A week from today, the docks and parking areas at Performance Boat Center will begin filling ahead of the Osage Beach, Mo.-headquartered dealership’s Spring Fun Run on the Lake of the Ozarks. The annual event kicks off the boating season at the popular waterway.
Performance Boat Center will follow it up with Outboard Fun Run and Power By Performance Invitational happenings leading up to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in late August. Not only is Performance Boat Center a longtime presenting sponsor for the event, co-owners Brett Manire and Mark Waddington, as well as their entire team, host the massive traditional Shootout Welcome Party at their location.
Another multi-brand dealership and event producer of note at the lake, Big Thunder Marine will produce three major events—the Cigarette Owners Rendezvous, the Support Our Troops Poker Run and the Baja, Fountain and Donzi Fun Run—again this year before the Shootout takes center stage at the end of the summer
Combine the on-water events produced by both dealerships and you’re looking at six recreational-boating happenings produced by two dealerships on the waterway before Shootout week begins. And that doesn’t includes the XINSURNANCE Offshore race produced by the Professional Racing Association, which was formed in late 2024 by a Lake of the Ozarks-based organizing group.
So all in, there are seven organized events on the same waterway between the second weekend in May and third week in August. Of course, there will countless solo-boat and small-fleet outings among friends at the lake this summer. And both Performance Boat Center and Big Thunder Marine are planning brand-specific affairs this season.
In short, the Lake of the Ozarks is to summer boating what Southwest Florida is to winter boating—the place to be. Take nothing away from blockbuster events such as the Boyne Thunder and 1,000 Islands Charity poker runs to the north. No single event at the Lake of the Ozarks can match them, much less top them. They’re spectacular.
But if you had to park yourself at one waterway this season and still wanted to enjoy a heavy event rotation, the Lake of the Ozarks would be it. And in just one week, the fun begins.—Matt Trulio