PHOTO OF THE DAY: THE YEAR THAT WAS

Whether it was the torrential rains of June, a razor-thin election for mayor, two heart-stopping finishes in the biggest races of the season, or an anniversary 150 years in the making, there was something for everybody in a year gone by.

It was just after 1 p.m. the afternoon of Friday, June 21, and Amy and Ryan Sorensen stood in the middle of the street that runs in front of their Main Street home, wading through water.

Heavy rains had been falling since the day before, filling ditches and fields and, in some cases, spilling over roads and into residential properties. But nobody could have imagined the neighborhood flooding that would come that Friday afternoon, when rural runoff from the south breached the South County Road, filled to capacity the ponds of the Freeman Prairie Arboretum and infiltrated portions of the Freeman community.

And so it was that Amy and Ryan Sorensen, and many others like them, stood by helplessly as the rains came down, waters rose and basements filled in what was the most extreme weather impact since the derecho of 2022 and most extreme rain event, possibly in the history of the Freeman community.

If the 14 inches of rain that fell in a week’s time — 10 of which came in less than 48 hours — wasn’t the biggest story of 2024, it was certainly one of them.

From the impact of weather to special community events to votes that impacted cities and schools, the past 12 months in our communities were sprinkled with unique happenings that helped define a year. Here is a subjective Top 10 Stories of 2024 from the perspective of an editor who helped tell the story of the past year.

10. A new four-way stop.

You might not think that the change in a traffic pattern would generate such headlines, but the controversy regarding the dangerous intersection eight miles south and eight miles east of Menno — the corner of U.S. Highways 81 and 18 known locally as “Meridian Corner” — reached a boiling point in 2024. Triggered by a fatal accident on June 24 that claimed the life of a father and son from Scotland, calls for improved safety measures resurfaced and prompted former South Dakota legislator Frank Kloucek and Meridian Corner restaurant owner Roland Svartoien and manager Abby Streyle to actively seek action from the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

That included a petition containing more than 1,100 signatures in support of either slowing the speed at the high-traffic intersection that asked only west-east bound traffic to stop, or installing a four-way stop.

And, at a meeting in July, the DOT took action by approving the later, and by the end of August, “Meridian Corner” had, not two, but four stop signs.

9. FAM boys just miss state title

The Freeman Academy/Marion boys knew they were going to put up some points when student-athletes assembled for the 2024 South Dakota State Track and Field Championships in Sioux Falls in May. But few could have expected the drama that would unfold on the final day of the May 23-24-25 competition, as the Class B championship came down to a single race.

The Bearcats had secured a 55-49 lead over Gregory in the team standings with just one event to go — the 4×400 relay — and with the Gorillas in that race, they needed a strong finish to score enough points to steal the would-be title from FAM. Here’s how The Courier reported it.

“In what was just about the most dramatic finish to a chase for a title you will ever see, a last-ditch push in the final 50 meters of the 4×400 by Gregory anchorman Luke Stukel took the Gorillas from fourth to second, giving them the points they needed to leapfrog FA/Marion and claim their second consecutive Class B title. Gregory finished with 57 points. FA/Marion finished with 55. ‘It was a great season — just heartbreaking at the end,’ said coach Suzanne Koerner, who despite the disappointment that emerged in literally the closing seconds of the state meet said she is so proud of how far the team came this year.’”

She should have been.

And mark your calendars for the South Dakota State Track and Field Championships of 2025, because the Bearcats will be back — likely with a chip on their shoulder.

8. Expanded agricultural footprint

The year 2024 saw not one, but two major developments in the agricultural industry on the eastern outskirts of Freeman, solidifying the community’s footprint as a leader in the state’s most robust industry. First, in March, S&S Ag Supply was settling into its brand-new headquarters along the eastern edge of Highway 81 on the southeast corner of Freeman — an impressive 21,000 square-foot facility serving as home to the business owned and operated by Steve Schmeichel, his son, Ethan, and daughter Paula VerDouw.

Then, in early September, a brand-new business in the Freeman community — and, really, in all of South Dakota — celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Dakota Protein Solutions located just a mile as the crow flies southeast of S&S Ag Supply. Dakota Protein Solutions was designed and developed by an investment team that includes Freeman businessman Scott Stern and opened as South Dakota’s first non-proprietary animal waste-handling operation.

Both the optics and the impact of S&S Ag Supply and Dakota Proteins Solutions — neighbors along a major north-south corridor through eastern South Dakota — make their opening a hallmark moment for the community’s agricultural industry.

7. Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration

It may not have had the wide-reaching impact it deserved, but the symbolic coming-together of two cultures made possible by Freeman Academy’s Indigenous Peoples’ Celebration in October packed a punch. The heart of the event was a song and dance performance by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of northwest South Dakota and context provided by David Flute, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations.

It took place inside the Sterling Hall gymnasium on the Freeman Academy campus and unfolded in front of the eyes and ears of nearly 700 students from Freeman’s two schools, as well as Marion, Menno and Scotland.

The unique event came at the invitation and coordination of Freeman Academy’s 1-2 classroom teacher Karla Rupp, who earlier in the year had attended a continuing education event that included the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations. That Rupp and the community would be interested and willing to host such an event meant a great deal to Sec. Flute. Here’s part of The Courier’s reporting of the Oct. 18 event.

“I wanted to do this because of the work they did to host us,” Flute said of Rupp and the team around her who managed the multitude of logistics that led to the event. “That’s how it all came to be, but it also gives testament to (all) our community members here in South Dakota that want to learn more about the Indian Country and our Indian people, and that can be tough to do sometimes because of the political landscape. It’s just a blessing to have a community put politics aside and not care about anything other than sharing a culture.”

6. Shrek The Musical

Shrek??? That was likely the reaction of many when they heard that the 2024 Schmeckfest musical would focus on an animated story about a big green ogre and his quest to find a place in what can be a cruel and unfair world. But that was the choice by first-year director Iwona Lewter — and by all accounts it was one of the most revolutionary and beloved stage productions ever to grace the Schmeckfest stage.

Between the big staging, the playful costumes and the surprisingly sweet story, “Shrek The Musical” helped make last year’s Schmeckfest one for the books and will likely be talked about for years to come. Here is part of the review carried by The Courier in the March 21, 2024 issue.

“The show killed — an absolute and 100% blockbuster. And it wasn’t just because of the four outstanding leads who split the stole-the-show-trophy among them: Joshua Hofer as Shrek, Brennan Waltner as Donkey, Evan Waltner as Lord Farquaad and Clara (Koerner) Beseman as Princess Fiona. It was because the overall value of the production — from the acting and orchestra to the visual design and sound, and straight through the overall execution — dropped a critical message right into the laps of the 1,700 audience members who collectively gathered in the house of Pioneer Hall over three nights last week: Everybody has worth.”

5. The Election of 2024

No, not the presidential election of this past November, but the local city/school election of April 9, 2024 — specifically, the race for mayor of Freeman that came down to just two votes. In an election that featured races for the city of Freeman and school boards at both Freeman Public and Marion, incumbent Michael Walter edged challenger Cody Fransen 190 to 188 in the race for Freeman’s top administrative position. The nod for Walter sent him back into office for a third consecutive two-year term and fourth overall; he also served as the city’s mayor from 1990 to 1992.

“I’m very thankful,” Walter told The Courier after the election. “I will gladly serve and I’m happy to serve and will do so to the best of my ability; I feel I still have a lot to offer and I’m still driven. I love Freeman. It’s all I know and it’s onward and upward. I’m glad to be involved.”

The April 9 election also included:

A win for Ward I challenger Erin Lachman over incumbent Charles Gering;

Ward 3 city council Terry Jacobsen over challenger Shelly Wanninger;

Freeman School Board incumbent Emily Andersen and challenger Chris Sayler over incumbent Doug McCune;

And Marion School Board incumbents Scott Tieszen and Jared Schmidt over challengers Kyle Goosen and Dave Pankratz.

4. A 150th anniversary 

The year was 1874 when a wave of German immigrants who had been living in Russia and Ukraine make the journey through Europe, across the Atlantic into the new territory of America, eventually settling in a westward expansion that included Dakota Territory. These were families of Mennonite, Lutheran and Reformed faith, and their homesteading effort was certainly not limited to the Freeman community.

But it was the Swiss Mennonites — specifically, those associated with the Salem and Salem-Zion congregations east of Freeman — who chose to mark that migration with a 150th anniversary celebration in September. Hosted by the Salem-Zion (North) Mennonite Church over two days, it included a look at the anabaptist movement and what that meant for the people of that faith, and featured an extensive history presentation by Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.

Actually, the local museum had taken a lead role in the observance in the months leading up to the September celebration through a series of history programs tracing the anabaptist’s journey prior to 1874, and the migration story itself.

“Our forebears, by faith, left their homeland and persevered through difficult conditions to establish a new community,” said Corey Miller, pastor of the Salem-Zion Mennonite Church who helped lead and organize the celebration. “Like the small mustard seed that grows into a large tree, our faith family has grown and multiplied beyond what our forebears could have imagined.”

3. Marion voters reject bond

Citing an outdated and inefficient campus, the Marion School Board in 2024 put a plan in front of the voters that they believed would carry the district well into the future, and voters said “no.”

Twice.

First in January, a general obligation bond that would have infused $6.5 million in new tax revenue to help pay for an $11.6 million capital project failed to gain the 60% majority required for passage, and then in June, a second bond issue — this one for $6 million — failed a second time.

The first received 51.55% approval. The second? 48.57%.

School officials in Marion seemed resigned to the fact that the super majority of voters simply didn’t approve of new taxes to help pay for an improvement project and — while disappointed — appeared to be OK with it. Here’s reporting from The Courier on June 13, 2024.

“This community is going to go on and this school district is going to go on,” said Marion School Board President Scott Tieszen. “Now we need to do what’s best for the kids and for the school.”

What that looks like remains to be seen, of course, but Tieszen said the work that was done in partnership with stakeholders and CO-OP Architecture is valuable, regardless of what the new direction looks like.

“That was not wasted time, because it has given us a lot of valuable information,” he said of all the work that has been done up to this point. “We’re still looking at all the components of Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, but they won’t be done as they were listed out. We might pick this thing, pick that thing and pick this thing based on what we have found is priority and what can give us the most benefit.”

2. Finley McConniel wins state

Anybody who had been paying attention to Class B cross-country this past fall knew that the race for this year’s champion would likely come down to two runners: Marion senior Finley McConniel and Mitchell Christian sophomore Silas Holdeman. But few could have imagined the finish that would come.

Competing at Hart Ranch in Rapid City the afternoon of Oct. 24, McConniel, who had won more times than not, and Holdeman, the defending Class B state cross-country champion, battled back and forth and were running toe-to-toe through the final meters of the 5,000-meter course. In the end, McConniel edged Holdeman 16:45.97 to 16:46.00 — a 0.03-second win confirmed by a Dakota Timing photo finish. The scene that ensued surrounding McConniel, his family and fans was a cocktail of authentic joy and wide-eyed surprise.

Here’s reporting from The Courier, quoting McConniel.

“I don’t even know, I’m just … I didn’t think I was going to get him at the end,” he said, still winded from the race as family, friends and teammates gathered around him aflutter with joy. “(Silas) took off again (toward the end) and I was like, ‘uh-oh,’ and then I just kept going faster and faster, but I didn’t think I got him at the end.

“It was a great race — holy smokes,” McConniel continued, the reality of the moment appearing to finally settle in. “I finally did it; I finally won a championship. So proud.”

1. Those June rains

When Amy and Ryan Sorensen stood shin-deep in the middle of the street that runs in front of their home, there was an uncanny sense of both urgency and complacency. Their basement was filling with water — and there was nothing they could do about it.

That feeling was shared by dozens — probably thousands across the larger region — as the rains of the third week of June swept across the Upper Midwest. Major weather events had been the story of more recent years past, be it the winter of 1997, the drought of 2012 or the derecho of 2022. But the flooding was — shocking.

Many were forced to clean up from a decimated basement. Cities and counties studied drainage patterns. Farmers battled flooded fields and dealt with the impact come harvest. And everybody just kind of shook their head.

What was that? And is it going to happen again?