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Editorial

Fruit, vegetable growers deserve recognition

There’s more than corn and soybeans growing in Iowa’s rich soil. Iowa’s farmers grow staggering amounts of corn and soybeans, so it makes sense that those crops are the first ones many people associate with the state’s farms. But there is also a surprising amount of fruits and vegetables grown in Iowa. Fruits and vegetables raised by the state’s professional horticulture industry contribute an estimated $48 million to the state’s economy every year. According to a recent statewide survey, the top fruit and vegetable crops in Iowa are tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, green ...

Be sure to check out the Webster County Fair

The Webster County Fair begins Wednesday and continues through Sunday on the fairgrounds at 22770 Old Highway 169. It will feature all of the traditional 4-H and FFA livestock exhibits, plus other projects completed by the youth of those organizations. The fair royalty will be crowned early in the event so that the king and queen can be on hand for all the festivities that will follow. In addition to the farm-related activities, there will also be a full slate of entertainment. There will be Mini Madness, plus the ATV and Tough Truck races. A truck and tractor pull will be ...

New assisted living units help senior citizens live comfortably, safely

Staying in their own home for as long as possible is always the best option for people as they age. But for many, doing that eventually becomes impossible. Fort Dodge is blessed to have many options for those people. And that array of options just got better thanks to the Marian Home and Village. This week, the Marian Home and Village debuted its new assisted living apartments at 925 Martin Luther King Drive. Lots of people may recall that structure as the former Villa Cottages. After the Villa Care Center closed, the Marian Home bought all of its property. The main Villa Care Center ...

Socks for the Sole effort meets a community need

It’s an automatic part of daily life for many people: when you get dressed, you put your socks on. Clean, dry socks make the feet feel good. Putting socks on is so routine many folks do that without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, there are children in the Fort Dodge community who don’t get to put on a good pair of socks every day. Family financial problems mean that they don’t have enough socks or the ones they have are pretty threadbare. To make sure that as many kids as possible go back to school this year with good socks on their feet, the Community Health Center of ...

Be sure to attend your county fair

Times change. Even so, there are a few constants in life. One is the pleasure provided by the county fairs that continue to be a highlight of summer in Iowa. For as far back as anyone who now lives in this part of Iowa can remember, these summer festivals have been much-anticipated and much-enjoyed features of summertime. The fairs, of course, have changed over the decades. One central theme, however, remains much the same — a celebration of farm life and the assorted positive educational and personal-growth pursuits that are treasured features of life in rural and small-town ...

New surgery center is investment in the future of the region

Nobody wants to end up in an operating room. But when a person has to have surgery, they want to be in the most up-to-date facility with the best trained staff. In Fort Dodge, UnityPoint Health - Trinity Regional Medical Center is taking a huge step toward making sure that surgery patients will find themselves in that very situation by adding a nearly $40 million new surgery center. The project had been planned for five years. Construction is now underway, and the work is very obvious to anyone going to the hospital or even driving by it on Kenyon Road. It is expected to be completed ...