Iroquois, SD

An electronic sign will be installed this spring along highway 14.  Businesses, groups, and individuals will be able to use this sign to let others know what’s happening in our town.  The completion of this project will be possible only through the efforts of the entire community.  Fundraisers are being planned in March.  The elementary students are currently collecting coins toward this effort.  Any business, group, or individual wishing to contribute toward the sign may drop off their donation at the Farmers and Merchants State Bank. 

Iroquois school had a new experience this year with the addition of Wrestling. We had a boy transfer here from Custer for his Senior year that was a wrestler. After doing the paper work and getting a coach, Sherman Gose, a new sport was born. This year, in addition to Ben Bishop, 3 other wrestlers joined the team. they were: Sophomore: Eric Haarstad, Freshman: Dale Rounds, and 7th grader: Reagan Francom.
The boys really learned alot this year. Ben was already a great wrestler, so his experience really helped the younger boys get started.
Ben made it to state and finished in 8th place. We are so proud of him and the whole team.

Iroqouis Elementary is helping the community raise funds for the electronic sign by bringing in spare change from home and filling milk jugs.  Our goal is to fill seven jugs by the end of the school year.  Each time a jug is filled a class will be chosen to take it to the bank to watch it go through the electronic counter.  With seven classes in our school we are hoping that each class will get a turn to make the trip to the bank.

After a week of collecting we are finding that it takes a lot of change to fill a jug and that it gets HEAVY very fast.   

This activity gets our students involved in making our community a better place to live.  We can’t wait to see the sign and think it will be fun to see our birthday announced!

Along with two others from Iroquois and a representative of BASEC from Yale, I attended the Housing Seminar in Howard on February 19. We started off the evening with a delicious meal and then moved into a presentation from the Rural Learning Center in Howard. That Center is studying rural ways of living and in particular for this seminar, the need to re-think rural housing.The next section of the seminar focused on agencies and people who are available to help with housing needs in our area. Represented were USDA Rural Development, Iroquois Housing, BASEC of Yale, SD, Rural Learning Center of Howard, HUD (Housing and Urban Development), SDHDA (South Dakota Housing Development Authority), NESDCAP (Northeast South Dakota Community Action Project)and the planning districts were also mentioned as resources. Each agency spoke briefly on progams available from them. The programs available are too long to list here but are extensive from fix-up projects to new homes with attractive loan rates. If you have housing needs contact any of these agencies or Iroquois Housing and we’ll try to help steer you in the right direction. I have contact information for the agencies listed. This seminar was a prime example of a word we’ve heard many times since beginning our Horizons study, “networking”. Here we had the chance to talk to people in charge of administering programs as well as talk to people from other towns in our area who all have the exact concerns we here in Iroquois do; how do we expand affordable housing to all who wish it? The ideas were many, the problems are many, but none are so overwhelming that the hurdles cannot be overcome. Let’s all keep working together to make rural South Dakota a great place to live!

Check out the comment on the Sanborn Central site concerning the Affordable Housing Seminar to be held in Howard, SD on Feb. 19. Many “experts” on housing in SD will be there and also a couple of us from Iroquois Housing will be in attendance to relay our experiences in creative housing and hopefully bring home some new ideas. Please check it out and if interested, attend. It’s going to take all of us, in all our communities, to overcome the housing problems of small town SD.

The Iroquois Community Club met tonight at the High School Library.  The Iroquois Community Club and Horizons group agreed to join forces to promote our community and its activities.  We have decided to set up a calling tree to remind people of our meetings.  Upcoming events include our Horizons Celebration on Saturday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the south gym of the school.  We are asking for volunteers to meet on the 9th at 5:00 p.m. to help set up. 

Other upcoming community events:

Sports Day Planning Meeting, Monday, February 11,  7:00 p.m. at the city hall.

Community Club Meeting, Monday, March 3,  7:00 p.m. at the city hall.  (Please note the change of location)

Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, March 22, 2-4 p.m. at the school gyms.

The city of Iroquois is getting an electronic sign to be placed on Highway 14 near the Country Store. This is a joint effort of the Horizons group, city of Iroquois, Community Club and many citizens of the town. Hopefully we’ll be erecting the sign as soon as the weather moderates. It will be a two (2) line display facing both directions and will be an attractive light orange in color.

Q: In what ways is your community more aware of it’s strengths or assests?
A: I think the more we get to know the people in our community, the more we know their capabilities. The selling point in any community is to ask people to get involved in whatever project you may have.
This was made evident when our grocery store in town was about to close. People got together and talked about ways they could keep it open. As a result, a local family decided to buy it and keep it open. they are now in the process of remodeling it.
I think that the study circles that we had really drew the community together. As we would be talking in our various groups, many leadership qualities came to light. as a result, people were communicating about different things that they wanted to see happen in our town.

My mom and stepdad love decorating for the holidays - Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and whatever else they can come up with. I can remember growing up on our farm outside of Carthage, Mom always put up a lot of Christmas lights. You could see our house for miles. And since we have moved to Iroquois, she puts more and more up each year. The whole west side of town is lit up!

People drive from other towns to see their lighted displays. Their house is always a favorite on our Tour of Lights. You have to make a few trips around the block to see it all!

I am due to have my first child at the end of March. And I know that he or she will grow up thinking that grandma lives at the North Pole!

Iroquois will soon be getting a new electronic sign on the east end of Hwy. 14, thanks to the Iroquois City, Iroquois Area Community Club, Horizons, and area businesses. At this time, the plans are to charge a small fee to advertise on this sign. This will be a great way to show people that live here, and people traveling through our small town the activities that are taking place.