Garretson's feature on Dakota Life airs Thursday evening on SDPB1, and the preview screening was well-received; a digital Hall of Fame and yearbook archive was proposed at Monday's school board meeting; and thanks to a great turnout at Hometown Christmas, the Legion was able to donate funds to the food pantry, ambulance, and Honor Flight. Plus, a legislative run-down, youth wrestling, and so much more!
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On Monday, January 27th, at the annual meeting of the Garretson Area Historical Society, the board of directors elected and entrusted me, Jakob Etrheim, to be their next President. Thank you to outgoing President Bruce Brown for his years of leadership and thank you for him continuing to serve on the board.
Though I am no stranger to the historical society and Garretson, it has been several years since I’ve lived in town, and I thought I should introduce myself. I was raised in Garretson, the son of Keith Etrheim and Mary (Engebretson) and Todd Tilberg, and a 2011 GHS graduate. I’m a proud third-generation GHS graduate! I attribute my love of history to two sources: Mr. Bob Bennett, my middle school history teacher, and my grandfather Dean Engebretson. I also have to give an honorable mention to Mr. Kevin Steckler, who helped expand my love of history in high school. Despite the fact that he always said he didn’t like history, I used to love asking and talking to my Grandpa Dean about Garretson from his life. He was born, raised, worked, retired, and passed away in Garretson his entire 94-year life (though technically, the Engebretson farm address was Sherman), outside of time in the military during World War II.
As a kid, I always loved visiting the Garretson Heritage Museum, particularly during Hometown Christmas. I still have great memories of visiting the museum for popcorn and cider and then going to Jacobson Law Office next door to look at the train village display in their front window. My involvement with the historical society board first started when I was a senior at GHS in 2010. The historical society worked with the Garretson FFA to build its new Agriculture Exhibit in the lower level of the museum. Shortly thereafter, I reached out to Sharon Kringen and Lorraine Butrum about attending board meetings, and I started regularly joining in October 2010. I started the Facebook page for the historical society, which has been super fun, showing the museum and history of the town.
After high school, I attended SD State University in Brookings for History and Museum Studies. During college, I worked part-time at the Siouxland Heritage Museums (the organization that runs the Old Courthouse Museum & Pettigrew Home and Museum) in Sioux Falls and at the SD Agricultural State Heritage Museum in Brookings during the school year. Though I couldn’t always attend the board meetings, I still remained active with the Garretson Area Historical Society as much as I could. This included being involved with Garretson’s 125th Anniversary celebration and All School Reunion in 2014.
After college, I worked in Willmar, MN, at their county historical society for a contract position inventorying artifacts and then found a job closer to home in Murray County, MN, running End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum in Currie, MN, near Lake Shetek. After doing that for four years, I applied for my supervisor’s position upon her retirement and became County Museums Director. In addition to overseeing End-O-Line Museum, my new position also oversaw our county historical museum and our historic home museum called the Dinehart-Holt Home, both located in Slayton, MN.
As much as I love the museum field, it is stressful, and I was ready for a change. That, combined with a new love interest in my life, led me to move back to South Dakota to Sioux Falls. Though I looked for museum employment in Sioux Falls with limited options, I found a similar job with the University of South Dakota’s Sanford School of Medicine. My position is a Grants, Finance, and Events Coordinator for three divisions in the med school: the Center for Rural Health Improvement, SD Area Health Education Center, and SD HOSA, which is a career/technical education organization, similar to FFA but for health careers rather than agriculture.
Though I’m no longer working in the field, I couldn’t keep away from it for too long. I reached out to my friends at the Siouxland Heritage Museums and was invited to join their Siouxland Heritage Alliance Board of Directors. I have also volunteered at the Pettigrew Home. During COVID and the proceeding years, my involvement with the Garretson Area Historical Society became limited, but I still offered my services and helped with the Facebook page when I could. Since moving back to SD, I started attending historical society meetings and events again. Garretson history has always been a big passion and my favorite topic of history, and I’m excited to help lead this great organization.
As we look to the future, some of our initiatives at the Garretson Area Historical Society primarily include the upkeep of our historic building. One of our focuses is the second floor of the building, which at one time housed the town’s telephone switchboard office, law office, and apartments. Since the historical society took over the building in the 1980s, the top floor has remained vacant. It currently doesn’t have climate control and up-to-date electricity. There has also been the discussion of accessibility, and our board has deliberated on building an elevator. We would love to hear the public’s input on any thoughts they have about the Museum. As a public non-profit supported by memberships and donations, I consider this YOUR community museum. And don’t forget that our name is the Garretson AREA Historical Society. Our museum includes the history of Sherman, Booge, and our surrounding townships and agricultural areas as well as Garretson.
To end, I would love to encourage you all to come visit our museum. Just because you visited once doesn’t mean you’ve seen everything. We have moved exhibits around and added new artifacts over the years. Even I, having been to the museum hundreds of times, find something new frequently. We are open on Saturdays during the summer or by appointment. Don’t be shy to call one of the phone numbers on our museum door to visit. Our admission is free, though donations make a great impact. And if you want to extend your support of area history, please consider a historical society membership. A simple $15 for a single or $25 for a family/business yearly membership helps our society immensely. The bonus is that you get our quarterly newsletter in your mailbox.
UPDATE 2/7/25: Updated misspelling of Jakob Etrheim's name.
Carrie Moritz, Gazette
In a quick and mostly straightforward meeting on Monday, the Garretson City Council voted to move forward on an annexation study on land west of Garretson. At the same meeting, the council passed the off-road vehicle ban and voted to repeal several ordinances that had been on the books. The council also voted to appoint DGR Engineering as the official city engineer, upending years of precedence that had Sayre Associates and Infrastructure Design Group as unofficial city engineers.
The off-road vehicle ban had been under discussion for several months, initially failing in a call for a vote in December and was presented in its final form at January's meeting. It passed without any further discussion on Monday evening, and ensures that off-road vehicles, such as ATVs and dirt bikes, are licensed to be on roadways and are only on those surfaces (unless on private property with permission or engaged in official maintenance duties). This will help in instances when complaints emerge that dirt bikes are destroying grass in Split Rock Park or private property, as occurred this past summer. Those who are found in violation of the ban could be fined up to $100.
Repealing twenty-four statutes on the city books was done without much discussion, either in the first reading at the January meeting or the second reading in the meeting on Monday. The ordinances repealed included a Bar Manager, Chimney Inspector, and Police Department, all items that had been set in the late 1800's or early 1900's. At last month's meeting, Mayor Bruce Brown commented that much of Ordinance 713 was "trying to get us up into the next century."
However, the repeal included the entirety of section 30.01, General Powers and Duties, which were the powers of the city council laid out in full and specific ways. Ordinance 713 then enacted "Duties and Powers of the Council," which stated, "The mayor and city council shall have the duties and powers as prescribed by the laws of the State of South Dakota, the ordinances of the City of Garretson, and any other motion or resolution made by the City Council."
It also established the chain of command, and states that submission of items to the agenda must be by the mayor or by a minimum of two city councilors, and must be in writing to the city finance officer at least one week prior to the council meeting. This clarified an area that was also unclear last summer, when Councilor Brayden Beaner was attempting to introduce ordinances as an amendment to the agenda during the meeting.
It also repealed the Tree Board, which had been established in 2020 in response to the need for removing ash trees in public areas. The invasive emerald ash borer has been working its way into the area, and was discovered in Brandon and Baltic within the past two years. At this time, city personnel appear to be working on the issue.
The second reading passed unanimously without any further discussion or comment.
Later, Councilor Beaner introduced a resolution to keep city development at the front of the council's agenda, stating that he didn't want to see the high priority item put off. The resolution stated specifically that the city engineer would begin a residential housing and infrastructure study on the land south of Main Ave.
"I know we're going through the process right now of picking the city engineer," councilor Beaner said. "It's on the agenda to be discussed later in the meeting. But this is just something I don't want to get pushed off." He acknowledged the Capital Improvement Plan, but stated he wanted to see something concrete so the city could begin budgeting appropriately. Beaner pointed out that water grant funding applications will be due in August, and didn't want to see that deadline missed.
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If you’ve been around Garretson awhile, chances are you’ve run into Eddie Edmundson at some point. As folk will tell you, he’s quite the character. With recent stories we’ve run in this newspaper, and things that have been talked about at the historical society, Eddie has been stopping by the Gazette on the regular, just to have conversations. He knows a lot about local history, about things he’s lived through and lived in. In all, we’ve had about a half dozen big conversations we’ve recorded with him, so putting them all into one article wouldn’t be feasible. We’ll split them into a short series that we’ll simply call, Conversations with Eddie.
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On Friday, the Garretson Lady Dragons hosted Hills-Beaver Creek in a basketball border battle. While the game started off nail-bitingly close, the second half saw HBC take the lead and refuse to relinquish the ball, ending the game 23-38.
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By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – The Register of Deeds and the Director of the Juvenile Detention Center presented information on their departments during annual briefings before the Minnehaha County Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Numbers from Register of Deeds Amanda Halsey showed there wasn’t much of a change in deed transfers and other record reports from 2023 to 2024.
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Last week was a lighter week for the Boys' Varsity Blue Dragons, as they hosted Flandreau on Tuesday and were off for a week before heading to Baltic this past Tuesday.
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Last Saturday, the Garretson Wrestling team headed to Wagner to participate in the Tom Studelska Invitational, taking on wrestlers from all across the state. It was a difficult match for the athletes, with no medals and a team total of 27 points.
Chase Costello (120 lb) took home seven of those points as he won by fall in both the championship and the comeback rounds, but lost by fall in the decisive quarterfinal and his final consolation round.
Blake Benson (106 lb), Nate Roberts (157 lb), and Cole Schleuter each gained four points for the team. Benson won his first match by fall, and received a bye on his third match, but lost his second and fourth matches. Roberts won his first match by fall, but lost his second and third rounds. Schleuter won his first match by fall, but lost his second and third rounds.
Gavin DenHerder (144 lb) and Brock Bonte (165 lb) each took home three points when they won their second matches by tech fall, and Chase Arend (132 lb) took home two points when he won his second match by decision.
The team headed to Elk Point-Jefferson on Tuesday, and will be rolling out the mats for two quads next week Thursday and Friday. Both evenings' matches will begin at 5:00 p.m.
By Coach Tad Heitkamp
On January 28th, 2025, the Blue Dragons welcomed the Flandreau Fliers to town for a little small-town basketball. In the opening game the Blue Dragons battled much of the game, but fell a little short as they were defeated 34-27.
The Blue Dragons charged back from being down 6 points after the first quarter to only being down 1 score at the half.
“The kids worked really hard to put themselves back in this game…we just need to fine tune our execution on the offensive side, so we can get some points on the board,” stated Head Coach Tad Heitkamp. “We just couldn’t string enough solid plays in a row to pull out a victory tonight, which we will continue to keep working on the rest of the season.”
Isaiah Coburn led the way with 7 points, while Casen Smith, Shea Smidt, and Ethan McGregor all dropped in 4 points each. Cade Risty collected 3 points, while Cooper Smith and Jackson Collins chipped in with 2 each as Mark Yellow rounded out the scoring with 1 point.
In the second game of the night the JV Blue Dragons took out a little frustration on the Fliers as they single-handedly took care of business, defeating Flandreau 39 to 29.
The Blue Dragons jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they notched their 7 victory of the season.
“This was one of those nights that the guys executed the game plan to perfection on both sides of the ball,” Heitkamp explained. “We were communicating on defense, cutting with a purpose on offense, and shot really well from behind the arc hitting seven 3-pointers.”
Isaiah Coburn was red hot from deep as he knocked down four 3’s for 12 points as Colton Buchholz continued with his solid shooting ending the night with 11points. Shea Smidt added 7 points, while Jackson Arend added 4 points of his own. Michael Hanisch and Cade Risty rounded out the scoring with 3 and 2 points respectively.
By Coach Cory Buchholz
The Garretson Blue Dragon Middle School boys really started to come into their own during the “dog days” of January.
“We really have no time to relax and catch our breath once January gets rolling with games. Once we started to get into a routine with games, our younger crew really has started to gel,” stated Coach Cory Buchholz.
On Friday January 17th, we traveled to the metropolis of Colman to take on the Hawks.
“In both games, we really matched up well against this type of smaller team. We had a couple of injuries that hindered our play a little bit, but I was proud of the way our boys responded and overcame that adversity,” said coach Buchholz.
Leading the way for the 7th grade crew in a losing effort (17-34) was 6th grader and go-getter Caylix Buchholz with 8 points. Greyson Petrick added a couple of buckets to add 4 points while Gabe Coburn and Mason Snyders rounded out the attack with 3 and 2 points each. In the 8th grade game, we really came out and took it to Colman-Egan outscoring our opponents by the score of 24-14. Leading the scoring was Cameron Roberts pouring in 19 points while Gavin Coburn added 4 points before bowing out due to an injury. Marcus Yellow added a lonely free throw to end the scoring for the Blue Dragons.
The following day we traveled Sioux Valley to try our hand at the “Combined Middle School Big East Conference Tournament” which is held every year in Volga.
“This was a day in which I didn’t really know what we were going to get with our boys. We just came off a week full of games and I knew we were going to be a bit sluggish. After a “pep talk” during halftime of the first game of the day, I couldn’t be prouder of the way we played to come back and garner a 5th place finish,” stated coach Buchholz. “Once we woke up and settled down, we finally realized that it’s just a game of basketball and if we do what we have been working on, good things really do happen on the hardwood!!!”
In the first game of the day, we took on a tough Sioux Valley 8th grade team and took one on the chin, 32-51. Gavin Coburn and Cameron Roberts led the way with 13 and 11 points respectively while Reilly McKinney chipped in 7 points of his own. Miles Sievers added a first quarter free throw to top off the scoring column for the Blue Dragons. After we took a couple of moments to catch our breath, we found ourselves in the loser’s bracket and had to take on the 8th grade team from McCook Central-Montrose. Cameron Roberts really took control of this game pouring in 17 points while Gavin Coburn added 9 points of his own. Reilly McKinney and Marcus Yellow rounded out the scoring with 5 and 2 points respectively. With this win, it put us in the consolation championship game versus the MCM 7th grade team. While we were subbing in different lineups throughout the second half, we were able to hang on for the 40-37 victory and garner a 5th place finish. Cameron Roberts once again took over the game while scoring 18 points. After Cameron, we had a great spread of scoring and that’s what it takes to put together a great game all around! Gavin Coburn had 6 points while Caylix Buchholz, Miles Sievers, and Gabe Coburn each had 4 points of their own. Marcus Yellow and Reilly McKinney rounded out the scoring with 2 points apiece.
Our busy season continued a couple of days later, Jan. 21st, with the young Blue Dragons traveling to Hartford to take on the Trojans from West Central.
“West Central always has a lot of kids on their bench and always seem to produce great young teams. We played great, but we just couldn’t find the right basket at the right time to go out on top,” stated coach Buchholz.
In the first matchup of 7th graders, the opposers came out on top by a score of 32-41. Gabe Coburn had the hot hand dumping in 12 points while Reilly McKinney chipped in 11 points of his own. With a newly found aggressiveness, Caylix Buchholz found the bottom of the net for 6 points while Greyson Petrick and Mason Snyders capped off the Dragons’ scoring effort with 2 and 1 points each. In the 8th grade contest, we held serve for most of the first half but eventually fell by the score of 28-50. Cameron Roberts scored 11 points while Reilly McKinney and Gavin Coburn each scored 6 points. Marcus Yellow and Gabe Coburn finished off the scoring each with a 2-point bucket.
Two days later, the Blue Dragons were back home for a contest with the Mustangs from Tri-Valley. While the score was on the visiting team’s side, 19-35, we played very well against a deeper team. Leading the scoring column was Reilly McKinney with 7 points followed closely by Gabe Coburn with 6 points. “Big Man” Markace Yellow garnered 4 big points and Caylix Buchholz added a 2-point bucket to round out the scoring for the Blue Dragons. In the back-and-forth contest of the 8th grade game, unfortunately we couldn’t be on the winning side of things, dropping the contest by a score of 35-43. Both Gavin Coburn and Cameron Roberts each garnered a “baker’s dozen” (13) in points while Marcus Yellow and Reilly McKinney scored 6 and 3 points respectively.
A new week started on January 27th with a renewed sense of urgency from the Blue Dragons.
“We were able to host a Big East Conference opponent in the Parker Pheasants and we came out with a ton of energy and just knew we were the better team in both contests,” exclaimed coach Buchholz. “I knew we had great games in us, and I was really happy to see them both come out in the same night.” While winning the first contest by a score of 32-26, Mason Snyders came out in the first half and shot the lights out scoring 12 first half points. Reilly McKinney added 7 points and 6th grader Caylix Buchholz wasn’t far behind scoring 5 points on the night. Gabe Coburn added 4 points while Kacen Chester and Noah Lexen each added 2 points apiece in the winning effort. In the 8th grade contest, the outcome was no different with the home team coming out the victors by a score of 31-16. Gavin Coburn was had the hot hand scoring 13 points while Reilly McKinney added 5 points. Marcus Yellow and Gabe Coburn each added 4 points and rounding out the scoring attack was Miles Sievers and Mason Snyders with 3 and 2 points apiece.
The following day, January 28th, we were back to the grind at home while hosting the Fliers from Flandreau.
“Both of these games were tight all the way until the final buzzer. In the 7th grade contest, we knew we were the better team and let some possessions get away from us. We must get better at valuing every possession that is given to us. With our 8th grade, we knew this game was going to be a battle and unfortunately, again for us, we came out on the losing end of the game once again. These close games are all great learning experiences for us,” said coach Buchholz.
While dropping the 7th grade game in the last possession by a score of 25-27, Gabe Coburn led us in scoring while scoring 13 points. Mason Snyders and Reilly McKinney each had 5 points and Greyson Petrick chipped in a 2-point bucket. In the 8th grade contest, Gavin Coburn was once again awarded the hot hand of the night scoring 15 points while little brother Gabe added 4 points and Reilly McKinney added 3 points of his own.
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