“Pink Friday” encourages small business shopping during the holidays
The holiday shopping season usually takes place at large, big box stores away from Main Streets in cities and towns alike, but a nationwide movement is attempting to showcase shopping at small businesses during the holidays.
Maggie Rechtenbaugh, the administrative assistant with the Le Mars Chamber of Commerce, explained to KLEM what Pink Friday is about.
Pink Friday was started by online community The Boutique Hub in 2020, and has spread since then. The Chamber of Commerce and the Promotions Committee added the event to their yearly list of holiday promotions, Rechtenbaugh says, in order to promote small businesses in Le Mars.
Rechtenbaugh says participating businesses in Le Mars will decorate their stores in pink for the day.
Pink Friday is not the only small business-focused shopping day this month; Small Business Saturday is scheduled for next Saturday, November 29th. For more information on Pink Friday and Small Business Saturday, click here.
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Kingsley-Pierson high schoolers return to the classroom
Kingsley-Pierson High School students are set to return to in-person learning today, after a water main break last week forced students out of the classrooms and into online learning.
Per state law, the school district cannot have more than five days of online learning, so students will resume in-person learning starting at 8:15am today. Students will not be returning to the water-damaged building, but will attend classes at the Kingsley Community Center. Makeshift classrooms have been set up inside the Center, with curtains separating the classrooms.
During an emergency school board meeting earlier this week, engineers confirmed that there are no structural concerns with the building, and that the cause of the break was determined to be old piping. The broken pipe that caused the flooding was found to be over 60 years old. In a letter released by principal Adam Brand, the district’s focus for the immediate future is to safely restore the building and to ensure that students continue to learn without interruption.
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Floyd Valley Healthcare presents annual financial report
During the Le Mars city council meeting on Tuesday, Floyd Valley Healthcare CFO Daryl Friedenbach presented the hospital’s annual financial report to the council. The report had already been presented to the hospital’s board of trustees last week.
Annual net revenues for Floyd Valley during FY 2025 came out to $65.5 million dollars, a 15% increase from 2024 figures of just over $57 million. Total expenses tallied $58.1 million, a 12% increase from 2024, with a total operating income at $7.3 million. Friedenbach highlighted the sustainable growth of Floyd Valley during his presentation, and that the hospital was pleased with the efficiency of facility operations.
Floyd Valley’s total assets as of June 30th, 2025 came out to $98.6 million, a 9% increase from 2024. Freidenbach told the council that they were confident that the hospitals assets would increase to over $100 million over the next fiscal year, and says that the hospital was proud of its accomplishments over the past year and is positioned well for the future.
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