This is where the Freeman City Council and others will gather Wednesday night for its first regular meeting of the month, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Tonight's agenda includes an item identified as "Main Street Reconstruction Bid Award," which is relatively early on the agenda.  Tonight's meeting can be live-streamed. Click here to go directly to the page.

Registered voters living in Ward 2 of Freeman’s city limits, as well as those who help make up the Menno School District, will head to the polls next week Tuesday, April 12. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. inside Freeman’s City Hall for the Ward 2 race and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. inside the Menno Fire Hall for the school board election.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER The Hutterites were flourishing. Largely in search of military exemption, they had come to the United States from Russia beginning in the 1870s to establish various colonies across Dakota Territory, bringing with them farming equipment and skilled practices that had even generated a personal invitation from President Ulysses S. Grant.

City of Freeman closing in on $5 million Main Street project Council approves $2.8M bond issue; was to meet again April 6 JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER The wheels on the city of Freeman’s Main Street rebuild continue to turn fast as officials anticipate final approval of the $5 million project that would see a reconstruction of Freeman’s primary downtown roadway — as well as five adjacent blocks — within the month.

As expected, meeting in special session Thursday evening, March 31, the Freeman City Council approved a bond issue in the amount of $2.8 million that will help pay for the upcoming Main Street project, which includes one block of Railway to the southwest, as well as adjacent blocks to the west and east on both Third and Fourth streets. The bond resolution passed the council 6-0.

Those flowers in front of Jamboree Foods aren't real and it's not as warm outside as this photo looks; instead Thursday saw another brisk early-spring morning. Today's highs aren't expected to get much above 40, but a slight warmup appears to be ahead through the weekend and into the first workweek of April.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER Late Saturday afternoon, March 26, as they were filling mini meals made up of Schmeckfest sausage, stewed beef, sauerkraut and cheese buttons, volunteers with the Freeman Academy Auxiliary came to a startling realization that made their stomachs drop. They were running out of food.

Freeman's water tower is reflected in standing water Wednesday morning following overnight and early-morning moisture the turned hump day into a damp one. A slushy mix of precipitation made for a slightly white landscape as people began their days and wind speeds are expected to increase this afternoon, making it feel anything like spring.

The city of Freeman is one step closer toward formally approving its Main Street project.

The Freeman City Council will meet again in special session Tuesday, March 29 to learn about its options for issuing municipal bonds for the proposed Main Street project, and possibly award the bid. Both Todd Meierhenry of Meierhenry Sargent LLP and Freeman city attorney Mike Fink are scheduled to be at the meeting.