Sports

It was an up-and-down summer for Dickinson County baseball squads, as area teams combined to go 24-46 overall. A total of 11 area baseball athletes earned postseason awards. Okoboji added three to its win total from 2018, finishing two games under .500 for the season. The Pioneers got out to a solid start, going 9-5 in the first 14 games, but finished the season 3-9 in the final 12...

Dickinson County softball stars shined this summer. Area squads combined to go 39-41 overall, winning one conference title. Twelve area athletes earned postseason awards, including a pair of all-state and all-district selections. Spirit Lake netted a sixth consecutive Lakes Conference crown in 2018 and made its third straight appearance in the Class 3A regional championship. For their efforts, six Indians earned postseason recognition...

Spirit Lake took 10th-ranked Estherville Lincoln Central down to the wire in the Class 2A district semifinal Thursday, but the Midgets came away with a 2-0 win over the Indians, ending their season. The game that was originally supposed to be played Tuesday in Estherville saw a pair of postponements before ultimately moving an hour south to Pocahontas due to rainy conditions in Emmet County. ...

Okoboji's district baseball tournament run came to a close in Pocahontas Thursday. The Pioneers suffered a 10-1 loss to Pocahontas Area. The Indians jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first and one more in the second. Okoboji pushed one across in the top half of the fifth, but Poky answered with three runs in the bottom half of the frame and four more in the sixth to pull ahead...

Thousands of residents and visitors alike spent the fourth annual Okoboji Blue Water Festival reveling in activities and events surrounding clean water. The list ranged from sidewalk art murals, to family activities as well as 33 clean water groups and businesses lined along the promenade. Visitors found a fishing seminar, a touring group of actors presenting "Nature: A Walking Play" and a panel on clean water issues. An evening of great music was highlighted by the music icon Bruce Hornsby...

Snapping turtles are Iowa's largest turtle species, but they’re so much more than their tough demeanor. Here are some things you should know about these awesome reptiles. The environment impacts the snapping turtles' breeding — so much so that after eggs are laid, they can take anywhere from 55 to 120 days to hatch. ...

As I traveled last Thursday morning (Aug. 8) for the Prairie Lakes Conference field tour on the newly acquired Wallace and Bowers Nature Area on the north side of Big Spirit Lake, I wondered what I would find. As I turned south on the entrance road to Shore Acres, I saw the traditional corn and bean fields you see all across northwest Iowa. ...

It was almost a year ago last summer that I got to spend a day on the water chasing largemouth bass with Mike Frisch. Some, maybe much of the time, when we think about late summer fishing for largemouth we think weedlines and crankbaits or jigworms. However, throwing artificial frogs in shallow water can be equally productive, very visual, and will often get the bigger bass to hit...