JEREMY WALTNER - EDITOR & PUBLISHER For those who enjoy this type of thing, last week’s Oktoberfest in Menno was a good-news, bad-news situation. The good news was that the longstanding celebration of German-Russian heritage was back after a Covid-related two-year hiatus. The bad news? A city/school auditorium that had been set up to accommodate a full house was half empty at best.

Concrete work on the city of Freeman's Main Street project is drawing to a close. Paul Korn of Sayre Associates said Monday was a "milestone" day as all curb and gutter and other paving on Main Street itself finished up. Workers are now focusing on pouring concrete for the curb and gutter and sidewalks on the side streets — one block of third and fourth streets on either side of Main, which have been closed to traffic for several weeks. After that is completed in the next week to two weeks, pavement will be installed on the primary roadways.

The Freeman Academy/Marion boys cross-country team and its coaches are pictured after receiving the third-place plaque at the 2022 State Cross-Country Meet in Huron on Saturday. Pictured are, from left, coach Suzanne Koerner, alternate Armando Miller, Seth Balzer, Jayson Allison, Hayden Schmidt, Tavin Schroeder, Finley McConniel, alternate Camdyn Preheim and coach Billy Beseman. The Courier is bringing its readers full coverage of the 2022 state meet in this week's edition.

Sarah Bauder, a volunteer at the SoDak Stamm's Oktoberfest, serves up fruit salad at the traditional event that celebrates the German-Russian heritage in Menno Saturday night, Oct. 22. While attendance wasn't what organizers had hoped — the city/school auditorium set up for a full house was about half full — those there enjoyed the meal that also included sausage, hot German potato salad, sauerkraut that had been slightly sweetened, and kuchen before being entertained by the Leo Lonnie Big Band Orchestra, a nine-piece ensemble that plays a variety of big band/polka music.

This is Jada Koerner as a seventh grader competing at Hart Ranch in Rapid City in the 2017 State Cross Country Meet — the first of what has been an outstanding prep career. Koerner, now a senior at Freeman Academy, will run in her sixth and final state meet at Broadland Creek Golf Course today; the Class B girls will run at 1 p.m. Koerner is one of a number of local athletes running in the boys and girls 5,000-meter races today. The Class B boys race is set for 2:30 p.m.

Dustin Tschetter, head coach for the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy football team, visits with his players at halftime of Thursday night's playoff game against Florence/Henry. The Phoenix led 30-14 at the half but gave up two touchdowns in the second half to set up a dramatic finish. That came on the final play of the night when, with three seconds to play, quarterback Riley Tschetter found tight end Evan Scharberg for a 39-yard touchdown pass that gave F/M/FA a wild 36-30 win on a perfect night for football. 

The football field at Freeman Public Schools is ready for the first round of the 9AA playoffs as Florence-Henry comes to town to take on Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Read more about it here.

Marion senior Alivea Weber gets a dig in volleyball action in Marion Tuesday night. Emma McConniel is also pictured. The Freeman Academy/Marion girls are featured in this week's Courier and the coaches notes this is a season, not about winning, but about learning.

Yes, that's frost on the grass Tuesday morning from an overnight low that dropped well below the freezing mark. And while it's not going to warm up too much today, a gradual climb in temperatures is expected throughout the week, with highs this weekend in the 70s.

This was the scene at the historic Bethel Church on the campus of Heritage Hall Museum & Archives Sunday afternoon, Oct. 16 as Dr. Lauren Friesen presents a lecture titled, "The Dutch Golden Age — Mennonite to the Core." In the presentation, Friesen, a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Michigan and brother of Freeman resident Marlyce Miller, detailed an era in the Amsterdam region of western Holland (1585-1732) that saw economic stability and comfort for the average person, and in which Mennonites thrived in areas like literature, art and music.