| Anderson Hollow Cove | |
|---|---|
| "Party Cove" | |
| Location | Camden County, Missouri |
| Coordinates | 38°06′07″N 92°39′21″W / 38.102076°N 92.655816°W |
| Type | Cove |
| Part of | Lake of the Ozarks |
Party Cove is the popular name given for Anderson Hollow Cove, a cove in Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri that according to The New York Times is the "oldest established permanent floating bacchanal in the country."[1]
The cove itself is about a mile (1.6 km) long and 200 yards (183 m) wide. On summer weekends as many as 3,000 pleasure boats with around 8,000 aboard gather in the cove lining up in two rows with newcomers running a gauntlet of water cannon and taunts to take their clothes off (although The Kansas City Star reports that the overwhelming number of visitors in the fraternity house environment are male).[2]
Missouri has 18 officers assigned to the entire Lake of the Ozarks. They had historically limited the policing of the cove to violations of wake restrictions, and boat driving violations and Boating While Intoxicated summons. Attempts to stop the practice of rafting up, whereby boats are roped together, failed to pass the Missouri General Assembly.
Missouri says that the area around the cove is the most dangerous in the entire lake. After two people died in 2007, Missouri announced plans to have officers from other districts crack down on nudity (women can be topless but not bottomless), public sex acts, and drug use.[3]
- ^ Weber, Bruce (2005-07-22), "Party Cove:Wild in the Ozarks", New York Times, archived from the original on 7 July 2018
- ^ Rock, Steve (2007-07-02), "In Party Cove, debauchery reigns", Kansas City Star
- ^ Miller, Joyce (2007-07-05), "Party Cove Crackdown Planned", Fort Leonard Wood Daily Wake