Fall in Iowa is the season of harvest, pumpkins, orange-colored leaves and, of course, football.

On cool Friday evenings and on Saturday afternoons, people from all across the Fort Dodge area gather every fall to watch their local heroes of the gridiron compete. They’ll scream and cheer for their favorite team, occasionally grumble about the referees and even embody the Iowa nice tradition by applauding fine play by the opponents.

The cool evenings seem to have arrived, and the high school football season will kick off on Friday.

To learn about Dodger Stadium, the iconic venue where the Fort Dodge Dodgers play their home games, see the special section included in today’s edition of The Messenger. It outlines all the improvements made during a recently completed $4.9 million renovation.

It created a new concessions area, new locker rooms for athletes and officials, new restrooms, new athletic training facilities, a pavilion area, fiber lines, upgraded and additional lighting, enhanced security systems and a bigger scoreboard.

Now folks in Los Angeles may think they have the real Dodger Stadium. We know better. The real Dodger Stadium has stood in Fort Dodge since Oct. 4, 1940.

And to get the inside scoop on the hometown Dodgers and other local football teams, please see The Messenger’s annual football publication that will be included with Friday’s edition of the newspaper. Inside it are stories and photos featuring the teams from Fort Dodge Senior High School, St. Edmond High School, and other schools from throughout the area. It includes rosters, records, schedules and all of the other information area football fans will need to enjoy this year’s season.

This is the 68th football preview to be published.

Over more than six decades, some 1,400 teams and about 40,000 athletes have been featured.

The publication is the oldest of its kind in Iowa.

The Messenger’s football publication is the perfect guidebook for fans as the new season unfolds.