An 8-acre pumpkin patch outside of Jefferson opens Sept. 15 for the fall season. Mike Dailey has had a family-owned and operated farm and pumpkin patch for several years. This year, the pick-your-own pumpkin patch has a new feature – a corn maze.

In July a carved bear was stolen on a Friday between the hours of 3-9 a.m. The owner put a sign out on their bench where the carved bear was missing with a sad face with tears and a message that said, “Please bring my bear back.” Four boys (triplets and their cousin) placed a stuffed bear on my bench Labor Day weekend when the owners were gone. The boy went to the house Saturday, Sept. 10 and knocked on the door to tell the owners they were the ones who replaced my stolen bear. They said, “Don’t worry if this bear is taken, we have three more bears.”

Three fund transfers were approved to “prepay the debt in full” at the Elk Point City Council meeting Sept. 7. All the funds were transferred from the electric fund. The first was prepayment of debt in full on the Sanitary Sewer Revenue Bond Series 2022 for $24,193.16; the second, $37,661.43 for prepayment of debt in full on Wastewater System Revenue Bond Series 2006; and the last, $66,156.99 to the Wastewater System Revenue Bond Series 2008.

An appraisal for the Union County Fairgrounds has been in the works since the June 14 meeting. A commercial appraiser from Sioux Falls was hired not to exceed $8,000 and half was to be repaid by the City of Alcester. However, after hearing nothing from the appraiser and seeing no progress, the Union County Commissioners approved a different appraisal company to handle the work at their meeting Sept. 6. Elwood & Martin Appraisals, LLC was approved to do the appraisal for the fairgrounds on the recommendation of State’s Attorney Jerry Miller.

The Dakota Valley girls soccer team took their varsity roster to Garretson Saturday, Sept. 10. The squad played hard and after a slow start in the first half they were able to claim victory with a 2-0 win over the Blue Dragons. “The first half was very sloppy, the girls were making unusual simple errors and we couldn’t get into a good rhythm,” head coach Jesse Castillo commented. “We were not getting to 50/50 balls, scared to head the ball, the ball was being played too much on our half of the field and turning the ball over too much. But after the half-time break we came out and possessed on their [Garretson’s] half and created chances. It was good to see them bounce back.” An offensive push developed in the second half with Isabella Mijangos scoring twice. She found the net on the first goal off an assist from junior Claire Hemmingsen. Mijangos’s second goal came from an assist by sophomore Emma Deacon. “Izzy Mijangos scored both of the goals and had five shots on goal,” Castillo remarked. “Mijangos, an eighth-grader, is leading the team this year with five goals.” The victory over Garretson marks the fourth win of the season for the Panther girls soccer team.

It was a sweltering hot day for the Canton Invite on Sept. 6, but the Dakota Valley Panthers showed up ready to beat the heat and run.

The boys soccer team for Dakota Valley travelled to Hartford, SD on Sept. 8 to go up against the West Central Trojans on Anderson Field. The Panthers entered the game with high hopes and played well, but unfortunately were not able to come out of the match with a win. Dakota Valley fell to the Trojans 0-4 at the end of regulation.

The first full week of September brought the Panther volleyball squad an away match in Beresford and a busy Saturday of tournament games. All volleyball squads from Dakota Valley travelled to Beresford Sept.

It was a wet Friday Night Lights for the Dakota Valley Panthers as they travelled north to take on Sioux Falls Christian Chargers in a tough football game Sept. 9. It was a back and forth contest that came down to the 4th quarter when scores by the Chargers put the game out of reach. The road game was the first loss for the Panthers this season and the final score was 14-24.

This year’s theater production at Dakota Valley will be Seussical: The Musical. Auditions took place over a threeday period at the end of August with Cody Juffer, the DV middle school and high school theater director, announcing the cast and crew Aug.