Longtime Lake Martin visitors know the goats of Goat Island played a special role on the lake.
Although there are no longer live goats on Goat Island, Explore Lake Martin is honoring the goats while getting people to explore the area.
Throughout this summer, Explore Lake Martin will implement an initiative with a scavenger hunt for goat statues in various locations throughout Tallapoosa County. After seeing similar initiatives in cities such as Huntsville and Decatur, Explore Lake Martin executive director Sandra Fuller wanted to implement something to get people out and about in the area. Huntsville has ducks throughout the city, and Decatur has turtles. When trying to figure out what Lake Martin’s signature would be, Explore Lake Martin marketing specialist Katelyn Cotten came up with an homage to something akin to a mascot of Lake Martin — goats.
“The purpose of doing the scavenger or trail was trying to put something in specific locations all over the Lake Martin area,” Fuller said. “We want to get people, whether they’re local or visitors, out and about.”
The goats will be located in specific locations to help people learn more about the area.
“For example, if they got to one that was at a park, it would tell about that park,” Fuller said. “Then it would tell you about all the other parks we have in the Lake Martin area. If you went to one in downtown Alexander City, it would tell you about what’s in downtown Alex City.”
The goal is to give visitors an initiative to explore surrounding areas of Lake Martin and to provide historical background on various landmarks throughout the area. As a more rural community, Fuller wanted to give people who are not from here an opportunity to get more involved in the community. While larger cities might have places to go consistently for family activities, Fuller and Cotten wanted to implement something that would be fun for the whole family.
“At the end, once people have gone to each of the goats, they can come back to the Explore Lake Martin office for some really cool swag,” Fuller said. “The new Explore Lake Martin app will allow them to scan the first goat they see, and it will take them to the website. The website’s going to tell them a little bit about it. Then it prompts them to answer a question about something painted on the goat, that way we know they are at the goat. Once they do that, they get a badge on the app, and once they get all 10 badges, they can come in for swag.”
The first goat, Lakey, was put out mid-May, and nine more goats will be put out over the course of the summer. Fuller said the goats will roll out every two weeks at a new location, and Explore Lake Martin will partner with local businesses to name each of the goats. Once they are in their spot, they will be there permanently.
Each of the goat statues honors the goats on Goat Island after they were taken off the island by their owners, Ricky and Stacie Baker, for safety reasons. While on the island, however, the goats played a key part on Lake Martin.
“It was a huge hit,” Fuller said. “People loved to go on Goat Island, see the goats and bring their Cheetos.”
 Visitors and regulars alike knew the goats had a favorite snack.
“They literally could hear you starting to open the bag, even when you’re being really quiet,” Fuller said with a laugh. “They’ve jumped into the pontoon with us to get Cheetos.”
The first lost goat statue, Lakey, was named after one of the original goats on the island. Now that Lakey has been out in the community, Fuller said Lakey is now considered to be the Explore Lake Martin mascot.
