Lake Lanier Georgia - Lake Lanier Drought Marinas Parks

Every now and again we get requests to add more information to the site and one of the most frequent requests has been to show gas prices at marinas on Lake Lanier.

Consider it done.

Click on "Gas Prices at Lake Lanier Marinas" on the right-hand menu and you'll see a list of prices at all 10 marinas on the lake. Prices for regular 89 Octane gas vary from $3.69 to $4.19 per gallon so its certainly worth taking a look.

We call the marinas every week to make sure you only see the most up-to-date prices:

• What are the most popular restaurants and marinas on the lake?
• What's the best place on the lake to fish?
• What are the best and worst things about Lake Lanier?

We aimed to answer all these questions and more via the 1st Annual Lake Lanier Survey.

Read on to find out the results...

Lake Lanier will host a Bluegrass music festival on September 20th.

Grass in the Grove features several local bands and will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Who's Playing at the Grass in the Grove?

The festival will feature traditional bluegrass bands and contemporary bluegrass bands, including Honi Deaton and Dream, Hardline Drive, Steel String Session, Georgia Mudcats, The Suggins Brothers and The Harmon Family. The full schedule is:

• 11:00 Steel String Session
  
• 12:15 Harmon Family
  
• 1:30 Suggins Brothers
  
• 2:45 Hardline Drive
  
• 4:00 GA Mudcats
  
• 5:15 Honi Deaton and Dream

Where is the Festival?

Shady Grove Campground is located on Lake Lanier at 7800 Shadburn Ferry Rd. Cumming, GA 30041. The entry fee will be $10 per vehicle. RV and tent campsites will be available. To receive more information, call the Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department at 770.781.2217.

Boats are welcome to anchor in any of the coves outside of the park for a unique musical experience on Lake Lanier.

We're delighted to offer a new free service to our readers - get free Lake Lanier Fishing reports sent to your email every week.

All you need to do is enter your email below and you'll receive updates by email in the middle of every week.

Last year the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival attracted over 4000 people to Lake Lanier and the same number or more expected for this years festival on Saturday.

The festival runs from 9 to 5 with races and plenty of activities to keep kids interested including dances, inflatable bouncers, prizes, kites and temporary tattoos.

Clarks Bridge Park will be closed from about 4:00 Saturday morning until late afternoon.

The Department of Natural Resources operate as law enforcement on Lake Lanier. They gave out 6 citations for Boating Under the Influence over Labor Day including one to a boater who drove his straight into a bridge.

The 18-foot houseboat crashed into Shoal Creek Bridge so heavily that it would have sunk if DNR hadn't come to the rescue.

'The Spirit of Lanier' is already attracting tourists and cruising up and down the lake. The owner, Bill Odrey, now hopes to gain permission from the City of Gainesville to use its parks as a passenger loading site.

Based at Holiday Marina, the restored stern-wheeler is a 65' paddleboat that travels at 5-miles an hour up and down the lake. With its own retractable walkway for passengers to get off, it can park at any shoreline. Though 'The Spirit' has a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to cruise the expanse of the lake, it needs permission to retract its 2' wide walkway on city governed land. It currently has permission from the City of Cumming to use Mary Alice Park as a passenger loading site. The agreement went into effect on July 20th and expires in January. As part of the agreement, boat passengers would pay for parking and admission fees to Mary Alice Park. Bill Odrey wishes for a similar agreement with the City of Gainesville.

Lots of people consider that Lake Lanier Real Estate has taken a hit during 2007. With weak national housing market and low water levels locally, there seem to be a lot of homes sitting unsold. However, Arthur Prescott, a local realtor, has been crunching the numbers and the picture is actually more rosy than it seems. Since last year sales volume is down but prices are stable:

• Quantity of sales down. January to July 2006 produced 157 lake home closings versus only 121 in the same time in 2007. That means there was roughly a 23% decrease in the number of closed sales.
  
• Sale prices hold steady. During January to July 2006 the average sales price was $630,332 versus $639,891 for the 2007 period. That's about a 1.5% increase this year.

The moratorium on new dock permits on Lake Lanier has been extended for the second time. On this occasion the extension is indefinite due to the lack of rain in Northeast Georgia.

Last April, the Corps of Engineers announced the moratorium to carefully analyze how many permits were left. That moratorium was extended through the summer after 10 deaths on the lake left shoreline management park rangers busy with safety duties.

Now the low lake level has caused another extension.

The Lake Lanier Rowing Club are holding a festival next month where you'll be able to taste the best offerings of some North Georgia’s finest restaurants!

The event is called "Taste of Gainesville at the Docks" and there will be plenty of food and entertainment for all. Tickets are $25.00 each in advance and will be $30.00 each the day of the event. Tickets for ages 12 and under are $5.00.

Lake Lanier has dropped nearly 8.5 feet below full pool. This has left many docks grounded, closed swimming areas and has made boating a hazardous activity close to the shore. The question is ... how low is the lake now compared to the past?

The simple answer is unusually low, but far from setting any records. The lake hasn't dropped this low since 2001. Since then it has always been within five feet of full pool.

With temperatures in the 100s and Lake Lanier water levels continuing to fall, many people and business have been slowing down.

Not so at Lake Lanier Islands. The record temperatures have increased visitor numbers to the Beach and Water Park by 20%–25%. Boat Rental at the Islands has also spiked.

Every weekend during August people have been gathering in large number at Clarks Bridge Park on Lake Lanier. They are practicing one of the fastest-growing sports on the lake - Dragon Boat Racing.

Dragon Boat racing is popular across Asia. The boats are long and narrow canoes that are often rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails and are required to carry a large drum aboard.