Jayden Jacobsen, Jonathan Law and Zac Sayler will stand for king and Brooklyn Mendel, Kate Miller and Erin Uecker will be candidates for queen when Freeman Public opens its traditional homecoming week with coronation Monday night, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Junior emcees will be Ava Andersen and Evan Scharberg.

Freeman Police Chief Scott Brewer is reminding the public that a double yellow striped centerline painted last week on the city’s new Main Street means that drivers cannot cross that line while traveling north or south on the roadway. That includes making a U-turn at the intersections of Main and Fourth and Main and Third, and also attempting an illegal maneuver to park on the other side of the street.

A vehicle that passed the Freeman Public School marching band at a good clip while they were practicing for homecoming on Thursday has band leader Sheila Wipf concerned. “Those kids who were on that side of the road, they felt it,” she said. “There wasn’t much slowing down; he was going at least 20 miles per hour.”

With a large pack of junior high runners behind her, Angelyn Allison leads the way on her dirt bike at the Freeman Academy Cross County Invitational at the Prairie Arboretum Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 7. The junior high race and junior varsity featured a combined boys and girls race, which was followed by the girls varsity and then the boys varsity. Results will be posted when they are available. 

Since it opened as a 16-bed hospital in 1952, the health care facility known today as Freeman Regional Health Services (FRHS) has been serving the people of the Freeman community and surrounding area with services that have changed with the times. That included a 30-bed addition to the hospital in 1959, the addition of an extended care and rehabilitation center in 1971 and countless other improvements in the years and decades that followed — including what was known as “The Connection Project” that was completed in 1994 that set the local health care facility up a new era to come.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER Freeman Regional Health Services wants to hear from you. No, Freeman Regional Health Services needs to hear from you. Leadership teams at the local health care facility are both inviting and urging those from across the area to respond to a survey that is part of the facility’s Community Health Needs Assessment — an every-three-year process required by the Affordable Care Act for all critical access hospitals.

With the shell built, work is continuing inside The Hanger, the wrestling/multi-purpose facility being constructed at Freeman Public Schools. This photo is looking north and was taken through the door separating the elementary gym from the new room. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

If Phoenix football wasn’t the talk of the town before, it certainly deserves to be in the conversation now. Competing in just their third game as a cooperative, the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy football team knocked off No. 2 Avon in Class 9AA action Friday night, Sept. 2. The Phoenix built a 22-0 halftime lead and hung on for 34-24 win on the road to improve to 3-0 on the season. The Pirates fell to 2-1.

Most of Freeman's business district is now open to traffic. In an email sent to downtown property owners Saturday morning, Sept. 3, the city of Freeman's development and market coordinator Carol Eisenbeis said the roadway and sidewalks are now open from Fifth to Third Street (Mr. G's to Et Cetera Shoppe corner), although lines won't be painted for another week. While pedestrian traffic has been maintained, the streets have been closed to vehicles since work began in early May.

For many, the reality that summer is drawing to a close is an unsettling prospect. Fleeting are those long daylight hours, those backyard barbecues, the relaxation that comes with camping and boating and the childhood freedom that even adults can still feel. While I harbor some of those thoughts, I’m ready to say goodbye to the days of summer and welcome a new season. Fall is, after all, my favorite of all the months.