Excitement surrounds reopening of Lake Mars Pier

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - It’s exciting news for boaters and fishermen.

The Lake Mars Pier in Jackson County has fully reopened just in time for Memorial Day.

One-year-old Waylin may not be able to say much yet, but one thing is clear, he enjoys spending time at Lake Mars Pier.

“We come down here for him ‘cause he loves it,” said Waylin’s grandfather Terry Bruhl.

Bruhl is thrilled that the popular pier has finally reopened after it was damaged in Hurricane Nate back in 2017.

“We were just hoping that it would be soon and they made it by this summer. So it’s really great ‘cause he’s at a perfect age for it, and we love it. We come down here every day,” he said.

Jackson County and FEMA teamed up to rebuild the pier stronger than ever.

“We have a way better-built pier now than we ever had here before,” said Jackson County District 5 Supervisor Randy Bosarge.

Bosarge said the pier was rebuilt using concrete pilings and heavy gauge marine lumber.

“I mean, it’s been a while since Nate since we finally got this pier, but it’s been worth the wait, and it’ll be a whole lot more sustainable to future hurricanes and tropical storms,” he said.

Bosarge said it took a lot of negotiating with FEMA to get this pier rebuilt with concrete. Part of the deal, he said, is that if it’s damaged again, FEMA is off the hook.

“The agreement we had at the end was that if they would is to replace this with the concrete pilings and the heavy gauge lumber that we wouldn’t ask them for any more assistance in replacing or repairing this pier which we shouldn’t need it,” he said.

The new pier already drawing in residents and visitors alike. Amy Moorhouse from Florida came out to check out the new pier and was pleased with what she saw.

“It looks very sturdy. I have to say this looks like it’s going to last for a long time. That’s great. It should be very nice for families to come to go fishing just to go look at the water and maybe picnic in the pavilion so it looks very nice,” she said.

The county is also working to add more boat parking at the entrance into the Lake Mars boat ramp area.

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