The Round Barn at the 2025 Plymouth County Fair
The Round Barn is the home of an educational agriculture exhibit during the Plymouth County Fair that is new and different each year. The exhibit is hosted by the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee.
Janelle Johnson is the Chair of the committee.
Johnson says this year’s display shows the connection between technology and the cattle and dairy industries.
Johnson notes that the Ag Committee also has displays at the Round Barn that are up every single year. One of them features the barns of Plymouth County, with photos taken by committee members.
Johnson adds that this year, people were asked to submit photos of vintage tractors for an exhibit now on display in the Round Barn. And the ag committee received all kinds of tractor photos.
The Plymouth County Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee is holding a Community Coffee today from 9:30 to 10:30 in the Round Barn, where you can preview this year’s exhibit. The Plymouth County Fair begins on Wednesday and runs through Sunday.
Le Mars Woman Sentenced to Up to 50 Years in Prison in the Death of her Son
A Le Mars woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of her two-year-old son last year.
Twenty-seven-year-old Sexlyn Tataichy accepted a plea agreement Monday morning in Plymouth County District Court requiring her to plead guilty to one of three counts of child endangerment resulting in death. The other two counts, second-degree murder and child endangerment-multiple acts, were dismissed. Tataichy does not speak, read or understand English. She was provided with an interpreter, who was online from Hawaii.
Tataichy will serve her sentence starting immediately at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Polk County. The two-year-old boy died in April of last year.
Central Valley Ag Photo Contest Winners Announced
Central Valley Ag (CVA) has announced the winning participants of the 2025 CVA Photo Contest, which was open from June 16 to July 16. Central Valley Ag is a farmer-owned cooperative with locations in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.
Five winners have been selected, one from each of the following categories: Farming in Action, Black and White, Ag Close Up, Grit, and the People’s Choice Award.
Axie Shrack of Abilene, KS won the People’s Choice Award. Facebook users voted on this award by giving Shrack’s photo the most likes, comments and shares during the contest. Shrack’s photo captures a combine unloading onto a grain cart in the middle of harvest.
A panel of judges selected the winners for the other four categories.
Roger Richters of Utica, NE submitted the winning Farming in Action photo, with the photo capturing corn being planted in a field, with a beautiful background.
The Black and White category was won by Peittyn Johnson of Alliance, NE. Johnson’s photo, titled Breakfast Time, shows a close shot of a cow eating hay.
Clinton Foster, of Beloit, KS, won the Ag Close Up category with his close-up photo of a golden wheat field.
Finally, Julie Lacy, of Bayard, NE, won the Grit category with an incredible image of a cowboy riding through the dust to go rope calves.
Winners of each category will be awarded a $100 cash gift card, and the winning photos will be featured in CVA’s print and online publications.
