The Girls State Softball Tournament has become a major feature of the summer sports season in our town. Fort Dodge has been the host city for this competition for four decades.

The marvelous Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex has been the venue for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union softball finals for so long that it is hard to imagine any other location for this event.

Making the tournament a function flawlessly requires a great deal of work by a wide array of individuals and organizations. Among those who are called upon each year to contribute their efforts are the personnel at the Fort Dodge Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department.

Since 1970, the staff at the department has done the behind-the-scenes work to make the softball tournament a success. And since 1993, the department has done the same for the annual state cross country championship that’s also held in the city at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

Those efforts have made the agency the first recipient of a new award from the entity that governs girls high school sports in Iowa. The department has been named the inaugural winner of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Executive Director’s Award.

“They have done such a fantastic job that they were a given for our inaugural award,” Mike Dick, the IGHSAU executive director, said Tuesday.

The award will be presented each year to an individual or organization that has made a notable contribution toward enhancing the experience for Iowa girls in high school athletics, according to Dick.

It is a great honor to have our Parks Department be the first winner of this prestigious honor.

The Messenger congratulates Director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry Lori Branderhorst and her team on their selection. They are among the many Fort Dodgers who are working hard to make our town one of the Hawkeye State’s most impressive success stories. All Fort Dodgers should join in applauding their efforts.