Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: The Waukee Northwest softball team celebrates after clinching the Class 5A state championship at Rogers Sports Complex in July.

The question had lingered for as long as I can remember.

When will state softball be moved to a different location?

The theory, through the years, kept the rumor mill churning. Not a matter of if, but when. Fort Dodge had enjoyed a good run for decades, but at some point, a changing of the guard was coming.

There would be something newer. Better. Shinier. More entertaining.

That day may come eventually, but it won’t be until at least 2046 thanks to the unprecedented contract extension signed Wednesday between the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Fort Dodge city leaders and officials.

Quietly but confidently, I’ve always felt the tournament was still where it needed to be. And the IGHSAU believed and understood that all along.

Of course it helps that Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex remains Iowa’s premier softball facility, even after all these years. That alone, though, was never going to be enough.

Fort Dodge knows its identity and embraces what it is as a host. The community will never be able to offer the amenity advantages of the Des Moines or Cedar Rapids areas, for instance. Instead, it went to work on the “folksy” traits that may seem quaint in today’s world: building relationships and trust face-to-face with the IGHSAU, being attentive to the wants and needs of teams and fans at the ballpark, and establishing an environment that is the perfect balance between the future and yesteryear at Rogers Park.

Pay attention to the words of IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich:

“State softball has a festival-like atmosphere that is completely different from other (state) venues. There is a massive footprint at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex, which gives us the opportunity to add some fun spaces (next to) the fields themselves — like more food trucks, photo-op backdrops, hospitality suites, welcoming tents, apparel vendors and more.

“There are so many people buzzing around the different spaces, and the manpower it takes to host at a site like this is truly a community effort.”

The vision is to make state softball an event in the way the Iowa State Fair is an event. The IGHSAU is in the process of modernizing the format, and the city of Fort Dodge is modernizing the facilities to accommodate that. Everything else about the tournament, though, speaks to the human touch of the good ol’ days that seems to be missing so often in our society now.

The same can be said for Iowa Central Community College’s pivotal role in the process. The school has grown so much and welcomed the concept of having nearly the entire tourney field stay on its campus, where players and coaches are able concentrate on the task at hand in a non-traditional, intimate home base of sorts. Again, it’s about making the teams feel like a priority rather than an afterthought.

A contract agreement like this doesn’t happen overnight. Years of conversations, communication and planning have taken state softball from an eight-team, one-class field when it arrived in Fort Dodge 55 years ago to where it stands today: five classes, 40 qualifiers, double-elimination format. The progress has been both incremental and rapid.

Don’t kid yourself, though: a 20-year extension — something long-time Fort Dodge Recreation Services director Lori Branderhorst has always wanted but never been able to tip the scales on until this moment — happens because leaders sit down from both sides, face-to-face, and work together the old-fashioned way. Branderhorst deserves a ton of credit for her insistence on keeping this relationship personal and passionate from the start, but she’d also be the first to tell you she’s only following in the footsteps of her mentors and the lead of the Fort Dodge community.

Critics say it’s an antiquated, unnecessary business model. If so, this news is a victory for people who insist you can still move forward by championing the often-overlooked way things used to be.

Gerlich said, “the love and support we feel during tournament time is unmatched.” The feeling is entirely mutual.

Here’s to 55 years in the books, the next 20 ahead, and a lifetime of memories standing side-by-side together: Fort Dodge and the Iowa Girl.

Eric Pratt is Sports Editor at The Messenger. Contact him via email at sports@messengernews.net, or on Twitter @ByEricPratt