Jai Walter and Jeff Liebl grill hamburgers at the Lily Pad in Menno on what was a picture perfect Thursday evening, July 30. The burgers were served along with a host of other options at the concessions stand during the District 6B baseball games, all of which are being hosted by Menno. Two games were played on Thursday; in the first, Lesterville hung on to beat Menno 7-5, which was followed by a 14-6 win for Tabor over Irene. Two games remain.

A tent covers the Freeman water tower as workers remove led-based paint from the structure as part of the maintenance project that has been underway since July 13.

Ryan Liebl, manager of the Menno Mad Frogs, prepares the batter's box in-between Tuesday's night's two semifinal games that saw No. 5 Wynot upend No. 1 Tabor 5-1 and No. 3 Crofton take down No. 2 Menno 10-5. It was a late night for folks who took in the second game, which was delayed because of both the length of the first game and lighting in the area. Scheduled to start at 8 p.m., the Menno/Crofton game didn't get underway until after 11 p.m., with the final out coming around 1:45 a.m.

This picture of Irene Gross was part of a "Glamour Shots" photo shoot conducted by social worker Lindsey Unruh at Oakview Terrace last week. Dozens of photos were taken of residents to be sent to their families, with several men and women choosing to have a little fun while they were at it. This and a number of other pictures from the session will be included in the July 30 edition of The Courier. 

Members of the Freeman Blacksox are introduced prior to the start of their District 6B game against Irene Sunday night, July 26 in Menno. The Cardinals eliminated Freeman from play with a convincing 16-3 win and will move on for a chance to play in the state tournament on Thursday. Action picks up again Tuesday night with No. 1 Tabor facing No. 5 Wynot at 6 p.m., followed by No. 2 Menno against No. 3 Crofton. The winners of those games will play for the district title Saturday night. All games are in Menno.

The Freeman Blacksox and their fans are hoping these bats heat up as the local amateur team faces Irene in a District 6B Amateur Tournament elimination game tonight in Menno. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Freeman is the No. 6 seed and finished the regular season 7-11; Irene is No. 7 and finished 3-15. The two teams split in two games during the regular season, with the Cardinals winning 11-4 on June 19 and the Blacksox winning 9-2 on June 21. The winners of Sunday's game will play for a spot in the state tournament next Thursday.

This undated photo comes courtesy of Kevin Smidt, whose grandfather, Harry, is pictured on the left. Standing next to him is Harold, a cousin. The other Smidt pictured, Nels, is either an uncle or another cousin. Kevin Smidt believes this photo was taken near the intersection of Highways 18 and 81, because the young men pictured here lived in that neighborhood; “There must have been a ball field there,” he said.

Workers from Maquire Iron are nearing two weeks of progress on the city of Freeman's water tower project that includes general upkeep, a cleaning inside and out and repainting. This show the tent that will be lifted up to cover the structure as led-based paint is removed. Workers say weather conditions will determine when the tent is elevated, but it could be as soon as this weekend. This is expected to be a month-and-a-half long project.  

Corn looks healthy as it grows taller near Freeman; meanwhile a bank of clouds paints the western sky Thursday morning, July 23.

This was the scene outside of Heritage Hall Museum and Archives/the Prairie Arboretum Tuesday afternoon, July 21 as workers moved the historic Deckert House to its new location east of where it had stood since the fall of 1979. Marnette Hofer, archivist and executive director at Heritage Hall, called it “a moving scene,” likely because it has been in the works in one way or another ever since she started there in 2015.