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King band scholarship concert set for Sunday

The third and final indoor concert for the 2026 season by the Karl L. King Municipal Band will begin at 3:30 p.m Sunday in the Fort Dodge Middle School Auditorium located at 800 N. 32nd St. There is no admission charge, since these concerts are provided by the City of Fort Dodge. This April concert is the band’s annual scholarship event, with the presentation of the Karl L. King Memorial scholarships. Talented students will audition during the day, and the winners will be announced during the afternoon concert. Winners will be recognized with either $500 scholarships to Iowa ...

County Road Dept. receives $21M in grants

By KELLI BLOOMQUIST The Webster County Roads Department is set to receive more than $21 million in grant funding this year. According to County Engineer Jamie Johll, most of the grants are from the federal government for bridge replacement projects. He said that the Webster County Board of Supervisors and Iowa’s federal legislators have helped to make the grants possible. “It all starts with the board supporting my office applying for these grants,” said Johll. “It takes a lot of upfront work to prepare federal grant applications, and although we have been very successful, ...

FDSH musical cast to support YWCA

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@messengernews.net Fort Dodge Senior High School students will be giving their best performance on stage, and they’ll also give fans the chance to give back. The Dodgers will perform “The Addams Family” for FDSH’s 99th annual musical at the Fort Dodge Middle School. As part of their community service project the FDSH choir students, in connection with “The Addams Family,” will be collecting donations for the local Fort Dodge YWCA. “I chose the YWCA for the service project this year because I knew I wanted to do something to give back to ...

Showing off Dayton

DAYTON — Richard Hindman’s display at the annual Dayton Vendor’s Expo Saturday in the Dayton Community Center was right in line with the season out in the woods. Morel carvings, morel walking sticks, morel photographs in frames. “I hunt them,” Hindman said. “I carve them. It ...

Gear up

The Fort Dodge Community School District will provide Fort Dodge Senior High School freshmen with a hands-on career exploration experience on Tuesday as part of the GEAR UP Iowa program, a statewide initiative supporting underserved students as they prepare for life after high school. Approximately 50 freshmen students will participate in the experience, rotating in two groups through local organizations including Spin Markket + Digital and the Fort Dodge Fire Department. Each group will spend about an hour learning about career pathways, workplace skills, and opportunities in ...