I live in the Chicago area, some friends and I are planning on taking our boats for a weekend trip to LOTA. We have checked the calendar and came across Aquapalooza weekend, it looks fun but is it the wrong weekend to go? Is it a complete mess and amateur hour? We want to party and do some party cove stuff but we also want to do some real boating. I know its a big lake and the Aquapalooza partying confined to one area. What part of the lake or city should we look for a condo? We are looking to rent a condo or house on the lake with dock, any suggestions or words of wisdom? Do we need to buy stickers or anything since we are from out of state? Thanks in advance.

I've been down there for the last 2 years over the Aquapalooza weekend. It gets pretty crazy around the event on that Saturday by Dog Days, but other than that, I haven't noticed any real difference elsewhere on the lake in general from other weekends I've been there. I'm heading down again this year, same Aquapalooza weekend. I've only stayed in the Osage Beach area and really haven't felt the need to look anywhere else in the 4 years I've been heading down there. Good access to a number of restaurants and bars, state park, etc. No need to buy stickers that I'm aware of.

No special stickers needed for boating at LOTO.
There is no party left in Party Cove. Hardly anybody goes there anymore.
There are no more houseboat rentals at LOTO. Might be 30-40 boats at PC on a Saturday.

Never done Aquapolooza weekend at LOTO, but most people I have talked to say its a cluster and it turns into even a bigger mess if the wind picks up or shifts.

No more parties in the party cove??? What happened, cops crack down? I have always thought that LOTA is a party lake, that's one of the reason's my buddies and I wanted to hit it up this summer. Thanks for your insight.

We had a great run of the party cove over the years, from the 6MM back in the 80s......to the 14MM in the 90s..............and finally in the late 90s ended up back in the GG Arm in the State Park where it was safe, but our wonderful WP with it's constant pressure but the kabosh on it 6-7 years ago, there's still boats back there, but nothing like in it's hey day, now there's a bunch of small get togethers (parties) all over the Lake.

First Shooters down the tubes, then the party cove, bummer.

Over 25 years aint' bad, you just have to ask around where the raft up for the weekend or day is, still tons of fun to be had at LOTO.

Two places where's there normally a lot of boats rafted up, Evergreen Cove and Link Creek, have fun.


FYI, about Palozza, if you get stuck next to a big cruiser there's a really good chance you won't hear anything of the entertainment from the stage, a few of these turds come to anchor and turn their stereos up so loud you can't hear chit, haven't figured out why you would want to come to this event that has music just to drown it out.

I always thought the economy going to chit was a bigger factor than the water patrol. For years it was packed with the water patrol there. When gas got to $4-5 a gallon everyone started to find smaller local coves to hang out at. Nice part about those cove outs is the group is more consistent and lots of folks know each other. Plus many long term party cove goers just got tired of it. Plus as you said, the houseboats are gone. I know our cove at the 4MM is packed on weekends, especially the event weekends.

I know the WP was a constant presence at the mouth of party cove, especially mid to late afternoon. But I also have to admit there were a LOT of boat drivers leaving the cove over the years that had no business behind the wheel of anything with an engine.

The economy
Instant posting of pics to the internet
Fuel Prices
No more rental houseboats
Water Patrol

There is still plenty of partying going at LOTO. Just not as much nekedness in one place like PC.

Partlower, a lot of your questions were answered here, but another site is midwestboatparty. com. Its a great site to belong to. There are a ton of good folks over there that can answer any question in great detail , if you have not been there yet. Anything that happens at the lake will be posted on that site.
Another week to consider is the Support our Troops Poker Run week. Its a great event at the end of June.

By the way, Im two towns to the west of you.

What Griff said, the WP and fuel were two of the biggies, but a thing that finished it for us was the long "no wake" under the GG Bridge, on a hot Summer day, it was a bear to idle all that way just to get hassled by the WP, much better safer places to go and have fun.

I agree. It was a PITA. I always thought party cove was best when it was at the 14 MM before Porta Cima got formed. I remember times when it was so packed you couldn't leave until some of the boats cleared out.