LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- The governor joined local dignitaries Tuesday to announce the reopening of Lake Delton and celebrate its return, a year to the day that heavy thunderstorms eroded part of the lake's shoreline and the lake drained away.

The resorts and restaurants that ring the lake watched their profits dwindle last summer, but workers scrambled all winter to repair the breach and managed to refill the lake in time for this year's tourism season.

The state spent millions to restore and refill the lake, and the state Department of Natural Resources made sure to finish before the start of the summer.

Twelve months later, Wisconsin Dells officials are celebrating the recovery of Lake Delton. They're also hoping the restored lake will permanently revitalize a big piece of the Wisconsin Dells' $1 billion economy.

On Tuesday, state and local tourism officials officially celebrated the lake's comeback with great Dells-style fanfare centered at the Tommy Bartlett Show grandstand. In a massive "Welcome Back Lake Delton" celebration, Wisconsin Dells tourism officials pulled out all the stops to showcase their newly refilled lake.

Community and tourism leaders said they want to get the word out that the area is back open for business.

A competitive boat parade, Wisconsin Duck rides for the media and 9,000 walleye fingerlings for the water were all part of an event.

"It's unbelievable," said Chris Meyer, of Iowa, who visits the Dells each year. "After we've seen the footage of what happened a year ago, this is just unbelievable today."

Meyer and her husband Bob visit the Dells each summer. Like so many other tourists, they couldn't believe the devastation last June 9 when the flooded lake drained, washing away land and a portion of a nearby county highway and taking five homes with it.

When the man-made lake drained away, if left behind a huge mud pit. Last year, the Meyers stayed on Lake Delton when it was a mud flat, and they're looking forward to an entirely different view this year.

"I'd like to do the same picture again, this time with the lake in the background," Bob Meyer said.

The Meyers drove up from Iowa to see the extravaganza Tuesday.

The governor joined state and village officials in marking the complicated engineering feat that rebuilt the 650-foot breach and the lake in about 10 months.

"Today we celebrate the incredible reopening of a project of this scope and magnitude that normally takes years to complete. We did it in less than a year," Gov. Jim Doyle told the crowd Tuesday.

Joe Eck, who manages the Wilderness On the Lake Resort, said it feels great to have come this far and to enter the new summer back on track.

"A year ago, standing on the dock at our Wilderness On the Lake, I'd had never guessed we'd be back the way we are today," Eck said.

The resort lost 30 percent of its normal revenue last year.

This year, the manager said its occupancy rate is back up to normal -- about 70 percent. Other smaller businesses said they're also doing well.

At Tuesday's event, Doyle also announced that 34 Wisconsin communities will share about $39 million in federal dollars to help recover from last year's floods.

"We still know there's' work to do and we know that there are still many communities across this state that are still deeply affected by the storm water and rains that raged across this state a year ago," Doyle said.

Doyle said the village of Lake Delton will be reimbursed about $302,000 for work on the lake's dam to provide more protection against future floods.