New features almost done at popular beach

BRANSON, Mo. -- The most popular day-use area on Table Rock Lake is getting a new look at a new location.

Visitors to the Moonshine Beach area on Table Rock Lake will find new restrooms and a less rocky beach among the new features after a $7.4 million renovation. A covered picnic pavilion also is in the plan if there is enough money to pay for it.

The new Moonshine Beach will be about 200 yards north of the old one, which will be demolished and turned into one of eight new spillways.

Rain has delayed completion of the changes, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to have the beach reopened in the next couple of weeks, then have a formal dedication July 1.

When workers returned after Memorial Day weekend, they found a small sand castle surrounded by footprints, said Jon Wedgeworth, chief of quality assurance.

The sandy beach is rare in the Ozarks. Many Ozarks beaches, including the old Moonshine Beach, are rocky and hard on visitors' bare feet.

The new beach will have sand that was brought in from other places.

Visitors will find new restrooms with showers, a paved parking lot and a large playground. If enough money is found, there also will be a picnic pavilion with grills.

Moonshine Beach is the most popular day-use area on Table Rock Lake. Between May 1 and Oct. 1 last year, it had 42,175 visitors, lake manager Marilyn Jones said.

This year's visitors will have to pay a dollar more to use the beach. The Corps will charge a $3 day-use fee instead of the $2 it charged in the past. There is an additional fee for camping.

The construction costs were part of a $60 million project to expand the spillway for the Table Rock Dam. The project was started in 1999 after researchers found the lake could reach higher levels under maximum flood conditions than previously thought.