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Little Swan Lake Winery is a family owned and operated business located 1-1/2 miles north of the small town of Superior in Northwest Iowa. The tasting room, a remodeled 1920's barn, features 35 different wines all produced on site, a selection of gourmet cheeses, and buffalo meat from the owners herd which roams nearby. The vineyard consists of two acres of northern cold hardy grapes. The gift shop features clothing and wine related items. Little Swan Lake is dedicated to producing the finest and most enjoyable wines and invite you to spend an hour or an afternoon with them. The bed and breakfast is a renovated grain elevator and is a great place to relax and enjoy the beauty that is Little Swan Lake! They have weekly live music, check their website for the schedule!

Bracco World Cafe brings you to the beach, and tropics; you almost forget that you're in Iowa, and not in Mexico! They have the best exotic drink menu anywhere in town. This family owned restaurant has a menu like no other, featuring Island, Asian, and American cuisine. They offer a casual atmosphere for coming right off the boat. Bracco also has a large bar area, complete with sand, and hammock chair beach chairs, to ensure ultimate relaxation.

As the only jeweler in the lakes area, you're sure to find everything you need at this established jewelry store. With over 30 years of experience, they have an eye for creating amazing pieces of jewelry. Whether it be an ever special engagement ring, or a beautiful necklace, they have every style imaginable, that is sure to take your breath away.

The O'Farrell Sister is a historic Okoboji Tradition that one must check out for breakfast and lunch!

'Farrell Sisters History
The O'Farrell Sisters restaurant was born in 1949 at the bridge on Hwy 71, between East and West Lake Okoboji. Edna Mae and Arlene O'Farrell bought the business from Ike Kissinger who was running for Sheriff of Dickinson County.

In the early years the girls were open seven days a week and had a booming business in no time. The fried chicken dinners on Sunday evenings were especially popular. There were times when the line waiting to get in was so long they'd have to lock the door and would often run out of chicken!

In 1959 Arlene married and moved to Tallahassee, Florida with her husband Furman Henderson. Edna Mae and Ferne continued in the restaurant, moving to its present location that same year. This spot had a garden and chicken coup, which was moved to the house across the street.

Ferne died in 1974 and Edna Mae in 1978. Arlene sold the business to nieces Joyce Gapinski, Jo Ann Anderson, Charlotte Sarvie and Cheri Petersen (these are married names). The nieces successfully ran the restaurant from 1979 through 2003. After losing Jo Ann in 1997 and Cheri in 2002, Joyce and Charlotte decided to sell after the 2003 season.

The rest is to be continued...

The Family Diner is Spirit Lake, IA is a local favorite! They offer up a large portion for small money, but whether you come early or late you may be in for a wait. With homemade bread and the largest sausage patty you have seen, The Family Diner is consistently delicious. They are open only for breakfast and lunch and closed two days a week. In my former career at Stylecraft, the family diner was definately a favorite when our friends would visit from North Carolina. They were always inpressed with the bread and rolls and corn beef hash.

Founded in 1960, the Three Sons has been a staple of Milford, IA retail. From Herman and Emil Richter, owners, was born the University of Okoboji, a ficticious university that calls the entire Iowa Great Lakes the campus of the U of O. Part of the experience of shopping the three sons, if walking the old battered floors, and taking a trip upstairs for half price, plus a buck. Brands you would expect in Milford Iowa are abundant, such as Patagonia, Oakley, Under Armour, Tommy Bahama, and more. There are currently 2 other stores; one at the amusement park, and another near the Regal Beagle called the bridge store. No self-respecting visitor to Okoboji leaves without visiting one of their stores.

I hear this one all the time from prospects looking to list their house. "Well, agent xyz told us that if we listed with her, she'd have it sold in a week." This would fall into the category of "If it sounds too good to be true, the probably is." The majority of agents are not going to make this claim, but rather will give you an honest market analysis, inform you as to how weak or strong the market is, especially the market in which your home resides, and present the objective facts. A good agent will then lay out an effective marketing plan, where the majority of the focus should be on "online marketing". Be careful to not get caught up in empty promises, reduced commissions, and being talked in to lowering your price below market value (unless you must have a quick sale). The key to choosing a good listing agent is to objectively determine who is going to provide you the best opportunity to sell your home. Will your listing agent also aggressively work to find buyers, or will they just list your home and wait for another agent to do the work.

The Kozy Heat Fireplaces Gallery is a fireplace dealership located just off of Highway 71 in Arnolds Park, IA. The gallery is an authorized dealer of the following items: gas fireplaces, wood fireplaces, electric fireplaces, outdoor fireplaces, pellet grills, gas grills, smokers, charcoal grills, and ceramic grills. The Kozy Heat Gallery also offers all the tools, amenities, and gear you could possibly dream of to outfit your patio or grilling station to make your house the best hangout spot in the neighborhood. Most importantly, the Kozy Heat Gallery's mission is to assist in outfitting your home or business with the best fireplaces, grills, or accessories out there for each and every customer. With a high standard for customer satisfaction, the superb staff are always excited to accommodate your every need.

The Clubhouse
2501 Boji Bend Dr
Milford, IA 51351

The Clubhouse is a smaller, comfortable restaurant with great food and a good atmosphere and even better food. There is a full bar, TV’s for the games, access to the pool area and inside and outside seating.

The Bedell Family YMCA offers many programs to kids and adults alike. Children can get their first experiences with various sports, and continue their interests as they grow into specific programs. Adults also are offered many sports, health, and wellness programs at the Y, they even provide childcare while you attend your program, or work out. The Bedell Family YMCA is also the creator of Camp Foster, an amazing camp for kids in the summer.

Matuska Taxidermy
3735 Hwy 71
Spirit Lake, IA 51360

Another neat experience you don’t get to see every day. Stop in and check out the amazing display of work done by Tom Matuska and Matuska Taxidermy. On display you will find all kinds of animals and fish.

Also offered is the Northwest Iowa School of Taxidermy which is a 9 week course offered two times a year designed to get you started on a successful career in taxidermy.

Calvary United Methodist Church of Arnolds Park
679 W Okoboji Dr
Arnolds Park, IA 51331

Services
Saturday at 6 p.m.
Sunday at 9 a.m.
Summer- Memorial Day to Labor Day at 7:30 a.m. boat up/drive up service. At the bridge between East and West Okoboji Lakes.

First Presbyterian Church
1220 South Market St
Lake Park, IA 51347
Service - 10:30 am Sunday

Located in the Iowa Great Lakes, Okoboji - Underwater Solutions provides aquatic weed removal by hand pulling the roots or cutting. Shoreline clean up, ice recovery of snowmobiles and vehicles, underwater inspections & video, intake cleaning, bathymetry, scraping Zebra Mussels. Call them today at 712-260-7818.

At Winther, Stave & Co., LLP we use a team approach. You have a team of accounting professionals at your disposal, not just one person. With specialists in many different areas, we can draw on that breadth of knowledge and experience to help with services ranging from taxes, to payroll, to wealth preservation.

Main Street Bar and Grill is a longstanding bar/pub/lounge that also has a great selection of food. Wednesday nights they offer a wonderful steak menu. Great cocktails and great food in small-town Terril, Iowa.

Emerald Hills Golf Course is one of the premier golf courses in the Iowa Great Lakes. Golfers throughout Okoboji will tell you that compared to the rest of the golf courses around, Emerald Hills is probably the most challenging. When I grew up as a kid, we lived just a half block from the back side of the course. We would sneak on with a couple short little clubs and balls we found walking the course and sometimes spent more time being chased by the sprinklers than trying to hit golf balls. Emerald Hills was owned by Gordy and Bette Benit many years ago and they can be credited with growing this course into the masterpiece it has become. Later purchased by Randy Rohlfsen and a few others, Emerald has flourished as one of the best courses around. If memory serves me right, Randy has been there since the early 1990's and has always had a strong conviction to help young golfers. He has taught and coached numerous high school teams, and they also put on a 5 day junior camp every year which has been a tremendous hit. I grew up on this course and can honestly say, you better be hitting the ball straight!

Elinor Bedell State Park

located on 80 acres of land this property was gifted by former U.S. Congressman Berkley Bedell and his wife Elinor. Berkley was also the original business man who began the Berkley Fishing company which started in Spirit Lake and was taken world-wide.

The park offers prairie and wetland areas to navigate, with miles of trails, a campground, playground equipment, a shelter overlooking the lake and more.

As the only frozen yogurt place in the Lakes Area, BonBon has made quite the name for itself! We wait for the day it opens, and try to go weekly throughout the summer. This self serve froyo shop is sure to put a smile on anyone's face, with the array of toppings, and flavors, that are changing from week to week! It satisfies your sweet tooth, while still being healthy, which is a major win win for me.

Okoboji Middle School is a place where we are Pioneering Pathways for Every Student. We focus on giving EVERY student access to a world-class education in small-town Iowa. We do this in three primary ways:

We employ staff who care deeply about the lives and learning of each student. From the classroom to the kitchen, we believe positive relationships between our staff and students form the foundation for all student learning.
We focus on preparing students with the competencies and skills needed to thrive in the world beyond our school. All teachers use a common language focused on developing the following five competencies in all our students:
Critical Thinking: The ability to incorporate key information to develop solutions to complex problems
Productivity & Accountability: Demonstrate initiative, self-direction, and personal responsibility to create quality results.
Complex Communication: Successful sharing of information with a clear message.
Collaboration: Respectfully working within a group to achieve a common goal.
Growth Mindset: The incorporation of creativity, unique thoughts, curiosity, and innovation in learning.
We focus on creating learning experiences to prepare our students to solve the problems of tomorrow. Nowhere is this more exemplified than in our Midmester Academy. Through our Midmester Academy, students spend over 120 days throughout their middle school career engaging in 24 real-world, interdisciplinary, problem-based courses. Their experiences culminate in an 8th Grade Capstone Project, where students showcase their middle school learning to a panel of peers, family, and faculty.

Please click HERE to access our Midmester Academy Handbook and Course Booklet.

We hope you will take to time to peruse the Midmester Academy Handbook Course Booklet and navigate our website to learn more about our school. Most importantly, we want you to know that if you are considering Okoboji Schools for your family, we would welcome the opportunity to give you a guided tour of our facilities, which will include a detailed exploration into the programming we offer our students. Please contact any of our school offices to set up a tour.

Yours in Education,

Ryan Cunningham
Okoboji Middle School Principal

Okoboji Youth Basketball Association (OYBA)

The Okoboji School system and basketball program is really blessed to have such a great nucleus of coaches and a system in place designed to really build the children through team work and skill building. OYBA has put together a board and a mission that is really great for the kids and is designed to develop the kids to prepare them for High School Basketball.

Each winter, OYBA puts out teams ranging from 3rd grade up to 8th grade, both girls teams and boys teams.
I am one of the coaches for the 5th grade girls team, we have 24 kids out for basketball, for such a small class, those numbers are amazing.
We put together 3 traveling teams and each of our teams is signed up for 5 tournaments this winter season, the kids love it.

Whether you are new to town or have been here for a long time, if you have kids going to the Okoboji School system and want to play some ball, check out the website, call one of the board members or give me a call and I'll point you in the right direction.

Grace Lutheran Church
801 Hill Ave
Spirit Lake, IA 51360

Services
Saturday at 4 p.m. (informal)
Sunday at 10 a.m. (familial)
Wednesday at 6 p.m. (interactive)

The Lake Park United Methodist Church will be hosting a community meal on Christmas day 2016. They will be serving ham and turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and a dinner roll along with pumpkin or apple pie from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the church free of charge. Don't spend Christmas alone, join everyone at the church for food and fellowship!

Reservations are appreciated, but not required. To RSVP, call or text Cari Wallace at 712-330-6103, Mel Zevenbergen at 712-832-3306 or Marie Matthiesen at 712-240-0939.

Located in Spirit Lake Lisa's Bake Shop offers a large selection of bakery items along with to-go deli items. If you are looking for something specific you certainly can call ahead and order a personalized cake or cheesecake or just stop in a grab some of their famous cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls. If you cant decide what to have for lunch or dinner stop in and check out their large selection of take and bake meals and soups. You will not be disappointed!

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This place is amazing! From the views, atmosphere, service and food you can't go wrong. The biggest beer and drink selection at the lakes. On Sundays you can enjoy one of the largest bloody mary bars in the area. Their menu consists of a variety of steaks, seafood, and flatbreads. The Waterfront is a great addition to the lakes area!

My local expertise, experience in other markets, combined with the power and influence of RE/MAX, enables me to help achieve all your objectives in your home purchase or sale. Call me, Lynn Thompson to discuss today's Real Estate opportunities.

Check out Emmetsburg for your St. Patrick's Day celebration! You may just be surprised what a great location this is for some fun. It was even featured among the 10 most surprising places to celebrate St. Patty's!. See for yourself below!

Spencer Hospital delivers the highest quality healthcare in its area.They are compassionate about their patients, while providing high-tech, and professional care to each of their patients. They have a specialized cancer center, diagnostic imaging, surgery center, and a brand new OB unit. Spencer Hospital's amazing doctors provide personalized care, and treat each patient with compassion, and care.

One of the area's best! The Outrigger serves fine food with an elegant, charming atmosphere. The menu has a variety of food options, but the Outrigger is well-known for their steak and seafood. Weekend specials are offered as well as prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights. A great neighborhood bar and restaurant!

Choose from a variety of luxurious condominiums and hotel-style guest rooms. Bridges Bay Resort features the area's only indoor waterpark 'Boji Splash, featuring the Cantina which serves a variety of delicious food and beverages. Bring the boat in the summer and enjoy being right on the water or get away for the weekend in the winter months and let the kids enjoy the indoor waterpark!

The Dry Dock, connected to Four Season's Resort offers a simplified menu, but consistent delicious food. One of the few restaurants on West Lake Okoboji, the Dry Dock offers up legendary breakfasts, great lunches and dinners, and the local favorite Friday Night Fish Fry. Sit inside or out after arriving by foot, car, or boat.

Jimmy John's slices our all-natural meats and fresh veggies in-house every day. Our fresh-baked bread is made right here where you can see it, and our house-made tuna salad is fresh every day. The flavor of a ripe tomato, crisp shredded lettuce, combined with fresh-baked bread, fresh-sliced meat and real Hellmann's mayo - that's when the magic happens. Made with love every single day since 1983. That's Jimmy Fresh!

Forbes Meat
2508 Enterprise Ave
Spirit Lake, IA 51360

If you want to grill out tonight, this is the place. Forbes Meats offers amazing steak, pork chops, roasts and other cuts, as well as fresh and smoked sausage products.

Oh, and don’t forget to try the beef jerky, it is amazing.
Easy to find, next door to Renew and across the highway from Lakes Regional Hospital.

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Dixon Family Chiropractic is a clinic located on Hwy 9, east of Walmart, next to Pizza Ranch and has convenient hours.....open 6 days a week at 7:30 am, evenings and Saturdays. Formerly in the convenient health care building south of the 4 way stop in Spirit Lake, Wade and Adalee offer a friendly staff and professional services.

4150 Sunner Dr
Spirit Lake, IA

Looking for a rental, here are some options. Located next door the YMCA in Spirit Lake, IA, right on the bike trail system.

Tallgrass offers a variety of different rental options including: Lofts (1 to 3 Bedroom & Efficiency style) and Townhomes (3 and 4 bedroom). Other features- Laundry, 9 foot ceilings, handicap units, On-site manager and more.

Lake Life is a local magazine, that highlights some of the best businesses in the Okoboji area. They share events, news, and all things great about this little lake town. The magazine is always free to locals, while subscriptions are available to those out of the area. With 5 magazine distributions per year, never miss out on what the Okoboji area has to offer!

Beautiful views and living on the lake without all the other commotion. Silver Lake in Ayrshire is a great place to find tranquility with every day life. Boating, fishing and friendly neighbors is what you will find in this hidden gem.

Buchanan Park
Located a block East from Hwy 71 on 13th Street in Milford and a half block South on P Ave, this is a surprisingly nice and quiet little park that my kids enjoy frequenting. We like to take the dog and throw frisbees. In addition, the park offers a basketball court, swingset and other playground equipment, and some picnic tables.

A local non-profit with the mission of Transforming Lives, Strengthening Families and Enhancing our Community. Offering Parenting Classes, Professional Counseling, Maternity Home for young women facing unplanned pregnancies and support for moms on infant loss. 712-338-3333

At Winther, Stave & Co., LLP we use a team approach. You have a team of accounting professionals at your disposal, not just one person. With specialists in many different areas, we can draw on that breadth of knowledge and experience to help with services ranging from taxes, to payroll, to wealth preservation.

Good News Community Church
1010 Julia Street
Okoboji, IA 51355

Services
Sunday at 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

Remington's in Okoboji has great appetizers, salads, sandwiches, steak and much more. Remington's also has daily lunch and dinner specials. Happy Hour Mon - Fri 4pm - 6pm with free popcorn. Saturday is "Game Day" 11am - 4pm with drink and appetizer specials. Lunch and dinner reservations are taken, along with large group reservations with seating up to 150 people. Remington's offers a semi-private dining room that seats 50 people.

Fisherman’s Factory Outlet
1803 18th St (Hwy 9 & 71)
Spirit Lake, IA 51360

Located across the street from Pure Fishing, the Fisherman’s Factory Outlet is a must stop for avid fishermen. This outlet store offers all kinds of fishing equipment including fishing poles, reels, tackle and bait. You can find a lot of popular brands at much discounted prices here, including factory reconditioned Abu Garcia, Fenwick, Berkley, Coleman, Pflueger, Mitchell, PENN and more .

You can also find outdoor clothing including coats, shirts, boots, gloves and more.

Dependable & knowledgeable residential appliance repair company. Servicing most major brands of appliances in the Okoboji area. Hours are M-F 8am - 5pm. 24-hour service available.

Stop in El Parian for some of the best Mexican cuisine and margaritas. On Wednesdays lime margaritas are only $.99! El Parian offers a wide variety of authentic Mexican food for lunch and dinner. You will not leave hungry by any means!

Welcome to Okoboji Elementary School, where we are blessed to serve over 470 students in preschool through 4th grade. We are continuously Pioneering Pathways for Every Student as we strive to make learning engaging and relevant for each and every student. We take pride in the academic instruction that our students receive and in the fact that our students consistently demonstrate high competencies in reading, math, and science, but also that they develop the critical thinking, communication, and problem- solving skills they will need to be successful beyond their years at OES. We are committed to making sure our students’ needs are met, whether it be basic needs, social/emotional needs, or academic needs.

We would love for you to arrange a visit to Okoboji Elementary School to experience the positive culture of the building and to see first-hand the compassion and commitment of our staff. We are confident that you will see it as a place where your child will thrive.

Yours in Education,

Justin Bouse
Okoboji Elementary School Principal

Come to one of the two locations: Spencer or Spirit Lake @ Allure & Co. to experience a community of people seeking to live healthier lives through exercising the body and mind.
The Studio Yoga & Barre offers a variety of yoga, barre, cycling and paddle-board classes for different levels of experience.
They also offer yoga and exercise apparel, as well as oils and health supplements.