Le Mars announced as national finalist in “America’s Favorite Small Town”
Le Mars is officially a national finalist in the race to be named one of “America’s Favorite Small Towns,” Parade magazine announced on Sunday.
National finalists in the competition will appear in a special issue of Parade magazine, set to be released this Spring, with the national winner to be announced on June 12th. The winning town will host a special event on the Fourth of July, featuring “potential celebrity involvement”, sponsor giveaways, and national media coverage.
Kristen Heimgartner, the executive director of the Hometown Le Mars Heritage Foundation, previously told KLEM that the group entered the contest to better promote Le Mars.
Heimgartner says winning the competition would give Le Mars opportunities and exposure.
The honor is awarded by Parade magazine, and celebrates vibrant but small communities across the country.
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Le Mars Arts Center announces new “Heiresy” exhibition
The Le Mars Arts Center has announced “Heiresy”, a new exhibition featuring paintings and photographic works by Vermillion-based artists Klaire Lockheart and Aaron C. Packard.
According to the Arts Center, the exhibition explores lineage, memory, and the tension between inheritance and authorship, inviting viewers to reconsider what is passed down — and what is reclaimed. The exhibition title introduces a newly coined term: “Heiresy”, defined by the artists as the subversion of familial inheritance. Through painting, image construction, and photographic intervention, these works destabilize traditional narratives of legacy and identity, instead positioning inheritance as something negotiated, questioned, and rewritten.
Executive director Draven Haefs says the exhibition “challenges the idea that legacy is fixed,” and that “Heiresy invites viewers to see inheritance not as a closed narrative but as a living conversation — one we each have the power to reshape.”
The exhibition is now on view with a public reception on April 17th from 5pm-7pm to celebrate International Women’s Month, and will remain on view through April 17th. Admission is free and open to the public.
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Plymouth County Historical Museum receives hotel/motel sales tax funds
The Plymouth County Historical Museum has announced they were awarded $4,000 from the city’s hotel/motel sales tax, to be used for the museum’s annual Festival of Trees.
In a press release, museum administrator Jennifer Scholten says the museum is “excited to receive these special tax funds.” The money will be used to help expand the annual Christmastime event for 2026, with more lighting displays on the museum’s campus planned. Scholten says that they hope to “attract more people to Le Mars, increase tourism, and raise the profile of the Plymouth County Historical Museum.”
The museum was one of 9 organizations that received funds from the hotel/motel sales tax, with funds being approved by the Le Mars city council during their meeting on February 17th.
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Real estate and mobile home taxes are due
Plymouth County treasurer Shelly Sitzmann would like to remind property owners that property taxes are now due; real estate and mobile home taxes must be paid by Tuesday, March 31st, or otherwise face a penalty.
Mail must be postmarked on or before March 31st to avoid penalty. The Treasurer’s Office asks residents to ensure mail has a postmark prior to April 1st, as mailed payments with a postmark in April will be charged a penalty, regardless of when it was dropped off. Online payments are accepted at iowatreasurers.org via card or e-check, and can be done prior to 11:59pm on March 31st.
Anyone who needs information on property taxes can contact the Plymouth County Treasurer’s Office at 546-7056.
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