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The 2026 Storm Lake Farmers Market vendors thank all faithful customers and newcomers for a great market season. And the thanks go beyond those who frequent the market. Thanks to Storm Lake United for their support and in asking for the permit for use of Parking Lot C and the City of Storm Lake for granting us their permission. Thank you to the businesses and residents whose parking was limited on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Thank you to Joe Cullen for entertaining us a few times this summer. Always a fun time. Thank you to Dana Larsen for his weekly reminders, on the City of Storm Lake Facebook page, about the market days and times and his continuing collage of photos that highlight our small heartbeat in Storm Lake. Thank you to the Times Pilot for including us in the weekly calendar of events as well as highlighting new vendors.
We pride ourselves in knowing that all our produce is locally grown. Everything we sell is grown or made through hard work, from vegetables to baked goods, local honey and honey products and farm fresh eggs to jewelry, candles, 3D items and great drinks!
Look for us again in the summer of 2027. Thank you all for your support!
Kent and Linda Patterson, Linn Grove
It is my hope that by sharing this 14th story, we can all get to know our community a little better. I feel thankful to have met so many amazing people in the Storm Lake area who are working hard to build better lives. They are truly remarkable, and I believe their stories deserve to be shared. So, here is the fourteenth:
We often think we know our neighbors. But how well do we really understand the journeys that brought them here? Some stories are full of joy. Others are marked by loss and challenge. All of them can help us see each other with more understanding. It’s easy to believe the struggles we see on TV, or hear about in the news, only happen far away. But many of those same struggles affect people right here in our community.
The details in this story are changed to protect privacy, but the person is real. They might be standing next to you at the store or waiting in line for coffee. My purpose in sharing these stories is to help us connect with, and feel connected to, the people around us. After all, I believe that when we know each other’s stories, it is harder to hate or harm one another.
The 14th community member’s story began in Worthington, Minnesota, where he was born. He did not get to know his father very well because his father passed away when he was just six years old. During this time, his uncle became an important person in his life. He moved to Louisiana to live with his uncle and grandparents.
Life in Louisiana was good for several years. However, by ninth grade, he was spending very little time at home, going places he should not have been, and had stopped going to school. Because of these choices, his mom and stepfather enrolled him in the Louisiana National Guard Youth Challenge Program. This program helps young people ages 16 to 18 get their lives back on track. It teaches them self-control, leadership, and responsibility while helping them work toward earning their high school diploma.
He left the program before finishing and soon returned to some of the same choices that had gotten him there in the first place. Around that time, his grandma passed away. Since his mom grew up in Storm Lake, he came here for her funeral. He planned to stay for about two weeks. While he was here, he saw an ad for a good-paying job at Tyson. He saw this as a chance for a fresh start, so he decided to move to Storm Lake with his mom and stepfather.
Sadly, three of his grandparents and the uncle who had helped raise him in Louisiana passed away after he moved here. One of his best friends was also shot and killed. These losses have helped him understand how short life can be and how important it is to make the most of each day.
For the past four years, he has worked at Tyson while also completing the Industrial Maintenance program at Iowa Central. Through the program, he has earned certificates in welding, mechanical work, precision measuring, industrial electrical work, and other maintenance skills.
One day at work, a childhood friend of his father came up to him and introduced herself. They got to know each other, and one day she showed him pictures of her daughters. He became interested in one of them, and today they have a son together who will turn two in January.
More recently, he decided it was time to go back to school and earn his High School Equivalency Diploma. So far, he has passed four of the six required tests. His goal is to finish the last two tests and graduate in 2026. After that, he may return to Louisiana, move to Dallas, Texas, to be closer to his sister, or choose another path. One thing he knows for sure is that he wants his son to know the grandparent who is still living and who helped raise him.
Today, he is looking ahead and working toward a better future. He knows it is time to take charge of his life and provide a good home for his son. His plan is to keep moving forward and make the most of every opportunity that comes his way. He is glad he moved to Storm Lake because he knows his life and future could have turned out very differently if he had not.
He is our neighbor.
Sarah E. Schoper, Storm Lake
Once again a Cullen nails it. Hats off to John Cullen for your Nov. 6 column John. Hope it gets shared in publications across Iowa and beyond. Its a message that should be shared nationwide.
Bob Kliebenstein, Tomah, Wis.
Art, I caught you yesterday in the interview with Stephanie Ruhle. Bravo.
I dislike that our president stole Lee Greenwood’s song as his dance/rally theme, so I wrote some new lyrics for the chorus:
I am proud to be an Iowan
where others voted just like me.
And I won't forget the hope they gave
when they voted on Tuesday.
And I proudly stand up next to them
and claim my heritage.
Cause there ain't no doubt,
I can love my state again,
God bless old Ioway!
Carol Pierce, Waterloo
Jim Walters, Iowa City
Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously proclaimed “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Following the resounding defeat of Republican candidates for various local, county, state and federal offices in this year’s midterm elections, we are now “free” to heal the severe wounds inflicted upon this country by Donald Trump and his enablers and, therefore, begin the rather lengthy and difficult process of allowing justice and FairPlay to again govern America.
The road ahead to find equitable solutions for wealth inequality, healthcare, housing and ample food supplies, to name a few of the important and vital areas to concentrate our renewed efforts to achieve, will be long and arduous. However, as a country, Americans must continue this necessary process until and after the 2028 elections, to ensure a steady movement of progress to be made toward these worthwhile goals. But, now for the present, we are “Free at last.”
John M. Mishler, Harpswell, Maine
Don’t let anyone tell you that MAGA doesn’t believe in freedom of speech. While they clearly want to limit or repress Democrat speech, they are full gung-ho on MAGA exaggerations and outrageous falsehoods even after the midterms.
One TV news show offered this: “They (immigrants) leave a hellscape and they want to bring down the country where they immigrate to.”
Another program on who won the midterm elections: “The Muslim Brotherhood won.” “Criminal aliens won.”
“Communists won.”
Yet another even-handed program: “The Democrat party overtly hates white men.”
Again: “The leftwing media never covers the good.”
For his part, Donald Trump has finally weighed in on his “real” election sentiments. He says, “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest?” “How could the polls be so wrong?” “It was impossible to win no matter how many people went to vote.”
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah
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