Boat House Apparel brings chic clothing to the Okoboji area, with her designs centered around life at the lake. The stylish tops, dresses, and more have witty sayings, anchors, and all things that remind us of the lake we all know and love. With a large online presence, Boat House is not only popular in Spirit Lake, but all over the country! Bringing comfort and chic to her amazing designs, the owner of Boat House, Laura, has sure made an amazing clothing line right here in the heart of Spirit Lake.

Ruthven Meat Locker is a local family owned business. Ruthven Locker at the Lakes is their 2nd retail store (with the original Meat Processing plant being a staple in the small town of Ruthven, Iowa). They are a full service meat shop providing their customers with excellent high quality cuts of beef & pork. Also provided are smoked meat snacks which they make right on site in Ruthven. Sure to please even the pickiest of palates! Ruthven Meat Locker prides themselves on promoting other local small businesses by selling them in our Spirit Lake store. You find everything from fine wood pieces to local honey, microgreens, baked goods, and delicious cheesecake. The Butcher’s Wife is always available to answer your questions and take special orders. Come on in and you’ll soon see that the rumors are true!

Referred to locally as the lake turning over the thermocline is a feature of lakes with deep water. The water on the top of the lake changes temperature much more variably during the year. On West Lake, it can reach as much as 75 degrees in July while the water below, greater than 35 or 40 feet deep is relatively stable around 45 degrees. In the fall and early winter, the top strata of the lake will cool to below 45 degrees, and then because it becomes denser, it will "sink" below the lower strata, thus, displacing it and making the lake "turn-over". In the deepest part of West Lake (near the 136ft mark), no light is availble, and hence little life is known whether fish or plant. Typically questions are raised as to why the surface water gets dirty for a short period of time in the fall, this this is the standard answer.