This was the scene inside the Pioneer Hall auditorium Monday night as the cast and crew of "State Fair" continue to prepare the Rogers and Hammerstein musical for next week's performances. The show will open Thursday night, March 23 and will continue each of the two night's of Schmeckfest March 24 and 25. Tickets are still available for all performances at schmeckfest.com.

This photo shows one of the interior walls of the blacksmith shop located inside Heritage Hall Museum & Archives. While the shop has been part of the Freeman museum's vast collection for years, the public for the first time this year will have access inside the historic and critical late 19th century/early 20th century business. It's one of many changes HHM&A officials have made the past three years in their ongoing effort to make the museum more organized, informative and appealing to guests.

This photo of the Salem-Zion Mennonite Church, or North Church, was taken during the Christmas season last December. The church is located 4 miles east of Freeman and two miles north of its sister congregation, the Salem Mennonite — or South — Church.

This undated photo offers a great look at the Freeman Depot, which was built after the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company extended its line to run through towns like Marion, Freeman and Menno in 1879 — a move that spurred considerable growth in those towns. The railroad ran for 100 years before it was abandoned, and the Freeman Depot was torn down.  

Freeman's water tower was shrouded in a light fog Friday morning following a mild winter weather event on Thursday that wasn't anything more than a nuisance. 

Mother Nature is delivering another round of winter weather Thursday as the entire state of South Dakota is in a winter weather advisory or winter storm warning. The Freeman area was expected to receive between 3 and 5 inches of snow through the day, with the possibility of several more inches through Saturday.

Amber Arlint, who grew up in Freeman as Amber Stern, sits on the Capitol steps in Pierre prior to the House session last week Thursday. Arlint, who lives with her husband and two sons in Sioux Falls, is representing District 12 and is featured in this week's Courier as the 5-Minute Interview. Read about her experience as a first-term lawmaker, including a surprising lesson about honey bees, online Wednesday and in print Thursday.

Today's "Monday on Main" feature posted on Facebook by Heritage Hall Museum & Archives offers a look at this historic building. The information accompanying the photo reads as follows: Today's Main on Monday feature shows a building that was a fixture at Fifth and Main in Freeman for half a century. It became home to Stucky Electric, Janver Stucky’s electric repair business, shortly after he opened at Fifth and Main in October 1974. Stucky had started his electric motor repair business on the family farm southeast of Freeman several years earlier.

The cross atop the steeple at the St. Paul Lutheran Church is pictured on a sunny late Saturday afternoon; the Freeman Missionary Church is shown in the distance. 

This photo from a century ago offers a look at what downtown Freeman looked like back then. While much have changed, several of the buildings shown on the right side of the picture are still standing, as is the Merchants State Bank clock located in the center of the photo.