JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER As recently as two years ago, Ryan Mews hadn’t even heard of Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A), let alone appreciated all that it has to offer. But as circumstance would have it, the 2011 graduate of Bridgewater-Emery High School with a keen interest in German immigration not only learned of one of Freeman’s most underappreciated treasures, but has also immersed himself in it.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER A member of the 1975 Freeman High School boys basketball state championship team and a highly successful coach from West Central will be on the sidelines once again, this time as the assistant girls basketball coach with the Freeman Flyers. Kent Mueller has been hired by the district to work alongside second-year head coach Jenny Peters starting with the 2022-23 basketball season; his contract was to be formally approved by the Freeman School Board at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday night, Aug. 10.

Freeman held a 3-1 lead after five innings but Lake Norden got one back in the sixth, two more in the seventh and an insurance run in the eighth en route to a 5-3 victory in the opening round of the 2022 Class B State Amateur Baseball Tournament in Mitchell Saturday night, Aug. 6.

This undated photo was taken inside Huber Motor, which was located in downtown Freeman for much of the 20th century, and appears on the website freemansdhistory.com. It is accompanies by a brief description of the business and identifies those pictured as follows: Don Mick, Harlan Dubs, Bill Lukens, Orville Huber, Lavern Dubs and Delmar Walter.

“If Freeman didn’t have a team, I’d be playing somewhere else. I can’t imagine a summer without baseball.” That’s what Jake Weier, player/manager with the Freeman Blacksox, told me when I visited with him about his team’s run through the District 6 Amateur Baseball Tournament and upcoming trip to Mitchell for the Class B state tournament. It’s also all you need to know about Jake’s love for — and commitment to — America’s Game.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER They play each other every Fourth of July in Menno, often square off in the District 6 Amateur Baseball Tournament, and now two old South Central League rivals find themselves in the same place yet again — this time in Mitchell.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER The former Shanard’s Elevator that has stood at the corner of Main Street and Railway since at least 1914 — with roots that go back even further — came crashing down Monday, Aug. 1.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER There was something in the air Friday night, July 29. Paul Wynia could just feel it. “You could sense this excitement; the town was just abuzz,” said Wynia, who next month will mark 40 years as a resident of Freeman. “There were a lot of people out and about and you could tell that something special was going on. There was this feeling of electricity.”

Big-time congratulations are in order for the organizers of this year’s South Dakota Chislic Festival, the outstanding event that once again unfolded on the grounds of the Freeman Prairie Arboretum on Saturday. An ability to safely and comfortably handle that many people converging on one spot in that amount of time is no small feat, and the fact that they pulled it off speaks to the kind of people who are in leadership.

What had been an abandoned elevator in disrepair was reduced to a pile of rubble Monday afternoon after Kelly Knodel and Knodel Contractors took down the structure that has been known as Shanard's Elevator since at least 1914. Actually, the Shanard's operation was established in the late 1800s when George H. Shanard entered the grain-handling business in Yankton before quickly expanding across Eastern South Dakota.