Iroquois, SD

Our electronic sign is finally in and running!! What a fantastic addition to our town. If anyone is coming our way from out of town, slow down a little and check it out. Some landscaping needs to be done yet but we have some gals trained on using it and following our annual Sports Day we’ll get the necessary downloads and it will be ready for community posting. Right now we’re using it to advertise the schedule for the Sports Day weekend, July 11, 12 and 13th. This sign is a direct result of our Horizons Study Circles and the assessment of community needs that resulted from that. Thanks to all participants in those Study Circles. Great things DO happen when people get together and discuss things.

As I am writing this, we are in the process of painting a house for a gentleman who is disabled. Volunteers are scraping the house, getting it ready to paint. One of our Community club members has a paint sprayer and has volunteered to paint it.
A beautiful cool evening last night allowed us to get a good start.
As part of our strategic plan, we want to beautify our little town, one house at a time.
Flowers have also been planted around town to help spruce up the town.
We want to have everything done in time for our sports day events that will be held in July.

We went on our field to trip DeSmet to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites.  We didn’t let the wet weather dampen our spirits.  At the LIW Society, we toured the Surveyor’s Shanty, Brewster’s School, and the house that Pa built.  We ate our sack lunches at the homestead site before continuing our tour.  We got to make butter, grind wheat into flour, shell corn off the cob, make rope and corncob dolls, and twist hay.  But…the most fun of all was riding in a covered wagon to the country school.  Each one of us had a turn to drive the team, even Mrs. Wienbar!  The horses’ names were Skip and Barnum, just like Almanzo’s.  We’ll remember this day for a long time to come!

We posed for this picture without smiling, just like pioneers!

The first graders, along with the preschool, kindergarten, and second grade classes of Iroquois Elementary went on their field trip. They went to Brookings for a day to enjoy the fine arts. The day started by touring the Harvey Dunn Art Museum. The kids were able to go on a scavenger hunt to find items that were hidden in the paintings. After the museum, we loaded up and headed to Burger King for lunch. We then raced back to the campus to watch the play Aladdin. The play was filled with singing, crowd participation, and a flying carpet! When the play was over, we went to the park. The first graders had a great time on their trip. We would like to thank the school, Donny DeJong, the Iroquois PTO, and our parent volunteers for helping make this a fun day for our students.

This year’s Sports Day will be held July 12 and 13 in Iroquois. We are once again going to have a Town and Country Showcase in the Fire Hall. If anyone is interested in setting up a booth, please contact Marlys Peskey at 546-2359 or 546-2426. We would love to have you be a part of this year’s summer event.
In addition to the T & C showcase, there will be lots of exciting things happening in Iroquois that weekend. A parade will kick off the day on Saturday starting at 10 am with the theme, ” Small town, big dream”. there will be mud drag races, bed races, kid’s games, just to name a few.
Last year’s event was very successful.

Iroquois will once again hold a city wide clean up day on Saturday, April 27th at 9:00 am. The dumpster will be by city hall starting on Monday, April 21st. We could use a crew to help go around the town and clean up our town. Bring your gloves and pickups.
we can have dinner at the Pancake Benefit Breakfast that will be held at the Legion Hall that Saturday from 8-1 pm.

Our Iroquois Horizons/Community Club, and Sports Day Committee held a joint planning meeting Monday night. Cheryl Jacobs of the SDSU Cooperative Extension Services was present to discuss the completion of the Horizons Project in the Iroquois Community. Committees reviewed their progress on community goals and objectives in the strategic plan.

Setting up park benches is one project currently underway. Community members may donate money to purchase a park bench in memory of someone. Benches will be placed in Woodall Park, at the school playground, and near the sand volleyball pit and horseshoe pits.

A chain link fence has been donated to the Iroquois Day Care. Volunteers are needed to help move and set up the fence.

A pancake feed is being planned for April 27, at the Legion, as a fundraiser for R.J. Frankfurth, who was recently injured in a car accident.

Sports Day will be held July 11, 12, and 13. Four Wheeler races are being planned for Friday night. Saturday’s events will begin with a “Walk for Life.” A parade will be held later in the morning with the theme “Small Town, Big Dreams.” Bed races will follow the parade on main street. The Iroquois Heritage Museum will be open on Saturday with living history activities for kids of all ages. A town and country show will be held on Saturday, with exhibitors selling their products. Softball, volleyball, and horseshoe events will be held at the park. Saturday evening a kids’ movie will be shown and a street dance will be held. The class of 1988 will hold its 20 year reunion. Sunday morning, a community church service will be held in the park. Mud drag races will be held later in the day. The Sports Day committee will continue to meet monthly to finalize plans.

The next Horizons/Community Club meeting will be held Tuesday, May 6, in the high school library. All interested individuals are encouraged to attend.
Monday, April 7th a meeting was held.

Goal 1 of Iroquois’ Strategic plan is community enhancement.  Our objectives are to create murals within our community, plant trees and flowers, make park benches, complete the volleyball and horseshoe pits in the park, plan seasonal decorating, complete the electronic sign, and continuous updates of the town’s website.  Committee members planning these projects are: Megan, Marlys, Mary, and Donna. 

On Monday,March 3rd these two groups met and decided to merge into one group. We broke into several committees that will begin the action part of our strategic plan. Different people volunteered for different objectives. we will meet again on Monday, April 7th to see the progress that is being made. Our plan is to meet monthly. If you have not got involved with either group yet, we invite you to come and be a part of an agressive group that wants to improve our town.

the active generation joined the school kids today for a delicious Easter dinner held here at the school. 31 adults came and ate at the school. the FACS class made the placemats for the tables and helped serve the meal. the 3rd and 4th graders entertained the group by reading poems. they also colored and decorated some nut cups for the tables. It was a good day to get out and enjoy a meal and visit with friends. we are so happy to have them here.
we also want to thank the cooks for providing and excellent meal.