Nearly perfect weather brought thousands of people to the twin lakes area during the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
Osage Bluff Marina manager Jason Reynolds reported a great weekend.
“We have a great new staff this season and we were very busy,” said Reynolds. “The weather drove some people off the water on Saturday evening, but the rest of the time we were packed with visitors.”
Reynolds plans to have the annual Fourth of July celebration on July 5 in memory of his mother Emily who died this past year.
“I had to hire five people to replace Mom," he said. "She had been here since the very beginning and she is missed.”
Reynolds also reported that the Osage Bluff staff opened the restaurant during the three-day weekend and hope to add to the menu as the season progresses.
Beth Drake at Beth’s Osage Mini-Mart reported a great weekend as well, despite the bad weather on Saturday evening.
“We had a lot of traffic this weekend and I predict a very busy summer,” said Drake.
Osage Mini Mart sold 32,000 minnows over the Memorial Day weekend.
Beyonder Marine at Sterett Creek was packed with visitors over the three-day weekend according to employee Kay Boyer.
“All our boat slips, motel rooms and campground sites were full,” said Boyer. “In fact, we only have a few of the seasonal slips left to rent and we are quickly filling up for the Fourth of July.”
The Drunken Minnow was busy all weekend with the staff working hard to keep up with food and drink orders.
Beyonder plans to open Chompy’s Restaurant by mid-June. Chompy’s will be located in the old Li'l Papa Joe’s building and will offer breakfast and lunch. Special menu items will include biscuits and gravy, waffles, pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and breakfast burritos.
Other special areas at Beyonder include a pickleball court, basketball, sand volleyball courts, a gaga ball pit and a playground.
There is also additional golf cart parking as well as more golf cat rentals, both 4 seaters and 6 seaters.
“We were completely packed this weekend and we expect the same every weekend this summer,” said Boyer. “We have some amazing people working for us this summer and we want everyone to have a great time.”
Shannon Schmidt, manager at Long Shoal Marina, also reported a great weekend.
“All of our boats and jet skis were rented out all weekend,” said Schmidt. “As soon as one came back, it was rented out again.”
A new item this year for Long Shoal is Hunt’s Brothers Pizza. According to Schmidt the pizza was a big hit.
“Our restaurant is serving a full breakfast buffet as well as lunch and a special dinner buffet on weekends,” said Schmidt.
Long Shoal has four new pontoons to rent as well as their other boats.
Long Shoal is open seven days a week from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Friday and Saturday and 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Sunday through Thursday.
Truman State Park Marina also reported a wonderful weekend.
According to marina staff, all the rentals were out the whole weekend and that all slips were full.
Truman State Park Marina is open from 6:00 AM until 6:30 PM seven days a week until October 31.
In downtown Warsaw, Mary Langewisch was extremely busy at Statuary Gardens.
“This was one of the biggest crowds we have had over the Memorial Day weekend,” said Langewisch.
In addition to her store on Main Street, Langewisch also has a garden store at 34479 Highway M, near Edwards.
“We have plants, garden décor, gardening supplies, wind chimes, gardening gloves and all kinds of outdoor decorations,” said Langewisch. “I wasn’t sure I could keep both businesses going but my customers encouraged me to continue with both so I am trying.”
According to the Transportation Safety Administration, around 7.7 million people traveled by air over the weekend with more than 43.8 million traveling by car.
NewsNation reported that due to the bad weather, “roughly thirty flights were delayed as of late Monday morning, but only one appeared to have been canceled, reflecting some delays facing travelers across the nation”.
The TSA reported a staggering 2.9 million travelers for Friday, a single-day record. Over the three days that Memorial Day weekend makes up, there were over half a million more passengers taking to the air than the same period of time in 2023.
Further figures published show that there were 43.8 million families on the road over the holiday weekend, which comes extraordinarily close to the 44 million record set back in 2005.
