LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — A bit of rough water didn’t dampen the spirits of Paradise Tropical Restaurant & Bar owner George Tucker, who says the Shootout boat race and events bring huge business to his restaurants—and the entire Lake area—at the end of the tourist season every year.

“It’s not a big deal,” Tucker told Shootout organizer “Captain” Ron Duggan, when Duggan showed up early on Sunday morning at Paradise after reports that the restaurant’s dock had been damaged by wakes after the Shootout. Tucker later explained to LakeExpo.com, “It was fixed within 12 hours… we’re back to 100 percent.”

Tucker said the value the Shootout brings to his business and the Lake area is immense. 

“Without the Shootout, this past weekend would have been a slow weekend,” he said, adding, “People come from all around.”

Paradise is bustling during the last weekend of August every year (when the race occurs), during a time when the end of the summer vacation season and the start of school would otherwise leave Lakefront businesses slow until Labor Day. After Labor Day, no other event brings recreational boating traffic comparable to the Shootout or another busy summer weekend on the water.

That boating traffic can create choppy waters on a relatively narrow bend of the Lake’s main channel, where Paradise sits. The Missouri State Highway Patrol extended the No-Wake zone further down the Lake this year than in previous years, hoping to mitigate the large wakes created by boaters leaving the event. Duggan says event organizers and the MSHP will be looking at whether the longer No-Wake zone helped, or if other actions need to be taken.

Tucker owns three restaurants at the Lake, and another of them—Tucker’s Shuckers, on the Bagnell Dam Strip—also sees a huge bump from the Shootout, at the Shootout Meet & Greet held the Wednesday before the event, on the Strip. “Tucker’s Shuckers is packed” every year at the Meet & Greet, he said. Other businesses along the Strip see a huge influx of revenue, too; Tucker speculates that may be the busiest day some of them have all year… and it’s on a weekday.

Tucker says he looks forward to Shootout week. “We need the Shootout,” he emphasized. In addition to the boon for his business, he pointed to the great benefit the Shootout brings to the entire Lake community, from grocery stores to gas stations. The event’s total economic impact may be immeasurable, but businesses on and off the water from Lake Ozark to Laurie see a noticeable uptick in traffic. The Lake’s largest and most famous event, the Shootout draws racers from across the country and even outside the U.S., and spectators come from far and wide to watch high-speed powerboats and enjoy the all-day party on the water.

The event raised $195,000 for more than two dozen local charities in 2016, and Duggan expects it will top that figure this year, possibly even approaching the $200,000 mark. Since it moved to Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill 10 years ago, the Shootout has raised just shy of $1 million for local charities and fire districts.

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