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Webster City, Van Diest Supply team up on water tower project

There are lessons to be learned in building a community. This one stands out: We must work together. An example of this is the recent collaboration between the City of Webster City and Van Diest Supply Co. Together, they will build and maintain a new 250,000-gallon water tower near Van Diest Supply Co.’s factory complex west of Webster City. The company will pay for the design and construction of the new tower, with the City of Webster City assuming normal maintenance and operating costs, estimated at $5,000 to $15,000 a year. The city learned last fall that Van Diest’s ...

State softball returns to Fort Dodge

This annual state tournament is a highlight of the summer season One of summer’s most enjoyable events gets underway today. The Girls State Softball Tournament will be the highlight of the season for the teams that made it to state-level competition, including the Fort Dodge Dodgers and St. Edmond Gaels. All the teams are outstanding. Making it to this final event of the season means that none will have any reason for more than a brief lament, no matter what their final standing. Making it to state is itself an accomplishment that marks a season as one to remember with pride. This ...

Matt Cosgrove deserves nature center honor

For nearly a decade, Matt Cosgrove has been the person most closely associated with the drive to create a new nature center in Webster County. Now, his name will be associated with it forever. The county Board of Supervisors surprised the conservation director earlier this month by announcing that the facility along the Des Moines River would be named the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center. Attaching his name to the center was a clandestine effort which only a few knew about. Cosgrove was taken by surprise at the July 11 dedication of the facility. “This has been a ...

Be sure to attend the Webster 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 the Hawkeye State. The Webster County Fair begins today 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. But wait, there’s more. Fair highlights will include free entertainment, the chance to encounter stingrays up close and personal, shows and lots of good food. For as ...

Century Farms celebrate history

It’s more than 180 years since land that is now the state of Iowa was opened for settlers. The America of the 21st century is far different from the nation presided over by President Andrew Jackson in 1833. There is, however, one constant feature for Iowans — agriculture is at the very heart of economic life in the Hawkeye State. Consequently, it was a fitting celebration of agriculture and the generations of Iowans who have farmed here that in 1976, as part of the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration, the Century Farms Program was established. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and ...

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 the state 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 ...