Starting today, there is a sure sign that the summer season is truly at hand — Frontier Days 2021 kicks off. The gates open at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village at 4 p.m. today and an exciting and diverse agenda of entertainment will commence soon after.

The three-day festival continues a Fort Dodge tradition that is returning after a one-year break caused by the pandemic. Not content to rest on applause for past glories, organizers have labored hard to produce a truly exceptional event.

Frontier Days 2021 will have familiar features, but there will be much that is new.

Frontier Days recalls the community’s long, and distinguished history. This year’s theme is the Roaring ’20s, the decade of jazz, dancing the Charleston and bathtub gin.

As always, there will be entertainment aplenty, and food and beverages that will make this a good weekend to forget about that diet.

Creating experiences with carefully crafted appeal to virtually all segments of the community has been an organizing principle for Frontier Days planning for more than four decades. Flawless success in achieving that goal is one of the reasons this festival draws huge crowds and routinely sends folks home smiling.

A huge Frontier Days Parade will once again be a delight when it heads down Central Avenue at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Frontier Days Parade will continue that tradition of excellence. Anyone who loves a parade – and who among us does not? – would be remiss not to be on hand in downtown Fort Dodge to partake of this joyous event.

This weekend will be a time for festive family recreation and an opportunity to forge happy memories that will be recalled with pleasure for many years hence. Don’t miss out. Join in the fun at Frontier Days 2021.