The Fort Dodge commemoration of Memorial Day will be held on Monday at Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.

It will begin at 10 a.m. with patriotic music played by the Karl King Municipal Band. The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The park is on the north side of Badger Lake in an area where there is very little space for parking. The Fort Dodge Veterans Council urges people to park at the Community Orchard, 2237 160th St., and ride a bus to the park. The bus rides to and from the park will be free.

“Please, please we encourage you to help us as you’re able by parking at the Community Orchard parking lot,” said Tom Dorsey, a member of the Veterans Council and an organizer of the ceremony. “Bring a chair if you want and ride one of the buses provided by MIDAS.”

He said buses will be at the orchard at 9 a.m. Monday and will run continuously until 10 a.m. Then after the ceremony is over, they will transport people back to the orchard.

Dorsey said band members will have priority on the buses.

“Please give them a hand if you can,” he said. “They have to carry their instrument as well as their music stand.”

Traditional elements of the ceremony include a keynote speaker, the naming of the Veteran of the Year, and dropping a wreath into the lake in memory of those buried at sea.

A roll call of all Webster County veterans who died since the 2025 Memorial Day service will be read.

If there is bad weather Monday morning, the ceremony may be moved on short notice to St. Edmond High School, Sixth Avenue North and 22nd Street.

Otho

The Otho Memorial Day ceremony will be at the Otho Cemetery near Osceola Avenue and 260th Street.

The first part of the observance will begin at 10 a.m. Monday with the decorating of veterans’ graves and a ceremony at the veterans monument in the cemetery

Then at 10:30 a.m. there will be an invocation and the reading of the veterans honor roll. Jeanine Fuller Nemitz will speak on “Reflections of the Past.”

Veterans and their spouses will be honored.

It will conclude with a benediction and playing of Taps.