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Editorial

Gateway to Discovery women set an example for all

Beating addiction is hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally. The women of Gateway to Discovery are doing the hard work of conquering addiction. And if that isn’t enough, they recently went out and did some hard work to make part of the Fort Dodge community cleaner and better looking. Gateway to Discovery is a faith-based residential recovery program for women. Last week, the women tackled some of the mess once found along the Des Moines River near the Pleasant Valley neighborhood and along Mason Memorial Park Drive. The effort started under the Karl King Viaduct, ...

It’s time to honor our fathers

Father’s Day is upon us once again. The annual tribute to America’s dads is Sunday. That’s good news for the greeting card vendors. In recent years, they have sold upwards of 100 million cards to Americans intent on paying tribute to good old dad. About half of those cards are purchased by dutiful sons and daughters. Wives honoring a man they love account for most of the rest. Other merchants also rejoice in the arrival of Father’s Day each June because gift purchases keep cash registers humming. The commercial side of Father’s Day, while good for the economy, is not all ...

Fort Dodge needs new pickleball courts

Sending what looks like a wiffle ball back and forth over a net by hitting it with solid paddles is the heart of the sport of pickleball. It’s a little like tennis, or perhaps some oversized version of ping pong. And it is rapidly growing in popularity. There is a growing number of pickleball players in Fort Dodge. They want a designated public place to play their game. We think they should have one. Right now, they play on the basketball courts at Dodger Court. Markings for a 22-by44-foot pickleball court have been painted on the ground there. But the basketball courts were ...

Blanden Memorial Art Museum is a local treasure

Area residents have the opportunity to see all kinds of wonderful art by big names like Picasso close to home. They can also learn how to paint with water colors or make ceramic artwork without traveling far. Those kinds of experiences are usually found in big city museums. But thanks to the presence of the Blanden Memorial Art Museum, people living in and around Fort Dodge can have that kind of interaction with the arts without traveling to New York or Chicago. The Blanden, as it is often called, is celebrating a milestone this year. It is marking 90 years since it first opened ...

Enjoy Lehigh River Days

The usually quiet city of Lehigh promises to be a hotbed of activity this coming weekend. That’s because it is time for the Lehigh River Days celebration. This will be the 40th celebration. The action actually starts on Friday with the return of glow-in-the -dark volleyball, which debuted during the 2021 edition of Lehigh River Days. Everything will be dark except for the boundary lines, the net and the ball. There will also be a Miss and Mr. River Days kids talent show that evening. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. Later Saturday, people will be able to enjoy the ...

Volunteers make it happen

For a few hours Saturday night, Fort Dodge was the heart of rock and roll for Iowa. Some 5,700 people gathered at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex to hear Bret Michaels, Molly Hatchet and Lone Tree Revival. It was show full of energy and showmanship. The always enthusiastic Michaels made good use of kind of catwalk extending from the stage to get close to the fans, and the crowd seemed the energize him and the other performers. Jim Reed, the president of Shellabration, the local group that organizes the concerts, said he can’t recall a previous show in which there was such a ...