10th Annual Performance Boat Center Fun Run On Tap This Weekend

Launched in 2015, the annual Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run signals the start of the Lake of the Ozarks event-season for the MTI, Performance Powerboats and Sunsation Powerboats dealership in Osage Beach, Mo., as well as its family of customers. The full-service dealer produces the Rendezvous for Cigarette Owners, the Outboard Fun Run, Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Thursday Night Welcome Party and the Fall Fun Run each year. In April, it produced its first Boat Show and Open House and the event was so strong that the Performance Boat Center team plans to produce it annually.

Friends and partners in go-fast boating shenanigans, Adam Seraphine (right) and Mike Barnes will be together again for this Saturday’s Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run. Photos Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos

Now in its 10th year, the Spring Fun Run is set for Saturday, May 11, at 9 a.m. with a light breakfast and drivers meeting in the Performance Boat Center showroom. The fleet will depart at 11:30 a.m. for various stops on the shores of the lake, and return in the late afternoon for a casual celebration at the dealership.

Among the well-known go fast-boat owners who plan to be there is Minnesota’s Adam Seraphine, who has a residential development underway at the lake with fellow performance-boat owner and Lake of the Ozarks fan Greg Harris of South Florida. Seraphine will run his MTI 390XR catamaran, which was displayed at the inaugural Performance Boat Center Open House and Boat Show last month, with friends Mike Barnes and Jill Kowalski. Kowalski’s husband, Ray, will run their 42-foot Cigarette V-bottom with other friends.

Michiganders Justin and Melissa Snook are looking forward to running their 42-foot Fountain for the first time this season at the this Saturday’s event. Photo from the 2023 Kuttawa Cannonball Run by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

“This run kicks off our Lake of the Ozarks boating season,” Seraphine explained. “We like the PBC spring and fall fun runs because of their casual approach. They’re structured but with no ‘set’ schedule.”

Regular participants in Performance Boat Center events, Justin Snook and his wife, Melissa, of Mancelona, Mich., also will tackle the run in their recently updated 42-foot Fountain V-bottom.

“Performance Boat Center’s spring and fall fun runs help us expand our boating season,” Snook said. “It’s usually the first run of the year for us and it’s always great to see so many familiar faces.

Said Justin Snook, with his wife, Melissa, “It always great to see so many familiar faces.”

“And of course, PBC once again did a few tasteful upgrades to our boat over the winter,” he added. “We’re hoping it will be done just in time for the run.”

Though no one involved is certain if the Spring Fun Run has ever reached the 100-boat mark in, there were 97 sign-ups a couple of days before the 2022 event. The 2023 run wasn’t quite as large, but still attracted 70 to 80 entries.

Come Saturday, Performance Boat Center and the adjacent Redhead Lakeside Grill will be buzzing with activity.

Performance Boat Center co-owner Brett Manire is looking forward to the event, which will include “two or three” stops. “It’s always a great time,” he said.