SC Mag 03-23

SIOUX CENTER
MAGAZINE
SPRING 2023
■ American State
Bank marks 50 years
■ Physician adds
theatre to his bag
■ Partnerships
through PIECE
On
Tap
Grab a cold
brew, hot pie

2 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

SIOUX CENTER
MAGAZINE
SPRING 2023
FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER
Peter W. Wagner
PRESIDENT
Jeff Wagner
ADVERTISING DESIGN
Camryn Cleveringa
Carissa Frangenberg
Elizabeth Myers
Chelsea Parks
Alex Rolfes
Kira Spaans
EDITORIAL STAFF
Kirsten Elyea
Eric Sandbulte
Morgan Sachen
Aleisa Schat
Thea Sterrett
Renee Wielenga
Shooting
for the
stars
Physician adds
theatre to his
busy schedule
12 39
PIECE
creates
partners
Tutoring program
bridges language
divide, creates
space of love
| CONTENTS
ON THE
COVER
23
Brewmaster
at work
Late Harvest
becomes hot spot in
Sioux Center for the
staples of beer and
pizza
PHOTOGRAPHY
Rylan Howe
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Sioux Center Magazine is published by
Iowa Information, Inc., Sheldon, Iowa.
For advertising rates and other questions,
please contact us by phone:
712-324-5347 or by mail:
Sioux Center Magazine,
PO Box 160, Sheldon, IA 51201
6
30
Banking legacy
Hard work built American State Bank
Community Partner
Listening and providing resources are
key roles in community for the chamber
Copies of Sioux Center Magazine are
available from participating Sioux Center
businesses. We welcome suggestions,
story ideas.
36
Thriving Together
Christian School partners on program
to help students with reading struggles
©2023 Sioux Center Magazine
No material from this publication may be
copied or in any way reproduced without
written permission from the publisher.
44
Time for Fun
Sioux Center’s extensive parks offer
options for residents, visitors of all ages
17
Day care support
Apple Tree Early Child Center
meets need for young families
Looking forward to being
a part of Sioux Center!
HOURS:
Mon-Fri: 5:30a.m.-8p.m.
Sat: 6a.m.-7p.m.
Sun: 7a.m.-7p.m.
ONLINE:
scooterscoffee.com
and the
Scooter’s Coffee app
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 3

BUYING OR SELLING,
I WORK TO GET YOU
THE BEST VALUE!
BUSINESS.
AG.HOME.
CONCRETE FOR
EVERY PROJECT
< COMMERCIAL >
< AGRICULTURAL >
< RESIDENTIAL >
CALL TODAY!
MERLIN ZWART/ BROKER
712.441.4158
Z HOMES
& REALTY INC.
308 North Main Ave.,
Sioux Center, IA
www.homesinsiouxcenter.com
712-449-7578
firmfoundationconcrete.com
Sioux Center, IA
4 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 5

LEGACY |
It all started with a phone call.
That’s how 80-year-old Sioux Center native
Dale Den Herder recalls the founding
of American State Bank in Sioux Center 50 years
ago, when, as a young man new to banking, he
got a phone call from a Nebraska man with an
opportunity of a lifetime.
From his high school days, Den Herder was set
on making his career in finance. As the youngest of
three sons in a farming family, he didn’t have a direct
path into agriculture. While his father wasn’t
able to help him get a farm of his own, he did offer
to pay for his education.
With that promise, Den Herder went off to
Ames to earn his degree in agricultural economics
from Iowa State University. He’d go on to obtain
a master’s in economics, too.
He chose ISU because of its prominent agriculture
school.
“I went there so that if I could get into a bank,
I could talk at least partially intelligently about
what I’d learned at Iowa State,” he said.
In addition to his father paying tuition – $99
per quarter – Den Herder was thankful for his
wife, Karen, who supported them through those
early years living in Ames in a small trailer.
Upon graduating in 1965, Den Herder wanted to
work close to home. His first job took him for two
years to Toy National Bank in Sioux City in the farm
real estate and livestock loan departments.
When an opportunity to work at First National
Bank in Sioux Center came up in the late 1960s,
he made the move back. Through his time there,
he got to know longtime former mayor Maurice
“Maury” Te Paske, an influential figure in Den
Herder’s life. It was through Te Paske’s encouragement
that he would successfully first run for
Sioux Center City Council in 1970, beginning a
long tenure serving in city government.
Den Herder had other long-term goals as well
– namely, having ownership in a bank – but there
were obstacles to that at First National.
“The Mouw family and TePaske family had
most of the stock,” he said. “I indicated that I’d
like to buy stock but I kind of had the word that
they’d like to keep the stock for the family. So, it
was my understanding I would not be able to buy
bank stock, at least not in the near future.”
But then came the phone call.
A man by the name of Kermit Wagner from
Schuyler, NE, was in the grain and feed business,
and had purchased the Hospers Savings Bank. He
wanted to know if Den Herder would be interested
in working with him to move that bank’s charter to
Sioux Center to start a new bank, which he planned
to call American State Bank.
Den Herder isn’t sure how Wagner decided to
offer him this chance, but Den Herder quickly began
his research.
“I wanted to check this guy out, so I went to
Schuyler and to his feed mill there. I found out he
had six other banks and staff that took care of his
banks. He had all this going on, and I saw him as
TEXT ERIC SANDBULTE
PHOTOS BY ERIC
SANDBULT, SUBMITTED
DALE DEN HERDER’S 5 0 -YEAR
INVESTMENT
6 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

Longtime Sioux Center banker reflects on American State Bank’s founding
Dale Den Herder
has been a part of
American State Bank
in Sioux Center since its
opening June 15, 1973.
Originally run out of a
mobile trailer turned
office space, the bank
has grown under Den
Herder’s watch through
these last 50 years
the real deal and very successful,” he said. “I
thought it through, and I said, yes, I appreciated
the opportunity.”
Then the real work began in his role as executive
vice president and manager of the new
bank.
For one, they had to come up with a building
to work out of. This, too, was a journey that
would begin in Nebraska.
Wagner knew of a place in Wayne, NE, that
made mobile homes that its workers could also
modify into office space. Den Herder made the
trip there to check it out and then make the
purchase. At 14 feet wide and 70 feet long, the
building’s width ran afoul of some Iowa transportation
regulations at the time.
“I had to somehow get it into Sioux Center.
I went through Nebraska into South Dakota,
then to Hudson and then under the cover of
darkness I went to Sioux Center from the west,”
Den Herder said.
Then, using his brother’s tractor, he backed
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 7

the trailer up until the tractor’s wheels
spun out. It was at its home on the corner
lot just north of the old Holiday
Lanes bowling alley on Third Street
Northwest, facing south.
With that, American State Bank had
arrived in Sioux Center, opening for
business June 15, 1973. Five employees
worked out of that trailer, which featured
three teller windows, a drive-up
window on its east end and two large
fireproof vaults.
In a June 23, 1998 article in the Sioux
Center News, Den Herder explained the
trailer was landscaped to resemble a
typical, permanent structure.
“We didn’t want people to get the
impression that the bank could be
moved overnight,” he had said at the
time. “I got some bridge boards from
the home farm and put them up against
the trailer and hauled in dirt and put
that around the trailer. We also built a
cement porch with a roof on the front
of the trailer.”
Because of the small staff, everyone
had to take on extra duties. For Den
Herder, that meant being willing and
able to make loans, work the teller line,
do typing and some janitorial work. But
the main task ahead for him was to gain
trust with the area’s farmers.
“I bought a red pickup and went door
to door. I called on people and went
to their farms and built relationships
even if they weren’t customers. I was
out there, and I’d go to
the sale barn every Friday,”
he said. “I wanted
to be seen around
farmers and farm
sales. I was normally
out PR-ing, trying to
build relationships.
And inch by inch, it
seemed to work.”
He credits those good relationships
as vital for surviving the trying times of
the 1980s farm crisis.
Even during those challenging
times, he was able in the early 1980s
to move into a permanent structure
built at American State Bank’s present
location. Upon moving, American State
Bank was able to add a trust division,
with one employee there.
Den Herder said it’s stunning to see
how much that part of the business has
grown through the years, but it’s something
that great leaders from within
have been able to accomplish.
“Today, the trust department is as
big as the bank, with a new building,”
he said. “The assets are as big as the
bank, even if it is separate from the
bank. They have that much money in
their trusts. They manage assets equal
to the bank.”
The bank itself grew as well, moving
into its new $300,000 colonialstyle
building at North Main Avenue
and Sixth Street Northwest on Nov. 17,
1975. The trailer was moved out to be
used by another bank in need of temporary
housing in Sioux City.
American State Bank went on to add
another building immediately to its
north, ready for use by October 1998,
built to address a need for more space
for additional staff and services.
When Wagner died in 1983, Den
Herder had his chance at ownership
of American State Bank, as Wagner’s
family said that was his wishes. “They
asked me to see how much money I
could get together and then they would
consider financing the balance,” Den
Herder said.
Through the years, Den Herder had
partnered with farmers to purchase
farmland. With this need for funds, he
approached those farmers to see if they
could buy out his share in the land.
“I was able to get support from family
and others along with the sale of
farmland that I had earlier acquired in
partnership with others,” he said.
With those funds raised, Den Herder
was able to take ownership in 1984.
The bank has continued to grow.
When the bank moved its charter from
Hospers to Sioux Center, it was the fifth
largest bank in Sioux County. Now, it’s
the largest in terms of local deposits,
with more than $1 billion in assets. The
bank now also has locations in Alton,
Alvord, Granville, Hull, Hospers, Orange
City, Le Mars and Sioux Falls, SD.
These days, Den Herder serves as
chairman and CEO of Ambank Company
with a controlling interest in the
bank. When he’s not traveling, he goes
to his office at American State Bank every
day to keep up to date on the latest
happenings and discussions at the bank.
He’s proud of the role the bank has
continued to play in Sioux Center.
“We consider ourselves a community
bank. I try to do the best I can to be active
in the community and we do good
things in the community because that’s
who really gave us success. They did,”
Den Herder said. “I’m proud of how it
all turned out and how the community
has been accepting of American State
Bank over these years. We started with
humble beginnings, but now, it’s become
a big company. I feel blessed.”
8 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

There is so much for families to enjoy and do in
Sioux Center .
And your Sioux Center Hy-Vee is pleased to be a part of the community,
providing the finest meats, produce, groceries and beverages for your
evening dinner, holiday meal, backyard picnic or after-the-game gathering.
You can depend on Hy-Vee, too, for your prescription and health care needs,
a relaxing meal in our large selection deli or to cater your next big event.
And be sure to stop by Fast and Fresh to fill your tank and to pick up your
snacks for your next road trip or to enjoy at the game.
hy-vee.com 712-722-2601
712-722-2620 • 1953 Main Street • Sioux Center, IA 1951 South Main Ave, Sioux Center, IA

CHOOSING A BANK IS EASY.
PRIMEBANK IS THE RIGHT CHOICE
FOR YOU.
1601 S. Main Avenue
Sioux Center, IA 51250
Phone 712-722-4545
WWW.PRIMEBANK.COM
LENDER
fixing and
refinishing
Body & Fender Work
Painting & Paint Free Dent
Removal
Glass Installation & Glass
Chip Repair
Frame Repair
10 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

EVERYTHING YOU NEED
AT ONE STOP!
• Gasoline
• Breakfast & lunch
available every day
• Coffee
• Cappuccino
• Donuts
• Beer
1801 S Frontage Rd.
712.722.3900
Sioux Center, IA
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 11

shooting for the
Dr. David Janssen has been a
family practice physician at
Sioux Center Health since
2018. However, if his patients are
theatergoers, they are just as likely to
see him belting out show tunes on stage
or poised in the director’s chair, eyes
trained on his actors as they bring their
characters to life.
“I really do enjoy encouraging other
actors to develop and stretch their
boundaries — to try new things,” Janssen
said.
The 34-year-old Hospers native left
Iowa to attend Grove City College in
Pittsburgh, then returned to complete
medical school at the University of
Iowa in Iowa City. After completing
his residency in the Quad Cities, Janssen
decided to return to N’West Iowa to
begin practicing as a family physician.
“I started thinking about moving
home, and I realized, not only did I go
to medical school to become a family
doctor, I wanted to be a family doctor
who practices like this,” he said.
If he were practicing in an urban
area or at a large university hospital,
Janssen’s scope of practice would be
narrower, and he would be less embedded
in the context where his patients go
to school, work and live.
“We have robust, small hospitals
around here, and to me, a doctor is
someone that sees the whole family,
who delivers babies, who sees you in
12 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

| CULTURE
TEXT BY ALEISA SCHAT
PHOTOS BY ALEISA SCHAT, SUBMITTED
Physician and thespian nurtures
theater in Sioux Center
r the
stars
Dr. David Janssen has been a general practice physician
at Sioux Center Health since 2018, but his nights
are often devoted to theater. He has directed and
performed in a number of community productions.
the hospital,” he said. “I get to be there
on people’s best days and their worst
days. I get to greet brand new people
who are fresh to the world, and I get to
say goodbye to people, regularly. That’s
part of my job.”
When Janssen began practicing in
Sioux Center, his days were filled with
patients and charts, hospital rounds
and routine health assessments. What
he didn’t expect was that his nights
would soon be filled with rehearsals
and singing, set building and script
readings.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Janssen
said. “I didn’t really think it was going
to be possible. I didn’t think it would
gel with my job — because I still have
a very demanding job, that’s a lot of
hours and hours.”
Early on, however, he was invited to
take part in a small musical showcase
in Orange City, and Janssen’s involvement
in the local performing arts scene
grew from there.
“I’ve always been a performer,” he
said.
Along with performing in a number
of theatrical productions when he was a
high school student at MOC-Floyd Valley
and in college — never as the lead —
Janssen started singing in church when
he was very young. His father has been
the pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church in Hospers since Janssen was
a child.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 13

“My dad, when I’m 3, sits me up
there in front of church and plays a
guitar, and I would sing. We would
go to the nursing home, and I’d sing,”
Janssen said.
Janssen’s Sioux Center star turn
took place in 2019, when he was cast as
Prince Charming in “Into the Woods,”
a popular modern Broadway musical
that was brought to the stage by Sioux
Center Arts during the city’s annual
Summer Celebration.
Before taking the part, he was frank
with the play’s director, Kate Pemberton,
a former Sioux Center Arts director.
“I very frankly said to Kate, ‘I’m going
to have to deliver babies sometimes;
I’m on call sometimes — and that’s my
livelihood. I can’t just get out of some
of this stuff.’ And she was OK with that.
That role was a lot of fun — that was my
return to the stage,” he said.
A younger version of himself would
have been all nerves, Janssen said, but
after the rigors of medical school and
clinical practice, he was simply excited
to perform.
“Once you’ve read a code on someone
who’s died, how can you be that
scared to sing in front of others? How
can you have stage fright when you’ve
been in the stress machine for years
and years?” Janssen said.
Later the same year, he was cast and
performed as the lead in a production
of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and
Murder,” put on by the Le Mars Community
Theatre, a robust community
theater that puts on four productions
a year.
“That was my first really big lead
role, and that’s one of the hardest
things I’ve ever done. That was one of
the proudest accomplishments in my
life, honestly — and that kind of opened
Dr. David Janssen
demonstrates using
a stethoscope on his
colleague, social worker
Else Munsterteiger,
at Sioux Center
Health. Janssen is an
active member of the
city’s performing arts
community.
my eyes to what possibilities
were,” Janssen
said.
After only a year in
Sioux Center, Janssen
was poised to help the
local theater community realize those
possibilities. However, just as planning
was underway for Sioux Center’s next
summer production, everything came
to an abrupt halt.
“It was 2020, and this little virus
started raging around,” Janssen said.
As a doctor, Janssen was on the front
lines of the pandemic, but he also was
deep in conversation with local members
of the theater community about
whether the show could safely go on.
“We started asking, ‘How can we
still make theater happen during the
pandemic?’” he said. “Since the beginning
— since there were two people on
earth — we’ve been telling stories to
each other. It’s integral to our culture
— to our experience. So, theater is really
important. We were asking, ‘How
can we do that responsibly?’”
The group settled on a small production,
and the cast of four conducted
virtual rehearsals late that summer. In
September of 2020, they put on “The
39 Steps,” a farcical whodunit that drew
a moderate crowd, many of whom were
wearing masks. The seating was widely
spaced to encourage social distancing.
“Do you know what demographic
14 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

showed up the most for it? It was the
elderly. It was retirees in isolation.”
Janssen said. “I thought they deserved
the show more than anyone because
they had had the worst of it. So, I was
thrilled to see who showed up.”
The next year, fall of 2021, Janssen
helped to organize “So Sioux Me,” an
improv comedy show featuring local actors
that further expanded live theater
options on offer in the community.
Last fall, the troupe’s second performance
took place in front of a standingroom-only
crowd at The Back Back, the
performance venue adjacent to Sidebar
and behind The Fruited Plain Cafe in
Sioux Center.
“The first year, it was moderately
well attended. This year, it was sold
out,” he said.
Along with bringing new forms of
theater to the community, Janssen has
pushed himself to expand his own repertoire.
Last year, he agreed to direct
the community play for Sioux Center’s
Summer Celebration. It was the biggest
show, with the biggest cast, ever undertaken
by Sioux Center Arts.
“I think Sioux Center is really good
at shooting for the stars — whether it’s
a crazy water park or a huge new high
school or a beautiful hospital,” Janssen
said. “Our shooting for the stars was
“Mary Poppins.” And it was a smashing
success.”
Each of the play’s four performances
sold out, and the musical was performed
for a packed house. To pull off
the production, Janssen wore multiple
hats, pulling long days at the clinic or
hospital, then long nights fabricating
props, searching for costumes, building
sets and directing rehearsals.
“I had a really good team around me
with people, but it was a labor of love,”
he said.
By now, the word has gotten out
among Janssen’s patients, and they often
inquire about his thespian pursuits.
“They’ll ask me now at their med
checks, like, ‘Hey, got anything coming
up? Or, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could
sing.’ So, that’s been kind of fun as
those two spheres start overlapping,”
he said.
This summer, Janssen will again direct
the play for Summer Celebration,
and for the first time, it will feature a
cast of mostly children. Before settling
on “Peter Pan,” however, Janssen had
one requirement.
“I wanted Peter Pan to actually fly. I
wanted the kids to fly,” he said.
Sioux Center Arts director Kaitlyn
Baljeu gave the green light.
“So, we are getting a rigging company
to come in and do all this,” he said.
Janssen said directing a play and
seeing patients in the clinic draws on
a similar skill set — in both roles, he is
essentially a teacher. That is especially
true when working with a young cast.
“I do really just like to see people get
it — that moment where the light bulb
turns on, or when someone in the audience
laughs for the first time at their
joke,” he said.
Janssen plans to do his part to help
theater thrive in the community, and
among all the other things good theater
can accomplish, he hopes it will be
a balm for those who are dealing with
challenging circumstances.
“I think that the great good of theater
is that it transports people out
of whatever they’re dealing with,” he
said. “Maybe your spouse has cancer,
or maybe you’re just having a bad year,
or finances are bad, but you can spend
10 bucks on a ticket and for two, three
hours, you get transported.”
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 15

ouR CoMMItMeNt
Helping You
ReACh youR
Financial Goals.
WE ARE
HERE
every step of the way!
PRE-PLANNING, FUNERALS,
BURIALS, CREMATION
540 North Main • Sioux Center, IA • 712.722.3375
31 2nd Ave NW • Le Mars, IA • 712.546.5131
www.kk-cpa.com
Phone 712-722-079
www.mfhonline.com
12th Street SE, Sioux Center, IA
We TREASURE each student as a
STUNNING and UNIQUE child of God
At Sioux Center Christian School, our students are
TRAINED through creative and memorable learning
experiences that are rooted in God’s Word,
so that they may be TRANSFORMED
as they learn and live God’s Story.
LET’S TALK
We’d love to share how your child will learn
and thrive at our school!
Sioux Center Christian School offers TK-8th grades, plus 4Care,
Friday Kindercare and Aftercare childcare opportunities.
Contact our head of school, Dr. Josh Bowar at 320.979.9598
or jbowar@siouxcenterchristian.com
Education Savings Accounts
are available for all kindergarten students plus others who qualify.
Connect with us for details.
by Sara
SEAMSTRESS
Alterations
Hemming
Zipper Repair
Hooded Towels
Blankets
Bibs
And Much More
947 8th Ave. SE, Sioux Center, IA
Phone 712-722-0141
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
16 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

| CARING & GROWING
support
Day care
TEXT & PHOTOS BY RENEE WIELENGA
Anita Kleinwolterink, Apple
Tree Early Child Center lead
teacher for the infant room, helps
7-month-old Calem Flores with
his morning bottle.
A
February ribbon cutting
ceremony marked one of
various positive changes for
a licensed child care facility in Sioux
Center.
The first change came in late June
when the Early Child Center became
Apple Tree Early Child Center after
Sioux Center Health, which opened
the facility in 1989, transferred ownership
of the entity to Aftershock
Ventures LLC, the parent company
of Apple Tree Preschool & Childcare.
Throughout the past six months,
the Apple Tree Early Child Center has
been growing enrollment, expanding
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 17

Apple Tree Early Child Center seeks to provide
quality child care and aid community need
programs and adding events and activities
to build upon the foundation
that was already there, according to
Melinda Eekhoff, director of the Apple
Tree Early Child Center. Eekhoff
herself has been with the center in
different roles since it started 1989,
first as a child care provider and then
as a scheduler. Her role changed to
director in 2006.
“Our philosophy is that we know
that our parents are the primary
foundation of their child’s life,” she
said. “We are the support to whom
children look to and depend on. We
take this role very seriously. Our center
is designed, equipped and staffed
with your child in mind. We strive
to provide a safe and stimulating
environment for children. We are
Above: Four-year-old Adella Davelaar plays
with Legos in the older preschool room at
the Apple Tree Early Child Center.
BY THE NUMBERS:
n 20 full-time staff.
n 12 part-time staff.
n 100 children infant-age 10 come
daily. This number continues to
build as enrollment grows.
n 10 rooms available for care.
Each has space for more children.
AT A GLANCE:
Facility: Apple Tree
Early Child Center
Director: Melinda Eekhoff
Address: 1070 Seventh Ave. NE,
Sioux Center
Phone: 712-722-4335
Online: www.appletreechildcare.
com/sioux-center
18 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

dedicated to providing a quality
learning atmosphere and to provide
activities that will allow children
to progress in social, emotional,
intellectual and physical
areas of development.”
Eekhoff is excited about the
center recently joining the Sioux
Center Chamber of Commerce.
“There’s a stigma that we’re
just for the hospital but we’re not,
we’re for the whole community
and we want to help meet that day
care need we know is out there,”
said Eekhoff at the Feb. 2 ribbon
cutting.
Joining the chamber, she said,
is another step forward, helping
connect the local child care facility
to more community resources
and establishing more relationships
in the community.
Expanding the image of the
center has helped enhance enrollment.
Nearly 100 children
infant through 10 years old are at
the center daily and this number
continues to build as enrollment
grows. The center has 10 rooms
available for care and each has
space for more children. The
center also offers 3-year-old preschool.
“Our goal is to continue to accept
enrollment into our program
from families in Sioux Center and
surrounding areas,” Eekhoff said.
To maintain the Department
of Human Services’ guidelines for
ratios in its classrooms, the center
continues to hire qualified staff, as
needed.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 19

Above: Lahtecia Uhl, Apple Tree Early Child Center
teacher for the young toddler room, dances with
1-year-old Everlee Olson.
In October, the center announced
an innovative approach
to addressing the city’s child care
shortage by offering free child
care to its new and current fulltime
employees who have children.
“We believe we can accomplish
two things with this benefit,”
human resources director
Matt Flattery said. “We can offer
an incentive to our employees
that is truly beneficial, as well as
allow many parents to return to
work without the added stress of
child care costs.”
Adding more staff members
also opens up more child care
slots for other members of the
community.
Apple Tree also began advertising
positions for grandparents
and other community members
to become “paid volunteers,”
who can sign up to provide care
for a few hours or more at the
center.
With these new strategies to
find staff, the center has day care
openings at this time.
Staff are also working on the
requirements for Iowa’s IQ4K
program (previously QRS).
“It is so important that we
continually strive for quality and
provide care and education that
is developmentally appropriate
and always responsive to the
needs of our community,” Eekhoff
said.
Apple Tree opened in Sioux
City in 1984 and has two Sioux
City locations. Through the
investment group Aftershock
Ventures, Apple Tree is affiliated
with Building Blocks Preschool
and Child Care, which has locations
in Sergeant Bluff, North
Sioux City and Le Mars.
“Sioux Center is a growing
community and is definitely an
area where we saw potential to
help serve the day care and preschool
needs in the community,”
said Dan Hiserote, managing
member of Aftershock Ventures.
“I have been impressed with the
center and staff since the first
time I picked up my grandson
there several years ago.
“Sioux Center Health and others
have created a great place for
children. We strive to build on
what they have created to help
serve more children in the Sioux
Center area.”
To enroll or learn more about
the center, call 712-722-4335.
20 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

GOING
FURTHER
SINCE 1926
Sioux County's only Ford Dealer
Located on Hwy. 75 on the
north side of Sioux Center
712-722-0085
mouwmotor.com
• Cabinets & Countertops
• Decking
• Doors & Millwork
• Roofing
• Siding
• Steel
• Windows
“When You Build - See Chase”
NEAL CHASE
LUMBER CO.
Phone (712) 722-3041
1433 N. Main Avenue
Sioux Center
Sheldon • Orange City • Primghar
Alton • Hospers • Remsen
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 21

WALSTRA’S
PLUMBING • HEATING • COOLING
712-722-1575
wph@mtcnet.net
539 4th St NW
Sioux Center, IA 51250
PROUD TO SERVE SIOUX CENTER
AND THE SURROUNDING AREA!
Worth the Drive From Anywhere
BUICK
CHEVROLET — BUICK — CHRYSLER — DODGE — JEEP — RAM
verhoefautomotive.com
712-722-0143 l Sioux Center, IA
22 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

TRENDING |
Becoming a
TEXT BY ALEISA SCHAT
brew master
PHOTOS BY ALEISA SCHAT & ERIC SANDBULTE
If you ask 32-year-old Stephen Stiles how
he came to be the head brewmaster at Late
Harvest Brewery in Sioux Center, he’ll tell you
“straight by luck.”
Like many brewers, including those who outfitted
themselves with fermenting buckets and hydrometers
during the pandemic, Stiles began as a hobbyist.
The 2011 Dordt University graduate was living
back in his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga, CA,
and began brewing in small batches with the father
of a friend.
“My buddy’s dad got into brewing beer — it was
his dad who taught me how to brew,” Stiles said.
Stiles found he had a knack for it. Plus, it was fun
to build social occasions around the process.
“We started up a home-brew club where we
would make three different batches of beer, make
dinner and have a bunch of people come over and
just basically help fund our hobby,” he said. “Every
time, we’d make three new batches, and then the
next time we got together, we’d drink that threebatch.”
Stiles’ brewing partner brewed by the book, but
Stiles brought a spirit of experimentation to the
partnership.
“He had read books, and he’d taught himself, but
I came in, and I wanted to push the envelope with
everything,” he said. “I always wanted to try bigger,
bolder — more things.”
In 2020, Stiles bought a parcel of land near Hull
and moved back to N’West Iowa with his wife, Emily,
and their three young children, Audra, 9, Abigail,
6, and Adaline, 6.
California native and Dordt University graduate Stephen Stiles is
the creative mind behind the dozen-plus craft beers on tap at Late
Harvest Brewery, a new and popular Sioux Center establishment.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 23

The craft beer movement
comes to Sioux Center
“I had to get away from California,”
he said. “It was too busy — it
was crazy. And I wanted space for
my family to grow.”
In California, Stiles had been
working for his family’s animal
rendering business, but back in
Iowa, he was planning to step out
on a limb and start something new
— a brewery.
“But then I was talking to my
real estate agent, and I mentioned
I was going to start off on a new
foot and start up my own brewery.
She told me that these guys were
already building one,” Stiles said.
“She knew the owners and everything,
and she
gave them my
number, and
they called me.”
New
venture
Late Harvest
Brewery is the
brainchild of a
handful of regional
developers.
The business
concept is simple — a pared
down menu of wood-fired pizzas
with locally brewed beers on tap
— but it has proved incredibly
popular. Even early in the evening
on weekdays, the space is typically
buzzing. Restaurant-goers seat
themselves, and they can pull up
the menu and tap list using a QR
code.
“I’ve talked to the front of house,
and I’ve said, ‘I think we need to
get a hostess now — it’s just been
so busy,” Stiles said. “They say 75
percent of businesses fail in the
first year, and we’ve survived that
— we’ve exceeded that expectation.”
The restaurant and brewery
is co-owned by Ben Kurtzleben,
vice president of Vision Builders
in Sioux Center; Brad Galles, vice
president of manufacturing and
engineering at Wells Enterprises,
Barry Galles, a developer who
owns Barry’s Electric in Le Mars;
and Dan Hibma, a prominent West
Michigan developer.
“None of them have any background
in brewing or restaurants,”
Stiles said. “They just kind of
wanted to do something that was
off the walls — something that you
wouldn’t see in the Sioux County
area. They felt it was the time to
do it, so they jumped in on it and
did it.”
They named Stiles the Late
Harvest brew master, placing the
brewery side of the business in his
hands.
“I probably was home-brewing
for five years before I jumped onto
this ship — so it’s not like I had a
whole lot of experience or expertise
in it,” Stiles said. “But they
trusted me.”
Located in the 815 Complex at
815 North Main Ave., the brewery’s
exterior evokes a modern
barn with clean lines and blonde
wood. The gleaming silver tanks
in the brewing space can be seen
24 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

from the restaurant’s patio seating
area, which is bordered by a
wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
“I have all the freedom to make
whatever, really, I want. They
give us full creative responsibility
here,” Stiles said.
Along with the waitstaff, Stiles
and three others — the general
manager, head of kitchen and
front of house — hold down the
fort day to day.
Brewing renaissance
Stiles’ interest in small-batch
brewing — and Late Harvest’s
early success in Sioux Center —
dovetails with a broader American
trend. The so-called “brewing
renaissance” that began in
the 1990s led to a proliferation
of small breweries across the
The mash tun in the vaulted brewing area at Late Harvest
Brewery in Sioux Center is an insulated vessel where water
and grains are heated to produce wort, which becomes
beer during the roughly two-week fermentation process.
country, bringing locally brewed
craft beer into even its most rural
corners.
That trend doesn’t show signs
of waning anytime soon, and
since the 1990s, the number
of brick-and-mortar breweries
granted permission to set up shop
by the federal government’s Alcohol
and Tobacco Tax Bureau
has grown from under 1,000 to
nearly 10,000. Many of those
brick-and-mortar breweries can
trace their beginnings to a home
brewers garage or kitchen.
“I cut my teeth on Belgian-style
beers — that was the first style of
beer I ever actually liked,” Stiles
said. “I used to hate IPAs until I
tried Pliny the Elder, and then
after that, it was downhill.”
Imperial pale ales reign supreme
as the most popular style
among craft beer aficionados,
and Pliny the Elder, brewed by
the Russian River Brewing Company
in Santa Monica, CA, is a
popular example of the style.
However, despite Stiles’ affinity
for IPAs, known for their hopforward
bitterness, the Late Harvest
brew master is committed to
brewing a broad range of styles —
partly to keep stretching himself
as a brewer, but also to accommodate
the wide variety of tastes
represented among his patrons.
Midwestern tastes tilt in the
“light beer” direction, Stiles
said, and many customers come
in seeking the brew that most
closely approximates popular
American domestics like Busch
or Bud Lite.
“For the longest time, they
were pushing me to make a light
beer, and it bothered me so much
that I didn’t want to do it,” Stiles
said. “I finally broke down and
made one because they had a sale
on a lager yeast, and it turned out
to be one of my better beers. It’s
the Barn Dance, and we had it on
tap for a month and a half before
we sold out of it.”
Because lagers are so simple,
it’s more difficult to mask flaws
in the beer, and for those in the
know, a brewer’s lager offers an
important gauge of his or her
skill, Stiles said.
Brew master
On brewing days, Stiles spends
a full work day — eight hours —
in the brewery’s vaulted space,
sending malt through the grist
mill, circulating the mash, boiling
the wort.
“I’m finding a groove,” Stiles
said. “Consistency is the hardest
thing — making the beer the same
way each time. I have a really nice
system. It’s not perfectly automated,
though, and there’s still a
lot of human error — trying to get
the right valves at the right angles
each time.
“I mean, the art is trying to
make it consistent.”
Early on, when Stiles was faced
with the challenge of scaling up
production for commercial use,
the experienced home brewer
faced a steep learning curve.
“It was terrible. I was on You-
Tube for, like, months, seeing if
I could find anything about scaling
up — and there’s really not a
whole lot because most people are
just home-brewing,” Stiles said.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 25

Eventually, the brewers at Remedy
Brewing Company in Sioux
Falls agreed to show him the ropes.
“They taught me the ins and
outs of brewing on a big-scale system.
I owe a lot to them,” Stiles
said. “But it’s still not linear — it’s
a lot of trial and error, experimenting
with recipes.”
At the end of a long day of brewing,
once the wort is aerated and
oxygenated, it is transferred to the
fermentation tank, where the yeast
works on the sugars in the wort to
turn it into beer. Eventually, the
beer will be flavored and bittered
with hops, but during fermentation,
the process is mostly hands
off.
“Beer — it’s kind of like concrete.
You have to wait,” Stiles said.
The space
Half of Late Harvest’s footprint
is devoted to brewing, and the tank
room, grist mill and storage area
are situated adjacent to the restaurant,
which has two large seating
areas, an open kitchen housing the
pizza oven and a large bar, where
a row of shiny silver taps mutely
reflect the oven’s flickering flames.
Late Harvest patrons can select
from among more than a dozen
house-brewed beers on tap, including
Backwoods Stout, The Shucker,
a cream ale, and Stiles’ flagship
beer, the Promotion, an old-school
IPA that differs in profile and appearance
from its trendy, hazier
cousins.
“I wanted a really old-school
style beer,” Stiles said. “Anytime
you see an IPA anymore, it’s got
what they call ‘cheater hops,’ like
Simcoe, Mosaic — anything’s going
to taste good when you put that in.”
The recent trend in IPAs is to
go big and go juicy, foregrounding
citrus and tropical notes.
Today, many popular beers are
produced by adding a secondary
fermentation process, which creates
a cloudy beer and intensifies
its tropical fruit flavor and aroma.
The Promotion, on the other
hand, is clear and deeper in color.
It is brewed with Cascade, Fuggle
and Centennial hops, which have
aromatic pine, citrus and floral
notes.
“We’ve recently turned the Promotion
into a series, so I’ve taken
out the main flavor hop, and I’ve
added something different,” he
said.
By experimenting with different
hops, but maintaining the original
recipe, Stiles is able to achieve a
nuanced flavor still recognizable
as the Promotion.
Distributor
Stiles brews are available outside
of Late Harvest Brewery, too,
and Stiles distributes beer to several
area restaurants. He makes regular
keg deliveries to Four Brothers
in Sioux Center and Le Mars and
to the Willow Creek Golf Course in
Le Mars, where Late Harvest brews
are often available on tap.
“Old Chicago in Sioux City has
one on tap, too, and The Roadhouse
in Orange City has Nitwit on
tap — we brew that one particularly
for them,” he said.
Nitwit, a Belgian wit beer, also
is on regular rotation in the Late
Harvest taproom.
In the future, Stiles hopes to
broaden the brewery’s reach and
bring Late Harvest brews to more
taps across the region.
“The idea is to expand that this
year — to get a lot more out there,”
he said. “Right now, we brew in
half batches — I’m working at half
capacity — but I can double that
without really having to do anything.”
Collaborator
Along with plans to eventually
scale up to full-batch brewing,
Stiles has been pursuing other new
ventures, including a collaboration
series called The Four Corners
Project, which was born out of a
conversation between Stiles and
the head brewers at Toppling Goliath,
a world-renowned brewery
located in Decorah that distributes
in 30 states.
“I reached out to Toppling Goliath,
and I came to them with the
idea of doing a collaboration with
one brewery from each corner of
the state of Iowa,” he said.
They embraced the idea.
“It’s my first collab, ever. It’s
exciting,” Stiles said. “Each brewery
is going to have a beer in its
own respective corner, and we’re
all going to brew at each other’s
places.”
Along with Toppling Goliath in
the northeast corner of the state
and Late Harvest in the northwest,
the other two corners are represented
by Full Fledged Brewing
Company in Council Bluffs and Adventurous
Brewing in Bettendorf.
“Council Bluffs is not quite the
corner, but close enough,” Stiles
26 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

said. “It’s pretty hard to find one down
there — that corner of Iowa is a brewery
desert.”
In February, the collaborators met at
Late Harvest to brew the first beer in the
series.
“They came over and we brewed Iowa
APTtitude, which is an American lager
with apricot, peach and tangerine in it —
we brewed, and then during fermentation,
I added all the fruit,” Stiles said. “Next corner,
we’re going down to Full Fledged. They
want to do a kettle sour. Then I think the
third corner, we’re going to Adventurous,
and they want to do something like a double
or triple IPA.”
Next year, each of the Four Corners collaborators
plan to contribute a barrel-aged
stout, which will be blended with the others
and branded as a limited-release.
Along with new projects, Stiles remains
committed to bringing a variety of styles to
his patrons — and to taking their feedback
and running with it.
“A goal of mine is to broaden people’s horizons,
but I’m not sitting here saying that
you have to drink what I think you should
drink,” Stiles said. “I ask for customers to
give me feedback. I don’t want to go on Untappd
and see a bad review because it’s a
style of beer you don’t like. Tell me what
you want, and I’ll go.”
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 27

PROUD TO CALL
SIOUX CENTER HOME!
Van Bruggen-
Wesselink Insurance
Call us for your insurance needs
•Auto •Home
•Business •Life
•Health •Farm
950 N Main Avenue
Corporate Center
Sioux Center, IA 51250
712-722-2243 • Fax: 712-722-2245
2075 S. Main Ave, Sioux Center, IA 51250
712-722-4600 | scgroundeffects.com
vansinsurance.com
28 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

385 12th St N
Phone 7
www.eda
Mechanical & Electrical Consulting Engineers
Brenda
Dokter
Phone 712-722-0228
385 12th St. NE, Sioux Center, IA
WWW.EDAENGINEERS.COM
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 29

BIG DREAMS |
TEXT BY RENEE WIELENGA | PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Chamber
Sioux Center
Every town has a story.
The Sioux Center Chamber
of Commerce strives to
show and tell Sioux Center’s story to
aid the business community.
“Sioux Center is a community of
8,000 that dreams big, thinks big,
and does things bigger than Sioux
Center. And it works,” said Sioux
Center Chamber CEO Barb Den
Herder. “But how?”
The answer, Den Herder said, is
partly rooted in the mindset pushed
by one community leader in particular,
which city and business leaders
continue to carry forward today.
Maurice Anthony “Maury”’ Te
Paske served as Sioux Center’s mayor
for 34 years, 1940-1973. Daniel Finley,
chamber board chairman, read
from a July 21, 1976, newspaper
article about Te Paske just after Te
Paske’s death as part the American
State Bank Sports Complex grand
opening celebration in January: “The
truth of the implication of course is
Partnering with members to connect, enrich community
30 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

July 1 will mark a decade that Barb Den Herder has
led the Sioux Center Chamber of Commerce. She
strives to show and tell Sioux Center’s story to aid the
business community.
that Maury believed in Sioux Center
that he wanted it to live, to continue
upward and to derive the greatest possible
attributes that its people could
have for generations to come. As a consequence,
Maury held the line against
quick uninspired solutions that would
have easily led Sioux Center downhill.
If it was an industry that the community
needed to survive, then it would
be an industry that followed the tradition
of Sioux Center’s agricultural
background. It if was entertainment,
then it would be meaningful, truthful,
valuable, and forever. If it was the city,
then it would be planned and devised
for all and not a few. This was Maury.”
Den Herder has seen businesses
carry on that mentality time and again
in her decade leading the chamber.
“Because we’ve seen people historically
dream big, take risks and it’s
worked, that lays a foundation for the
next person, the next business, the
next generations. Success breeds success,”
Den Herder said. “And while
businesses are competitive, they also
want to see everyone succeed. We do
things not just for ourselves but for the
community.”
She won’t forget how businesses
reached out during the coronavirus
pandemic in 2020.
“When it came to our community,
we were not sure how to support our
businesses but we had two different
businesses call us within a week and
asked how they can help other businesses.
They were worried how this
could impact smaller businesses,” Den
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 31

Herder said. “That blew me away.
Instead of these businesses saying
they’re OK but keeping their resources
to themselves in case of the
future, they were reaching out to
help support other business owners
who really struggled in that time.”
The chamber created the Small
Business Recovery Fund to which
local businesses donated $52,450.
Twenty-six local businesses applied
and received grants from that fund
to help sustain them through CO-
VID-19.
The chamber has directly seen
business support as well.
“When we ask businesses if they
want to partner on something, they
never say ‘no.’ That’s unique to our
community,” Den Herder said.
As a result, the chamber strives
to support its member partners to
help empower the community. Den
Herder and the chamber’s Board of
Directors have developed a strategic
plan establishing top ways to
support businesses based on those
chamber members’ input. No. 1 on
32 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

“Success breeds success. And while businesses are competitive, they
also want to see everyone succeed. We do things not just for ourselves
but for the community.” — BARB DEN HERDER SIOUX CENTER CHAMBER CEO
Above: The Sioux Center Chamber
of Commerce won an award for
its Classroom to Careers program,
which helps teachers see what local
industries do.
the list is to help with recruiting
and retaining employees. That
goal has led to the development
of various programs, including
Leadership Sioux Center, Discover
Sioux Center, Your Future
at Work and the Classroom to
Career program for which the
chamber has won an award.
The chamber also established
the Homecoming Grant and increased
investment in chamber
marketing by hiring a third staff
member.
“The chamber’s role is to hear
what is needed from the business
community and try to provide
those resources so all of our
programming has an education
component to it because that’s
what our community wants,” Den
Herder said.
The chamber also offers annual
community-building events
that include the ag luncheon,
business golf outing, Christmas
Cash, Hometown Holidays, Indoor
Fair, Spirit of Community
awards and Summer Celebration.
“I really believe in our community,”
Den Herder said. “I’m
always in awe of what our businesses
are doing in their industries
and the community to
give back. What motivates me
the most is identifying a barrier
in our community and pulling
people together to identify ways
to get rid of that barrier. That’s a
win for everybody.”
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 33

BEGIN YOUR
Happily Ever After
CUSTOM
WEDDING
PRODUCTS
•SAVE THE DATES
•RSVP CARDS
•INVITATIONS
•BRIDAL SHOWER
•REHEARSAL DINNER
•BACHELORETTE PARTY
•PROGRAMS
•ENVELOPES
•THANK YOUS
•MAGNETS
•AND MORE!
Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Marcus
and
Mr. and Mrs. Gary Walker
request the honour of your Presence at
the MarriaGe of their children
Greg Lee Walker
&
Natasha Jean Marcus
as they beGin their neW life toGether
on saturday, the second of auGust
tWo thousand xxxxxxx
at three o’clock in the afternoon
st. Mark’s Methodist church
345 bender avenue • canon bridGe, Missouri
Reception to follow
712.324.5347 • PRINTSHOP@IOWAINFORMATION.COM
227 NINTH STREET • SHELDON, IA

"Educating the Whole Student
for a Whole Lifetime"
Sioux Center Community Schools
INSPIRING
CHANGE
AND FIGHTING FOR
OUR PRODUCERS
580 Third Street NW, Sioux Center, IA
712-722-0023 • kkvtrading.com
The risk of loss when trading futures and options is substantial.
Each investor must consider whether this is a suitable investment.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 35

STUDENT SUCCESS |
Thriving
TOGETHER
Christian School partners with Thrive Center to
implement support for students with dyslexia
Sioux Center Christian School is
filling a new position in August
to enhance reading support for
students, especially those with dyslexia.
Beth Bleeker will transition from teaching
kindergarten to being the school’s first
reading specialist starting in August.
“At Sioux Center Christian, we want students
to have high quality academics and,
at the same time, be able to live out their
faith and who God created them to be. Being
able to read is a big part of that,” said
head of school Josh Bowar. “We want all
of our kids to be successful and want to
provide the tools to help them succeed.
“In the past few years we were starting
to notice we had more students who
needed extra support. We have an inclusive
education framework through which
we provide several support services from
academics to behavior and social. After
meeting with parents, hearing their stories
and their needs and there being more
awareness of dyslexia in the past few years,
providing more support in this way felt like
the appropriate next step.”
Bleeker holds a master’s degree in curriculum
and instruction from Dordt University
in Sioux Center. She’s been a kindergarten
teacher for 16 years, the last 15
of which have been at Sioux Center Christian.
She also has experience as a tutor at
the Thrive Learning Center of Dordt and
will be completing her certification in the
Wilson Reading System as well as an endorsement
in dyslexia through some continuing
education courses in the coming
months.
She will be using the experience she has
gained in the classroom and in various
other settings to craft and shape a reading
support program that includes implementing
a dyslexia screener and Wilson Reading
System interventions as well as provide
faculty and parent support.
“Being able to read is such a valuable
tool and gift. Being a kindergarten teacher
first, teaching children how to read has
been a huge passion of mine,” Bleeker said.
“The expectation is, too, that students are
reading and writing by the time they’re
done with kindergarten.”
By third- and fourth- grade, some
AT A GLANCE:
Program: Reading specialist
services
Director: Beth Bleeker
Address: Sioux Center
Christian School, 630 First Ave.
SE, Sioux Center
Phone: 712-722-0777
Online: www.
siouxcenterchristian.com
36 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

TEXT & PHOTOS BY RENEE WIELENGA
students were finding reading more difficult,
including Bleeker’s own son, now
a fourth-grade student at Sioux Center
Christian.
According to the American Academy
of Pediatrics, dyslexia affects 15-
20 percent of people. The AAP further
states that dyslexia is the most common
learning disability, accounting for 80
percent of all learning disabilities.
“As a teacher and as a parent, I’ve
seen first hand how these kids put their
everything into learning to read. It’s
hard for them, so taking
on this role is a way we as
a school can provide better
support for students
as well as for parents,”
Bleeker said. “I am very
eager to continue working
with some of my prior
students, deepening the
learning that has already
been established by their
current and previous
teachers.”
To further enhance the
reading specialist services,
the Christian school will
partner with Dordt University’s
Thrive Learning
Center for Achievement,
working with director
Gwen Marra. The Thrive
Center for Achievement
was established about
a year ago to serve the
Northwest Iowa region in
the areas of individualized
reading instruction and
personalized support for
dyslexia.
“This is such an opportunity
to help these kids
who may have not felt
success before,” Bleeker said.
“We can give hope to kids and parents,”
Marra said. “We have both seen
kids who struggle in reading overcome
that difficulty.
“Our role is such a privilege really.
When you think about parents entrusting
their kids to you at school, these
young students work hard all day long.
With dyslexia, oftentimes there’s a
high intelligence but the phonological
pieces of their brain aren’t strongly
connected. The pieces are all there, we
just use strategies to help strengthen
those pathways.”
The Thrive Center employs researchbased
best practices, taking a holistic
approach as its staff collaborate with
schools, families and agencies to
achieve the best outcomes for a child,
Marra said.
Through the partnership with the
Christian school, Marra will also be
able to do the dyslexia diagnostic testing
in Sioux Center instead of having
families interested in that service put
the time and financial expense into
traveling three to five hours down the
road for such testing.
Then, all students who have been
screened, whether they’ve received an
official diagnosis or simply found to be
in need of some reading support, will
receive that one-on-one tutoring support
at the Christian school during the
day so the student will not need to have
after-school tutoring.
Marra, who has been a Dordt education
professor for 15 years, has already
been training Dordt education majors
who have reading or special education
endorsements to be Thrive Center
tutors who can be paired with gradeschool
students.
“This is a valuable partnership because
we — the school and the Thrive
Center — have a common mission in
serving kids and families in the community,”
Marra said. “For me personally,
the partnership is also valuable
because it allows my students to do real
world work with real people for a real
purpose. For the Sioux Center Christian
community, the partnership is a winwin
because we have Dordt students
already trained as tutors and ready to
go for their students who are identified
as needing that support.”
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 37

Proceeds are
used to offer
HOPE
AND
SECURITY
to victims
of domestic
violence and
sexual assault
We are a store with
Treasured
Items
FOR SALE!
New and Gently Used
Household Items
Clothing • Jewelry
AND
MUCH
MORE!
If it comes from Pat's,
it's perfect!
Welcome to
Delicious
Free
services
for victims
of violence
Specializing in
diamonds for
30 years
thrifty alternatives
712-722-4488 • Just south of Walmart
1769 1st Ave SW, Sioux Center
Hours: Mon-Fri 10-5 and Sat 10-4
A foundation of family crisis centers.
Call or text 712.722.421
to book your appointment
251 N. Main, Suite 215 | Sioux Center, IA
www.patsjewelry.com
YOUR LOCAL CULVER’S RESTAURANT:
Culver’s of Sioux Center, IA - S Main Ave
1913 S Main Ave
Sioux Center, IA 51250
(712) 722-1236
THE BEST
AT FRESH
38 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023
MEAT 712.722.1382
GROCERY 712.722.1360
115 1st Ave. NW, Sioux Center, IA

DIVERSITY |
Partnerships
PIECE
through
Seventy-year-old Nancy Dykstra
had just retired from her
position as executive director of
Promise Community Health Center in
2018, and was looking for a meaningful
way to fill her time.
In her work at Promise, Dykstra, a
former nurse, was committed to serving
community members who were medically
underserved and marginalized,
including residents who speak Spanish
as a primary language.
“I was looking for something to fill my
passions a bit with, and I saw the sign in
the library,” she said.
The sign called for volunteer tutors
who would be willing to be partnered
with an English language learner in the
community through a tutoring program
called Partners in Education, Community
Outreach & Embracing Diversity, or
PIECE.
“I don’t know Spanish, but I really
care about the newcomers to the
Tutoring
program bridges
language divide
TEXT & PHOTOS BY
ALEISA SCHAT
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 39

community and the immigrant and
migrant folks,” Nancy said.
PIECE founder Martha Draayer, a
friend of Nancy’s and the program’s
founder, encouraged her to sign up.
“I just reached out to Martha, and
I said, ‘Hey, I’m not a Spanish speaker,
but is there anything that I could
do to help someone?’” Nancy said.
Martha connected Nancy to Walter
and Modesta Martinez, a young
married couple who were originally
from Guatemala but who had been
living in Sioux Center for nearly a
decade with their two young kids,
Helen and Bradley, who are now 7
and 6 years old, respectively.
When the unlikely threesome first
met, they didn’t know yet that their
lives would become knit together
over the course of the next couple of
years.
PIECE
Draayer founded PIECE in 2013
as an outgrowth of the work done by
the mission and evangelism team at
Bethel Christian Reformed Church in
Sioux Center, which funds the curriculum
used by the program. The tutoring
program is run in partnership
with the Sioux Center Public Library,
which helps facilitate the program
and provides a space for tutoring
sessions to take place when needed.
“They said, ‘OK, just run with it,’
and I did,” Martha said. “I started
getting volunteers from my church,
and then from the rest of the community.”
Volunteer tutors are typically
paired with one English language
learner in the community, although
occasionally, as in Nacy’s case, they
are paired with two or three. Along
with providing a
language-learning
curriculum,
PIECE facilitates
opportunities for
tutors to gather
and learn new
strategies and access
support.
Most English
language learners
in the program
are native speakers
of Spanish or
Mam, the Indigenous
language
spoken by many
immigrants from
Guatemala. However,
other languages
are represented,
includ-
for English language learners with members of the Martinez
PIECE tutoring volunteer Nancy Dkystra works through a book
ing Russian and family at the Sioux Center Public Library. What started as a
tutoring relationship blossomed into a friendship.
Ukrainian, which
reflects the influx
of Ukrainian refugees to Sioux Center to oversee PIECE’s new endeavors.
in the wake of the 2022 invasion of “We’re asking, ‘How do we as a
Ukraine by Russia.
community come together and work
Since its beginning nearly a decade
ago, the community tutoring distilling the organization’s mission
on loving our neighbor?’ Martha said,
program has grown beyond its Sioux into a sentence.
Center boundaries. Today, there are
upstart programs in Orange City and
surrounding communities. Meanwhile,
the program has continued to Despite ambitious projects on the
Friendship
flourish in Sioux Center.
horizon, PIECE’s one-to-one tutoring
What started as a tutoring program
has begun to take new shape bors together. Often, Martha said,
program continues to bring neigh-
in recent years, and the vision guiding
PIECE has broadened to include tense of language instruction grow
relationships that begin on the pre-
initiatives to address the housing
crisis faced by immigrants and become deep and lasting friendships.
beyond their original boundaries to
other vulnerable populations in the That narrative arc — instruction
community. The organization was blossoming into friendship — describes
the story of Nancy, Walter
granted nonprofit status last year,
and Draayer has appointed a board and Modesta.
40 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

“I don’t know Spanish, but I really care
about the newcomers to the community
and the immigrant and migrant
folks.”
— NANCY DYKSTRA PIECE TUTORING VOLUNTEER
The three began by meeting in
the Martinezes’ small rental, where
they began working through a simple
curriculum provided by PIECE.
They used a translation app on their
phones to communicate when simple
sentences and gestures weren’t
enough to facilitate understanding.
“If we couldn’t figure it out, then
we would turn to the app,” Nancy
said.
Soon the formality loosened.
“I think we just sort of became
friends — we went shopping one
time, and Modesta cooked something
for me, and so we worked our way
through food,” Nancy said. “What is
it that you cooked for me that first
time, Modesta?”
“Arroz con pollo,” 26-year-old
Modesta said.
They used the language of food
and cooking as a natural form of
language instruction that went both
directions. “Arroz,” Dykstra learned,
means “rice.” “Chicken,” Modesta
learned, means “pollo.” It soon became
clear to Nancy that the most
important role she could play in the
family’s life went beyond language
instruction, and Nancy focused on
helping the family get plugged into
necessary resources.
Connector
“I started by making sure that they
had available to them the resources
that they’re eligible for,” she said.
“We managed to find things that
were meaningful for them — like
coming to the library and knowing
what services were here.”
She showed them where the food
pantry was, an especially helpful resource
for the family during the pandemic.
Nancy also helped the family
get Helen, who has a rare neurological
condition, signed up for disability
benefits, and she accompanied Modesta
and Helen to an appointment
with a specialist in Sioux Falls.
Nancy wanted to better understand
the contours of Helen’s condition,
which affects her mobility and
development, and to help ensure
the family was able to access the resources
and care Helen needed. Helen
began receiving regular physical
therapy at Sioux Center Health, and
she also received therapeutic support
right in school, first when she
attended Early Head Start, then later
at Kinsey Elementary.
Nancy also helped Modesta and
Walter each navigate the process of
getting a driver’s license.
“A real project was when Walter
came home one day when I was
there, and he said, ‘Can you help us
get our license?’ That was a biggie,”
Nancy said.
Nancy invited Spanish-speaking
staff members from Promise to accompany
them on numerous trips to
the Department of Transportation.
The process was surprisingly long
and arduous for the two Spanish
speakers. Martha remembers hearing
about Nancy’s experience of walking
alongside Modesta, who speaks less
English than Walter.
“The story that I heard from her
just brought me to tears,” Martha
said. “She said, ‘I had no idea.
I’ve lived here my whole life, and I
had no idea about the difference in
treatment for this individual and
the hoops that they made her jump
through. Her eyes were opened to her
own community.”
Nancy, Walter and Modesta don’t
meet for regular tutoring sessions
anymore, but they often gather to
celebrate birthdays and holidays.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 41

Nancy also got to share the couple’s
excitement when they purchased their
first home.
“I was with them to do the final paper
signing at American State Bank,”
Nancy said. “I’m really excited for them
to have their own home.”
There have been obstacles, but the
Martinez family is thriving, Nancy said.
Modesta, after staying home with her
children when they were young, began
working full time at Smithfield in
Orange City last year. Walter recently
was able to move from night shift to
day shift at Pella Corporation in Sioux
Center.
“So I can be home with the kids, and
we can spend more time together,” he
said.
He also has gotten involved in a
soccer league, and plays regularly in
matches that take
place at the American
State Bank
Complex in Sioux
Center.
Helen, too, has
advanced. Nancy
remembers seeing
Helen for the
first time after the
pandemic brought
the group’s regular
meetings to a halt.
The last time Nancy
had seen Helen, she
was unable to sit up
without support, and she was using a
walker to get around. That day, Nancy
opened the door to the family’s home.
“Helen came walking up to the door
on her own. I thought, ‘Wow. She has
thrived,’” Nancy said.
“We’ve been delighted to know Nancy,”
Walter said. “I think she’s the only
American that has helped us a lot so
far.”
Residential
Commercial
Agricultural
•20 Years of Experience
•Fully Licensed and Insured
•Monthly, Bi-Monthly, Quarterly,
Seasonal and Semi-Annual
Programs Available
•FREE Estimates
Ryan Myers,
Pest Technician
P.O. Box 82
Sioux Center, IA 51250
Office: 712-722-4028
Cell: 712-348-4237
to the
SIOUX CENTER
NEWS
Stay up to date
on your hometown!
• City government • Church announcements
• Local columnists • Obituaries
• Sioux Center schools • High school sports
• Legals • Business news
• Local ads and much more
Subscribe now to have your copy
delivered every week.!
GO TO
nwestiowa.com/subscribe
or CALL 712-722-0511
or 1-800-247-0186
42 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

Browse our used
vehicles & parts
inventory and
sell us your
late-model
salvage!
• Oil Change • Tire Rotation
• Brake Repair
• Sensor Reading • All types
of work for Domestic &
Foreign Cars
• Truck Repairs • And More!
Give us a call and we’ll
give you a bid!
298 7th St NW
Sioux Center, IA
712-722-1731
www.bandbsalvage.net
CONCRETE
PUMPING
DONE RIGHT
www.siouxconcrete.com
We offer pumping for residential
and commercial projects alike,
spanning foundations, patios,
retaining walls, sidewalks,
slabs and much more.
We’ve got the skills, equipment
and customer service focus to
best serve you.
CONTACT US TODAY
FOR A FREE ESTIMATE
Rob Suwyn,
owner
712-360-0176
RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • AGRICULTURAL
• Poured Walls • Flat Work
•Decorative/Stamped Concrete
682 16th St. NE • Sioux Center, IA
712-722-5590 • 712-441-3071
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 43

BY THE NUMBERS |
View of Central
Park taken from
Highway 75 in
the mid-1930s.
Young trees
were planted
on Arbor Day
by grade school
students in that
decade.
TEXT BY ERIC SANDBULTE
PHOTOS BY ERIC SANDBULTE
AND SUBMITTED
For years, Sioux Center’s
park system has been a
safe place for children and
families to relax and play. Here
are some interesting numbers
and facts about the parks found
throughout the community.
Three full-time
employees
and 15 parttime
seasonal
workers make
up the Sioux Center
Parks Department.
Two black bears
were housed in a pair
of enclosures at the
Children’s Park. Later,
when the bears went
away, peacocks were
kept there instead.
acres
total amount of
150The
land dedicated to parks.
P
■ 10 parks are found throughout
Sioux Center.
■ 2015: The date Sunrise Park,
Sioux Center’s newest park at 1621
Sunrise Trail, was added.
■ 80 acres: The size of Sioux
Center’s largest park, Open Space Park.
■ 15 feet: The height of the
tallest slide, which can be found at
Children’s Park.
44 SC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2023

One enclosed shelter house
found at Children’s Park. Opened in 2019, the
3,600-square-feet facility can seat up to 110
people and includes a kitchenette, bathrooms
and classroom space for Sioux Center Arts.
Six awards have been granted
to Sioux Center parks, with the
most recent being the National Softball Field of
the Year award for 2019.
Parks
Sioux Center
1857
People say the “immigrant tree,” or
cottonwood in Central Park was planted by
Sioux Center’s first resident, Jacob Koster.
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 45

We’ve got you
COVERED
If it matters to you, it matters to us.
Turn to Iowa Information Media Group for in-depth coverage of the communities of N’West Iowa.
School news • City and county government • Sports • Agriculture • Business • Lifestyles and features
Family news and obituaries • Advertisements from a wide variety of businesses and retailers
IOWA
INFORMATION
MEDIA GROUP
nwest .com
712.722.0511 • 1.800.247.0186
Sheldon | Sioux Center | Hawarden | Okoboji | Moville
Sibley | Le Mars | Remsen | Carroll | Jefferson
For immediate news, visit
Half a million page views each month speaks to
the ever-changing content you’ll find here.

Hospers, IA
FAMILY OWNED
SINCE 1976
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1976
Den Hartog Industries
is a family owned business providing
industry leading products for over 46
years!
Den Hartog Industries is a family owned
Our TEAM is continuing
business providing industry leading products
to grow to meet our
for increasing over customer 46 years! demand. Our TEAM is continuing to
grow to meet our increasing customer demand.
Visit our website to review our open positions!
Visit denhartogindustries.com
our website review our open positions!
"ALWAYS AT YOUR SERVICE"
denhartogindustries.com
"ALWAYS AT YOUR SERVICE"
SPRING 2023 | SC MAGAZINE 47