Celebrating 35 years in Clear Lake
by Rachel Wumkes
Looking across the water on a sunny, summer day in Clear Lake, there’s a chance you will see one of the most iconic sights in the area – The Lady of the Lake. The beautiful paddlewheel ferry was built in 1960. Its original use was to transport passengers across the Missouri River, a service offered back before full-scale bridges had been built. Today, the Lady of the Lake makes her home in Clear Lake at the Sea Wall during the peak season of use. Her story, however, of how she became a premier tourist attraction in North Iowa is rather interesting. In 1985, Gary Geist stopped at a bar on his way home from work one day. The only other person in the bar was his banker so he sat down and struck up a conversation. The banker began to tell Gary all about this paddleboat ferry he’d found that was in bad shape. He thought Gary needed to buy the boat to save it from its inevitable demise. Gary remembers laughing at the guy, thinking he was ridiculous for even suggesting such a thing. “I said to the guy, ‘Do you have any idea how much money that will cost me to renovate?’” The banker looked Gary right in the eye and replied, “Gary, all I got is money.” And so, he couldn’t resist.
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Gary and his wife, Karen, purchased the Lady in 1985 and began renovations while the boat was still in Yankton, South Dakota. They added the top deck and refurbished much of the interior before it was moved to southern Iowa. Once there, preparations began for the final transport to Clear Lake. “The Clear Lake Chamber wanted it to be out on the lake,” he said. “I just wanted to promote tourism to that part of Iowa, and they were all for it.” It wasn’t an easy feat, that’s for sure. It cost approximately $47,000 to tear it down, transport, and then put back together. “We went to Des Moines to get permission to move it up to North Iowa,” Gary recalled. “It was over 100 tons on that trailer, so we had to have every bridge inspected before and after it was crossed.” Thankfully, the gaming commission and the State of Iowa saw how much something like the Lady could positively impact North Iowa and provided police escorts and permits for the Lady to be transported across all 37 counties. Once she made it to her permanent home in Clear Lake, Gary and Karen began operating the tourist attraction. “We ran it for 20 years,” Gary said. “My wife and I figured it out one time, and we put in about 28,000 nautical miles doing tours across Clear Lake.” When Gary and Karen decided to hang up their captain’s hats, it wasn’t the end of the Lady’s story. There have been a handful of owners throughout the years, each with their own special memories and contributions to what she is today.
clearlakeiowa.com
