While the economic situation remains dire in many states, Missouri continues to be fully open for business, unburdened by the restrictions being followed in other parts of the country. As a result, the boating scene in the Lake of the Ozarks is enjoying record-breaking activity and unprecedented sales, according to Poly Lift owners Mark and Mike Maasen.

The pair told Speedboat that their world-famous boat lift company is doing gangbusters business—the combined effects of the kickoff of the summer season, the state’s relaxed coronavirus restrictions, and the fact that so many residents from elsewhere in the USA are coming to the lake to experience an air of normalcy. “People want to come and play and do their thing,” he explains. “The minute they started talking about shutdowns and working from home, my phones started going crazy and it has not stopped.”

For the time being, Mark says that business at Poly Lift and surrounding companies on Lake of the Ozarks has been through the roof. “For example, I know that Surdyke Yamaha has absolutely no PWCs left—they’re the largest WaveRunner dealer in the area and probably the whole state, and they’re out. Zero. They’ve sold them all. A lot of boat dealers have empty lots, and if they get a used boat, it sells the next day.”

The brisk business at LOTO naturally extends to Poly Lift, which on Wednesday alone sold a total of 15 lifts. “We’re five weeks out right now,” Mark says. “That’s absolutely unheard of. We’re scheduling new lift sales for the first week of August. We’re up almost 50 percent where we were this time last year in units sold.”

Mark’s brother, Mike Maasen, agrees that the robust economy at the lake owes much to Missouri’s refusal to ban fun. “As a community, we’re welcoming people here, and that helps,” he says. “Of course, we understand the importance of being smart—we were very careful with our employees during the shutdown, and the community as a whole has been very blessed. But you want to live, and get out into the world. And people are coming here and finding refuge and buying homes, and I think a lot of them are going to end up being permanent residents, which is incredible.”