Salvadoran opera singer Mario Arevalo is returning to Hampton to star in “We the Many II” on Saturday, March 2. 
 

The second Knights of Columbus fish fry of the season was in full swing at St. Patrick's Church in Hampton on Friday, Feb. 23. 
Patrons lined up starting at 5 p.m. for what's rumored to be the best fried fish in town. 
Last week was the lenten season kickoff fry which saw 186 meals served.  The dinner is a free-will event with a suggested donation of $15.

Hampton-Dumont High School junior Isaac Vosburg said he’s grown to appreciate his hometown of Hampton a whole lot more after spending the last 6 months in Malaysia as a foreign exchange student.
 

Three local students — Breckyn Dickman, Lauren Lettow and Brody Walton — received Good Citizen awards from the Hampton Candle-Stick chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at the G.A.R. Memorial Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 13. 

On Saturday, February 17, the Hampton-Dumont-CAL speech team traveled to Iowa State University in Ames for the Large Group All-State Festival.  According to the IHSSA website, “approximately 24,000 students started at the district level from 484 school memberships. Approximately 1,870 students earned the right to be named as Outstanding All State Nominees.”

Ackley High School FFA instructor Katelin Lewis, 26, has been involved with FFA for most of her life.
 

The staff at Cal Elementary School in Latimer are inviting members of the community to their open house on Thursday, Feb. 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. 
There will be a meal, green screen photos, travel brochures from the third graders, a science fair for the second graders, 3-D printed star constellations from the first graders, community surveys and more. 
 

After doing so well last year, Leon Kuehner said he and others on the Franklin County Arts Council were eager to bring back the “We the Many” concert they pulled off last spring.
 
 
According to Kuehner, one main reason for the success of last year’s concert was its star, Mario Arevalo, who’s currently working as a voice teacher at The New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida.
 
 

A group of local veterans and their partners were treated to a free trip to the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum on Tuesday, Jan. 30, with funding that was donated by a local veteran who passed away several years ago.

Bruce Dohrmann, 77, of Latimer, left thousands of dollars to city and county entities in his will, after passing away on April 27, 2023, according to attorney Art Cady, who’s handling his estate. 

Jacob Grefe, 25, of Hampton, has been serving as an aviation mechanic in the U.S. Marines for the last four years, and he's thriving.
Grefe said he first became interested in joining the Marines toward the end of his high school career, as many of his family members had served in the military before him. 

Clay artist and instructor Nathan Moore — who runs a company called “Nathan & Clay” — taught his first pottery classes in Hampton this weekend, at First and Second Vintage Too! 
Moore said that he was put in touch with Jerre Grefe, the owner of First and Second Vintage and First and Second Vintage Too!, after meeting someone at the Geneva Market, who put them in touch. 

Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s Bulldog Cafe released its spring 2024 menu — featuring cuisine from different countries at each cafe. 
 
Leslie Pralle Osborn, who took over the Bulldog Cafe at the start of the fall semester, said that the students come up with the menu for each semester, and that this time they wanted to push themselves to learn about foods from around the world. 
 

Scott Grummer, Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries management biologist, said Beeds Lake can usually be ice fished on until March, but that it looks like ice fishing will have to wrap up early this year.

Britt's Boutique Owner Britt Lumley and First and Second Vintage Owner Jerre Grefe put their heads together for a cookie-decorating (and mimosa) extravaganza on Sunday, Feb. 4 — the first of its kind for the City of Hampton.