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Summer fun is here in the Fort Dodge area

The long days of summer are upon us, with seemingly endless hours of daylight to be enjoyed. In fact, at least on weekends, you might as well call them the long, lazy days of summer. Locally, there will be plenty of things to do on those on summer weekends. For example, Lehigh River Days will be back from June 20 to June 22. It will include some traditional staples of years past, such as the log rolling contest. That consists of people standing on a log in a four foot deep pool of water and trying to keep the log spinning without falling off. It will include live music, mud ...

Frontier Days 2025 to kick off summer

This weekend there will be a sure sign that the summer season is truly at hand. What is that sign? Frontier Days 2025, of course. Frontier Days is the annual Fort Dodge event that draws thousands to the downtown parade and the Fort Museum and Frontier Village. The three-day festival continues a Fort Dodge tradition that is returning with a theme this year of “Hats Off to Those Who Came Before Us.” Not content to rest on applause for past glories, organizers have labored hard to produce a truly exceptional event. Frontier Days 2025 will have familiar features, but there will be ...

Fort Dodge is a medalist in fundraising

When it comes to supporting athletes with intellectual disabilities, the Fort Dodge community is often a medalist. Citizens and local law enforcement officers come together annually to raise money for Special Olympics Iowa at an event called Cop on a Rooftop. It is an event held statewide. And when all the donations are tallied up, Fort Dodge is one of the top - if not the top - producer of donations for the athletes. Cop on a Rooftop is held at Dunkin’ Donuts, 2520 Fifth Ave. S. Yes, you read that right. Who knew that all those old, tired stereotypes about cops and doughnuts could ...

School district, contractors did fine job on Dodger Stadium

Folks in Los Angeles may think that Dodger Stadium is in their town. And yes, there is a structure out there with that name. But obviously, the real Dodger Stadium is right here in Fort Dodge. It has stood for 86 years, and after a just-completed $4.9 million update, it is ready to be the center of sports action and graduation ceremonies for years to come. Josh Porter, superintendent of the Fort Dodge Community School District, had it right when he told The Messenger, “Dodger Stadium is a cornerstone of this town.” It has been a cornerstone since it opened on Oct. 4, ...

Lawmakers, Reynolds deserve credit for boosting community college funding

After much give and take during the just concluded legislative session, Iowa’s lawmakers moved to do the right thing for the state’s community colleges. The lawmakers approved $7.5 million in additional state money for those colleges for the fiscal year that begins July 1. But getting that funding to the colleges wasn’t always a sure thing. The House of Representatives had proposed $8 million in additional money for the 15 community colleges. Initially, the Senate and Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed no new money for the colleges. On May 3, The Messenger called on the governor and ...

Honor Flight Committee accomplished its mission with excellence

When the veterans aboard the May 7 edition of the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight stepped off the plane that night to a boisterous welcome home ceremony at Fort Dodge Regional Airport, more than just their daylong voyage came to an end. Many in the cheering, clapping crowd probably did not realize that night that the flight was the last one coordinated by the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight Committee that started the trips to Washington, D.C., 15 years earlier. That committee was an all-volunteer group that organized 27 flights to take veterans to the nation’s capital to see the war ...