vacasa Missouri (“Vacasa”) entered the vacation market here in the spring of 2022. Vacasa is a premier full-service vacation rental management company in North America. A vast number of homes are used for short-term rentals at the Lake, but managing it all can be overwhelming for homeowners. Vacasa brings the best of both worlds with local managers and a world-class company’s revenue-generating expertise. “And we do ..read more

Photo courtesy of Aviara A luxury day boat for those who want to break away. by Sue Rodman, republished with permission from MarineMax Lifestyles Magazine They say every good party ends up in the kitchen. On the water, that kitchen is the exquisitely designed Aviara luxury day boat built in Merritt Island, FL. And just like any high-end space, everything on the Aviara has been thoughtfully curated with exhaustive attention to detail. Brought to life by MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. the vessel is sold exclusively by MarineMax. “We built a brand that speaks to the boater who wants to be in ..read more

Photo courtesy of Sydney Liesmann Champion wakeboarder Kirby Liesmann, of Kirby’s School of Wake, talks about his Stateamind/Iguana partnership, and reveals why he loves Malibu and Axis boats. by Nathan Bechtold When three-time wakeboarding world champion Kirby Liesmann started wakeboarding competitively at regional events around age 10, he noticed a couple of things: one, Stateamind Watersports was there; and two, they always provided a Malibu boat. “I always seemed to perform my best whenever they used a Malibu boat to pull the contest,” he said. “Or if I had a friend that had a Malibu boa ..read more

This ingenius device is taking docks by storm. Why? Because it holds everything. By Annika Bringman Keeping a dock tidy can be tough. From fishing poles to life jackets to kayaks, figuring out where to store boating accessories is a perennial challenge. It’s tempting to hang hooks from the dock post, but dock owners are (understandably) reluctant to drill holes in the posts for brackets. Boaters with a community dock or marina slip typically aren’t allowed to drill into the dock structure anyway. DockBloxx solves these problems, making it easy to store almost anything on the dock. DockB ..read more

Summer’s always over too fast. So here’s some help for planning your Lake of the Ozarks days, every month of the year. JANUARY Eagle Days—Jan.6, Osage National,The Encore, Willmore Lodge, & other locations Photo credit of Lake Shots Photography FEBRUARY Overland Park Boat Show—Feb.15–18,Overland Park Convention Center Lake (Mardi Gras) Pub Crawl—Feb.17,Osage Beach & Lake Ozark Polar Bear Plunge—Feb.24, Public Beach #2 (Grand Glaize Beach) MARCH St. Charles Boat Show—Feb.29–March 3,St. Charles Convention Center St. Pat’s Boat Parade & Pub Crawl—March 16, Lake West Chamber.com Pho ..read more

After two or three years of talking about it, my cousin Trevor and I finally got our families together for an afternoon of boating. On a cloudy Saturday in September, we climbed aboard his wake boat—me, my oldest three kids, Trevor, his son, and his dad David (the wives stayed home)—and spent the next few hours in a cove at the 28 Mile Marker.  My daughter found knee boarding to be her speed, and my 12-year-old son discovered wake surfing. As Trevor—a competitive water skier in his youth—deftly pulled the boat around, time and again, to help my son find his footing, we talked. He works ..read more

Postcard of the original 1965 cast and the building by Nathan Bechtold Long ago—when The Clown was the best waterfront restaurant around, the Ozark Opry was roaring, and Tan Tar A had a ski resort—at Lake of the Ozarks had a mermaid show. The Lake’s tourism “golden age” produced plenty of zany attractions, but Aquarama stands as one of the quirkiest, most fascinating pieces of the era. Panel from the 1965 brochure, courtesy of Vintage Roadside Where the Osage Commons shopping center (home of Hobby Lobby) now stands in Osage Beach, Aquarama once promised visitors a glimpse of “real” mermaid ..read more