Plan ahead for how much fun kids can have this summer at the Dickinson County Nature Center in Okoboji as registration for summer camps opens online March 1.
Children ages 4-18 have the opportunity to get outside with a variety of summer camps offered this year.

Congratulations go out to the Spirit Lake Vocal Jazz Ensemble for being selected to the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships to be held on March 28 at West Des Moines Valley High School. Through a video submission of the group, they were determined to be one of the eight best vocal jazz groups in class 3A in the state of Iowa.

This week Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake) met with members of the Clay County Trail Association and Okoboji Bike Club. The group was visiting the Capitol to talk with legislators about rider safety. Pictured here are Kurt Ball and Donna Ball of Dickens, Mary and Mark Fairchild of Greenville, Rep. John Wills of Spirit Lake as well as Kathy Renken and Dan Renken of Okoboji.

Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake) met with Shelly Sindt of the Elderbridge Agency on Aging. Sindt of Fostoria was visiting the Capitol to talk with legislators about Area Agencies on Aging.

This week Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake) met with students who shadowed the Iowa House of Representatives legislative pages for the day. The students were visiting the Capitol to talk with legislators and learn about the legislative page opportunities available at the Capitol. Pictured here are Rep. Wills with Sunny Duffney and Tessa Reed of Spirit Lake.

Congratulations were extended to the members of the Spirit Lake High School Jazz Band for placing fifth at the NWIBA District Jazz Festival on Monday, Feb. 20 in Le Mars. The public is invited to come and hear the band at 7 p.m. Monday, March 13 at the Spirit Lake Jazz Show in the Sami Bedell Center for the Performing Arts.

An open meeting of the Milford Memorial Library board of trustees will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 1. A free computer class will be led by Jeff Cookinham after the meeting.
The Milford Memorial Library adult craft series is back. Join MML director Beth Sorenson for "Recycled CD Sun Catchers" from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, at the library. Registration for this event is required and the cost to participate is $2. Contact the library for more information.

Former Spirit Lake athlete Taylor Sieperda recently helped the Kansas women's swimming and diving team to a program-best finish at the Big 12 Championship in Austin, Texas. The Jayhawks earned a runner-up finish for the second year in a row, this time with a program-best 683.5 points.

The Boji Mammoths hockey team won two of its final three games to end its inaugural season on a high note, besting Aberdeen in a pair before losing to Fremont in the season finale.
The Mammoths beat Aberdeen 4-3 on Saturday, Feb. 18 and 4-1 on Sunday, Feb. 19, before losing 8-1 to Fremont on Saturday, Feb. 25.
In the three-game stretch, Max Carlson scored two goals and dished out two assists.

Iowa Lakes men's basketball coach Troy Larson notched his 200th career win on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in a 77-74 win over Iowa Western Community College. Larson is in his 10th season as the Lakers' head coach.

The court process has been delayed for a care provider accused of misconduct with a waiver home resident in Spirit Lake.
Danielle Shadle, 40, of Harris, was charged with sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist on Friday, Oct. 25. Officers took her into custody at 1808 Jackson Avenue, which is the location of Echo Plus Inc. in Spirit Lake.

Butterflies, bees of all kinds, hummingbirds, moths and ants are all pollinators, affecting the entire food source on planet earth.
"We are losing our pollinators at an alarming rate," Dickinson County Conservation Board Executive Director Lee Sorenson, said. "It is an international problem with a 58 percent decline in the honeybee population in the past 59 years and a 90 percent decline in monarch butterflies in the last 20 years alone."

The Spirit Lake boys basketball team's season came to a close Saturday night, as the fifth-ranked Indians fell 59-34 to Sergeant Bluff-Luton in the Class 3A district tournament championship.

Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire junior Kolton Roth celebrates following a miraculous last-second win over Martensdale-St. Mary's Joshua Tibbits in Saturday's consolation semifinals. Roth was one of three Dickinson County wrestlers to place at the IHSAA State Wrestling Tournament, joining Spirit Lake Park teammates John Tuttle and Dakoda Powell.

In each of his three trips to Wells Fargo Arena, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Kolton Roth has climbed higher and higher on the Class 1A podium. After missing the podium as a freshman, and placing fifth as a sophomore, the GT/RA junior capped off his most recent appearance at "The Well" with a fourth-place finish at 132 pounds this past week.
Roth went 3-2 at the three-day tournament, losing his final match to third-place finisher Cooper Siebrecht of Lisbon.