Looking back at 2019 - July to December

What a second half of the year. Especially weather-wise!

JULY

The Marcus P. Beebe Memorial Library announced that it had received a $1,500 grant from the Midco Foundation.

Three Ipswich High School FBLA members Avery Sylte, Lexi Stafford and Tessa Kilber indeed attended the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Tex. from June 29 to July 3.

Mina Lake hosted its annual Freedom Fest, including fireworks to help celebrate the Fourth of July.

Pastor Ron and Kaye Wickard of the Richland Wesleyan Church were honored on July 7 at the church for their 40th year in the pastoral ministry. And while on the subject of the ministry a Holy Cross priest Fr. Russell Homic returned to his home state Michigan to serve a parish there and he was replaced by Fr. Timothy Smith.

It was certainly a good year for lawns and gardens and a Minnesota nurseryman and author Eric Bergeson gave a talk on July 9 at the bandshell in Ipswich on gardening and planting.

The Ipswich Care and Rehab nursing home facility in Ipswich, along with 15 other locations in South Dakota has been acquired by Legacy Healthcare of Skokie, Ill. and renamed Avantara Ipswich.

The Aberdeen Aqua Addicts water-ski team placed fourth overall in their regional competition in Waterloo, Ia., led by two MVPs Abby VanLiere and Todd Thorson.

The 4-H Achievement Days were held in Ipswich from July 31 to August 2 at the 4-H grounds in Ipswich. Myra Toennies was the Queen and Nathan Preszler the King. And the Cloverbud Princess was Layla Fuller, while Ben Hoyle was the Cloverbud Prince. Many project and livestock exhibitors would later attend the State Fair in Huron, where they also did quite well.

AUGUST

Aberdeen's Storybook Land Theatre performed "Ivy + Bean the Musical" at the Band Shell in Ipswich on August 7.

"Touch A Truck" night was held on August 7 at the north baseball field and the proceeds went towards the new youth football program.

Before football, though, there were still possibly a summer bat and ball tournament or two to be decided, including the Junior Legion baseball outcome. And the W.I.N. team placed third in their regional, thereby qualifying them for the state tourney in Groton beginning on August 9.

Yes, August was Back-to-School month, including fall sports pre-season practices and games. But there were still some non-sports-related area summer events on the calendar, including a summer dance recital performed by the students of Ashley Geist-Cusick on August 25 at the Ipswich School Theater.

And speaking of school, there were a couple of Ipswich staff changes worth noting this year, Carolyn Burgod coming out of retirement as a part-time librarian and Brittney Phillips a new third-grade teacher.

The Pioneer Village and the Parmley House held their respective open houses on August 18.

District 23 State Senator Justin Cronin announced his notice of resignation from the Senate on August 28 and Governor Kristi Noem then appointed John Lake, a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, to fill the vacant legislative seat. Noem later appointed James (JD) Wangsness to the House to fill the Lake vacancy.

Morris Grosz got a Hole in One at the Split Rock course on the seventh hole.

SEPTEMBER

The annual Powell Church service was held on September 15 at the Pioneer Village in Ipswich.

The National Honor Society held its induction on September 16 in the Ipswich School Theater and there were 18 brand new members, swelling the total membership ranks to 24.

The Ipswich Lions brought their vision van to area schools and Hutterite Colonies in mid-September for screening pre-school through high school students. The Ipswich Lions have also been honored as the District 5 SW Club of the Year.

Homecoming week in Ipswich was September 23-27, beginning on coronation night with Tessa Kilber crowned queen and Maxwell Geditz crowned king. The rest of the Royal Court included Grace Beyers, Mckenzie Evans, Avery Sylte and William Kadlec, Carter Heinz and Ethan Gilbert. There was a colorful parade and varsity sports featuring a homecoming football win by the Ipswich/Edmunds Central Tigers over North Border.

Another sports highlight of September was that Ipswich won its own September 21 invitational volleyball tourney, winning all of its four matches that day including the title match over Langford Area.

The Edmunds County 4-Hers held their Cloverbud Open House for prospective members on September 29 in the Edmunds County 4-H Building.

The South Dakota Dept. of Transportation began asphalt concrete work on Highway 12 from Roscoe to Ipswich. Traffic was reduced to one lane, controlled by flaggers and pilot car.

OCTOBER

Forty-three middle-school music students from Ipswich attended the 10th annual Northwestern Middle-School Music Festival on October 15 in Mellette.

But due to the early onset of winter weather, the award-winning Ipswich Marching Band under the direction of Becky Nierman, wasn't able to attend either the Gypsy Day parade or the Groton festival, because they were both cancelled due to the inclement weather. But Aberdeen Roncalli put together its own invitational festival on October 18 and the Ipswich band placed second overall in that competition, second only to the Roncalli band. And Ipswich was awarded the Best Drum Line honor. The Ipswich band had earlier got to march in the Edmunds Central homecoming parade, though, as well as Ipswich's own homecoming parade.

Laura Ptacek has started her own business "Kids Again" Consignment Store on Highway 12 in Ipswich.

Hunting season attracted a flock of hunters in search of pheasants.

There were also plenty of Halloween-related events and activities to close out the month.

Meanwhile, October marked the beginning of the fall sports post-season drama, starting with cross country. The IHS girls did rather well during the cross county season, including conference and regional titles, capped by a sixth-place finish at the State B. They were led by a pair of top-25 medalists there, senior Tessa Kilber in eighth and Ashlinn Hartwell, just medaling at 25th. For the boys, meanwhile, senior Maxwell Geditz was unable to compete during the latter portion of the season and post-season, due to a sinus infection that required surgery and so they were only represented by the Thorson cousins, Taylor and Turner, at the B. And Taylor Thorson indeed individually medaled in 19th place.

The Ipswich/Edmunds Central football team also qualified for the play-offs with a 4-5 mark.The Tigers traveled to Britton to face Britton-Hecla in the first-round of the 9A playoffs, but the host team captured a win to conclude the Tigers' record at 4-6.

The Special Olympics Bowling team from the Ipswich area also did really well during their fall events.

NOVEMBER

All-State Choir members from Ipswich traveled to Sioux Falls on November 1-2 for their annual event. The Ipswich members were Jayna Sanborn, Kylee Sanborn, Gavin Wollman and Jacob Bakken with Jessica Pullman as an alternate. The Elementary Honor Choir representatives also there that week from Ipswich included Charli Rawden, John Blondo, Bella Unser, Jalyssa Hutson, Anna Nierman, Gracyn Kadlec and Hope Wagner. Praise Lange was also chosen for the choir, but had moved at the time.

The local Snow Queen Contest, sponsored by the Ipswich Commercial Club, was held on November 10 in the school theater and Avery Sylte was crowned the Queen. The Ipswich Junior Miss is Ashley Ptacek. That pair of winners advance to the January state contests. And the Senior Snow Queen was Wilma Williams. There were also talent contests won by Jayna Sanborn with Tessa Kilber second in the senior division and Kylee Sanbord first in the junior division with Gracyn Kadlec placing second. Meanwhile, the Mystery Snowman turned out to be Lonnie Steen.

And what more can you say about the 2019 Ipswich volleyball team under Coach Trent Osborne that hasn't already been said? Thanks to their Region 2B parallel bracket championship victory, the Lady Tigers indeed made their first appearance in SoDak 16 play, one step away from a State B berth. But Burke narrowly edged Ipswich in straight sets on November 12 in Chamberlain to clinch its own trip to the State B in Rapid City. The Lady Tigers, meanwhile, finished their season at 20-7 and should already be looking forward to next season with a solid nucleus of experienced netters.

The new Tiger Post is taking shape and it was announced that the South Dakota Community Foundation has awarded a $10,000 South Dakota Fund grant to the Tiger Post that could help support interior upgrades to the new facility.

The Edmund County 4-H Recognition Event was held on November 24 at the 4-H building in Ipswich.

Also on November 24 a Twin Cities area band "Sinatra & Company: That Holiday Feeling" performed a concert in the Ipswich School Theater.

The fall sports programs were history, but not the post-season recognition. There were all sorts of post-season mention for all three sports, starting at the LRC league level, a highly competitive conference to say the least (especially in volleyball, where Chesney Olivier was first-team, as well as being mentioned on the All-State listing and Avery Sylte, second team). Meanwhile, the LRC All Conference football list included these Tigers - Carter Heinz, Ethan Gilbert and Josh McQuarie, while Carson Gohl was honorable mention.

DECEMBER

And still speaking of sports, both the Ipswich girls and boys basketball teams have been competitive so far this season. And the wrestling team has experienced some success as well, with improved numbers.

Meanwhile, the Ipswich Commercial Club ushered in the holiday season with a "Hometown Holiday Weekend" promotion, featuring Ipswich area businesses and organizations. This took place on December 5-6-7 and included a Friday evening Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the courthouse, including some high school carolers. It was very well attended and so was the Saturday Highway of Hope Holiday Fair, which attracted many bargain hunters looking for that special Christmas present.

There was a postponed fundraiser benefit for the family of Maxwell Geditz rescheduled to December 8 in the school gym.

The month of December also included various area concerts that were able to be held, but the elementary concert and the Ipswich Has Talent Concert had to be postponed into January.

The Ipswich Commercial Club sponsored its annual Christmas lighting contest, despite some inclement weather during the holiday season. The winners were: Religious: Diane and Bob Geditz Jr .; Best Use of Lights: Sharon and Jim Engler and Contemporary: Angie and Scott Kulesa. And maybe Jim Engler had some extra time for some last-minute touch-ups, due to his recent retirement after a lengthy career as a dentist.