Some historically memorable excursion boats have cruised the Lake of the Ozarks in the past, entertaining folks with live music, dinner, drinks, and great views of the area. Three of them that wowed guests include the Larry Don, the Tom Sawyer, and the Commander.
Paul Schaeffer worked at the docks during high school and college, and later during his first two years teaching school. He left for the Navy in 1958 but continued working at the Lake when he was home on leave. His daughters Melodi and Misti worked on the boats during their teen years.
“I worked on the boat behind the snack bar, then sold tickets into my early 20’s,” Misti said. “Melodi helped wipe tables and chairs where people sat and ate. We believe the boats were a great way for visitors to get out on the Lake, as most people back then didn’t have boats of their own.”
The Larry Don
The Larry Don was a government surplus barge remodeled to use as an excursion boat, featuring a full deck and a half-uncovered deck on top. The pleasure craft underwent extensive modifications in the late 1960’s and boasted a cover over the second deck, complete with sliding glass windows to keep inclement weather at bay. A new, third sun deck was added to increase capacity at the same time.
The top observation deck had a capacity for 40 people with unobstructed 360-degree views of the Lake. The first deck was handicapped accessible and housed the restrooms. It’s on this deck the dinner buffet and main bar were located.
In 1945, Lawrence Frye, Postmaster of Lake Ozark, began operating Casino Pier which he purchased from Union Electric (now Ameren). In the late 1940’s, Frye commissioned the Larry Don to be built to use as an excursion boat, and kept it docked at Casino Pier.
The vessel was the longest serving passenger boat in the Lake region. According to local legend, it was built of parts from scrapped World War II LCTs and LSTs (Landing Craft, Infantry and Landing Ship, Tank). It was quartered in St. Louis and trucked the 150 miles to the Lake. The United States Coast Guard approved the vessel to carry 240 people, including crew members.
“The Larry Don was named after Lawrence and his wife Jessie’s son,” noted Tom Pilkington, author of The White House Hotel, A Fictional Biography. “Larry was like a brother to me. He passed in the early 2000’s at the age of 63. We grew up so close.” In the 1960’s, Captain was added to the name.
The memorable dance cruises on the Larry Don started in the 1950’s with a juke box; bands started to perform in the 1960’s. The dinner cruise included a 90-minute tour of the Lake along with an all you can eat buffet. There was also a cash bar.
Buffet choices included smoked baby back ribs, smoked chicken, baked beans, potato and macaroni salad, garlic bread, vegetable and dessert.
The boat was a popular location for couples to tie the knot. Back in the day, if you were wed on the Larry Don you received a lucky horseshoe inscribed with the vessels name and the words “Good Luck.”
The Larry Don endured ice damage to its hall in 2014 and partially sank. It was taken to a nearby ramp, pulled out, and scrapped.
The Tom Sawyer
The paddleboat was undoubtedly one of the most nostalgic tour boats to cruise the Lake. It was assembled from parts made by the Dubuque Shipyards in Iowa. The parts for the vessel were shipped by rail to the Lake and assembled on the North Shore. It was known for its excursions, parties, and its connection to the “Port of Tom Sawyer” barge, a historic landmark used during the construction of the Bagnell dammam.
Cruises on the Tom Sawyer began in 1965, and dance cruises were added in the 1970’s to compete with the Larry Don. Back in the day, a band played during the vessels dance cruise. The Huckleberry Restaurant, located on the mid deck, served concession type food. Buffet lunches were featured on the daytime excursions for a reasonable price.
The 90-minute cruises provided a scenic delight on the Lake. As it paddled from the main channel to interesting coves, passengers were given facts and trivia along the way with attention to local points of interest.
The Tom Sawyer provided a turn-of-the-century style cruise for its passengers. It represented the days when grand old riverboats carried those seeking adventure from town to town along rivers.
The Tom Sawyer eventually stopped operations. It was eventually purchased and put up for auction. After some significant hull repairs, it was towed and placed at the very back of the Gravois Arm of the Lake. The future of the Tom Sawyer is unknown.
The Commander
The Commander was built by the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Co. for the Casino Pier operation on the Lake of the Ozarks. It was a sleek, steel-hulled 62-foot long vessel with a beam of nearly 15 feet and a draft of over six feet. The Commander weight 23 tons, held well over 100 passengers, and featured two restrooms onboard. It was quite a sight as she cut through the water on daily excursions from the dam.
The vessel was transported to the Lake through the Mississippi, Missouri, and Osage River. The boat was taken out of the water near Jefferson City and brought to the Lake by road.
The vessel was brought in to Loc-Wood as speed boats were phased out, public demand was for the larger boats. Stan Palmer owned the Commander, and in 1964 he purchased Casino Pier. It was the closest commercial dock to the dam, so he moved the Commander there from its previous docking location at Loc-Wood Dock.
Memories from The Larry Don Band Cruises:
Lorinda Grauel spent her teenage years, from 1977 to 1983, enjoying the camaraderie on the Larry Don Band Cruises. Currently a full-time Camdenton resident for the past 12 years, Grauel had been coming to the Lake every weekend since 1976. Often, the family would spend weeks at a time enjoying all the Lake had to offer during the summer months.
“It was just awesome,” Grauel recalled. “Everybody came to dance and listen to the band, and everyone danced. Both levels of the boat were packed with people.”
Grauel recalls a number of good bands that played, but The Clique stands out in her mind as a favorite. In fact, she remains in contact with some of the band members today.
“The Clique was the ultimate band and they had a huge following,” she explained. “When they played you’d see a lot of the same people who came out.”
The Larry Don had two dance cruises scheduled each night: a 10 p.m. cruise and a 12:30 a.m. cruise. Each featured a live band, and boats would often cruise along close to the vessel just to hear the music.
“I remember the beautiful nights, the lights on the boat, and the breeze,” Grauel said. “You could go on the top deck, and you were in the middle of the Lake on this moving boat. You could bring on your own liquor, put your name on it, and they’d keep it cold for you.”
Although the bands and dancing were a big draw, Grauel had a third reason for jumping on board. “My best friend and I were so boy crazy, and there were so many cute boys on the boat.”
A popular band that played on the Larry Don was Pacific Thirst, and John Beard was their guitar player and vocalist. At just 19 and 20 years of age, Beard and the band played every cruise, seven nights a week from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend until the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 1968 and 1969.
“We played all covers, anything that was on the charts during that time,” he explained. “This included James Brown and Wilson Picket. The second year we added horn players, and added bands like Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears to our playlist.”
During the early part of the week, the attendance on the Larry Don dance cruises was small. The weekends, Beard said, were when the boat really rocked. Several times, he recalled, the Larry Don would cruise alongside the Tom Sawyer, and the bands aboard each would take turns playing a song for all to hear.
“Around Tuesday the other band members and I had a phrase we would say,” Beard recalled. “It was: I need a Friday.” The dance parties only sold a limited number of tickets, and weekend he said both shows were always sold out.
Beard recalled the Super Session shows that took place for 22 summers at the Lake. “It was a gathering of musicians from bands that had played on the Larry Don, and others who were somehow connected,” he recalled. “The first summer we played at a band members house, but we soon outgrew that.” The annual event went moved to The American Legion below the dam, then into a rented circus tent, then Marina Bay, The Inn at Grand Glaize, and ultimately the last two years at The Regalia Hotel and Conference Center.
“We had band members come from Colorado, New York, Kansas, Hawaii, and more. We held it in the summer so those who traveled and stayed for days could bring their families.” Beard said. “We needed better equipment and such for the large crowds, so we started charging for the event. We didn’t want to make it about money, so we paid ourselves scarcely for travel and such, and donated the rest. We first gave to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, then decided to keep the donations local. We ended up raising a lot of money for Wonderland Camp.” The band eventually grew to 20 members who came and played.
“All of it was always a great time for me,” Beard said. “It was a growing up time.” An Eldon resident, Beard continues to play in a band today with some of the members from the Super Session band.
In the 1980’s, Don Schmidt played guitar for the band The Clique. On the big holiday weekends: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day, they were the featured band rocking the Larry Don dance cruises.
Back then, Schmidt explained, the whole music scene was different. Bands of this nature played in hopes of making it big with their original music. The band would intertwine originals with covers that seemed to accompany one another. The band had an album out, and many who came out to hear them owned it.
“A lot of people looked at us as a new wave band, but we were really a midwestern rock band,” he explained. Crowd favorites were music by U2, The Police, and The Cars. “We were as much REO Speedwagon as we were The Police,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt was just 19 years old when he and three other band members began entertaining the boat cruise crowd. “The atmosphere was extremely intense,” he recalled. “Kids would be lined up, wall to wall. They’d open the gate and the crowd would come pouring in. Everyone was so excited.”
The band was based out of Kansas City, and played gigs throughout the country including all the major college towns throughout the Midwest. The memories from the Larry Don, however, remain dominant.
“I made a lot of friends with kids who lived down at the Lake,” Schmidt said. “I still maintain friendships with a lot of them. I remember those cruises being sweaty and wet. We got to pretend we were rock stars, and the kids believed it.”
THE EARLIER DAYS:
The Catamaran was owned by Fish Haven Resort, once located just downstream from Bagnell Dam along the Osage River. It was operated by a licensed and coastguard approved pilot and took people on the river by day to fish and moonlight cruise by night.
The Tuscumbia excursion boat was a popular pleasure craft in the1930’s to the 1970’s period. Its home port was originally the Union Electric Excursion Boat Dock and then later Loc-Wood Dock.
The Osage Chief was an excursion boat of the 1950’s and 60’s at the Lake of the Ozarks. It was named to honor the Osage River, which Union Electric dammed to create the Lake. The boat sailed out of the Lakeside Casino Restaurant boat dock operated by Tex and Mae Bemis.
