Labor Day often marks the end of the summer season at Buckeye Lake and many lake visitors are calling this a comeback year for a region plagued with issues.
The summer of 2017 was a better year for both boaters and business owners. Water levels at Buckeye Lake were suitable for boating which meant more water sport enthusiasts hit the waves.
“I grew up here and I love this lake,” Garry Burgett said.
Burgett says this is the first summer in several years he’s driven from northeast Ohio to enjoy the lake.
“Because the water went low, a lot of people went to Alum Creek but this is the first year we've been back every weekend.”
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources kept lake levels low for several summers to preserve lake infrastructure and while work on a nearby dam was underway.
The levels were so low Jeff Craiglow, General Manager at Poppa Boo’s says he was able to walk across the lake floor to a nearby dock.
“Until this year people couldn’t get their boats out of storage,” Craiglow said.
The influx of visitors has allowed the lakeside restaurant to expand. The restaurant can now serve as many as 53 more patrons with their new dockside service and a soft serve ice cream parlor has also opened on the property.
Craiglow says neither would have been successful in past summers when the water was low.
“Next summer we anticipate the water levels to be about the same,” Craiglow said. “They aren’t expected to have the project done until the fall of 2018 so we are expecting things to be about normal and we are making plans for another expansion.”