Preparations are underway for the 2024 Lincoln County 4-H Achievement Days. The dates for 2024 are July 28 through Aug. 1. All events will be at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds located at 27711 HWY 17, Lennox. Members will bring their display exhibits to be judged to the 4-H Building on July 28 and 29 with judging happening on July 29. These events are closed to the public. The public is invited to check out events the rest of the week. On July 30, the robotics club will showcase what they have been working on this summer and the poultry show begins at 10:30 a.m. Oth activities include a puzzle ..read more

In March 2024, Down Home by DeBoers opened in Tea. The store recently celebrated its grand opening and ribbon cutting on Saturday, July 13. Located at 108 Venture Street, Suite 200, in the Bakker Landing development, it shares the retail center with Starbucks, just west of the Tea exit on Interstate 29. During the grand opening, customers could enjoy food trucks and a special VIP event.  The merchandise mix draws on a similar aesthetic to many of the DeBoers’ renovations featured on their HGTV series, “Down Home Fab”.  Chelsea DeBoer explained that choosing Tea for the store’s locat ..read more

A small business in Tea is celebrating its second anniversary and grand reopening in its second location. Bella & Birch now offers baby, children’s and women’s clothing at a new location along 900 N. Main Ave. Unique to its brand, Bella & Birch offers piano lessons as well. Liz Carrell opened the boutique online in 2019 as a part-time venture. In the spring of 2022, she went full time with the boutique, opening her first brick-and-mortar store in Tea. With a shared passion for playing piano, she and her mom started offering lessons. “My mom, Mary, is completely blind,” Carrell said. C ..read more

The Tea Area School Board met July 8 with board member Conrad Pick wrapping up 12 years serving on the board. Superintendent Jennifer Lowery and the board thanked him for his years of service. Jason Bennett and Tara Johanneson were sworn in as board members for the 2024-25 school year. Student council rep Meredith Decker also joined the board. The board elected Bennett as board president and Kristen Daggett as vice president. The board changed their meeting time to 5:30 p.m. Most meetings are the second Monday of the month with a handful of exceptions. The full school board meeting schedule ca ..read more

With all members present, the Lincoln County Commissioners met Tuesday, July 9 in the Lincoln County Boardroom. Commissioners heard agenda items including tax increment districts, Lake Alvin closure and refunded taxes. Commission Admin Officer, Steve Rasmussen brought forth a public hearing and resolution creating Tax Incremental District Number 10. Rasmussen introduced Todd Meierhenry to provide revenue projections.  “What you do at this hearing for this resolution is that you set the boundaries, give it a name, give it a date of creation, and also create your tax increment fund to which ..read more

The Spring of 1984 brought about the beginnings of the Lennox Old Fashioned 4th of July. Marty Stake, a member of St. Magdalen Catholic Church remembered the special all-day celebrations of her childhood in Oklahoma. Could this be a possibility for the Lennox community? Marty took her idea to the Altar Society, a women’s group within the parish. After much discussion, her idea received their blessing. The planning and hard work began. Marty headed up the Committee along with members Becky Hofer, Linda Reiners, and Tonya Ringen. The whole parish pulled together wherever the need was to create ..read more

The Tea Post 266 TinCap Baseball team competed in the Dakota Classic Tournament on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 at the Sanford Sports Complex. Thirty-eight Legion teams competed in the tournament representing the states of: South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Nebraska. In Game #1 of pool play, the TinCaps faced Post 307 from Renner, and recorded a 6-2 victory over the Sultans. The pitching duties for the TinCaps was a group effort with Clayton Schwebach, Sam Werdel, and Jake Lingren, combining to give up only two runs on three hits.   The TinCap offense was spearheaded by ..read more

Flood warnings began popping up late Thursday night and continued into the weekend as 8+ inches of rain fell in the Tea area in a span of three days.  On Friday, June 21 many residents woke up to water surrounding their property with some having water breach their homes and basements. The National Weather Service put many areas in a flood warning Friday, ranging from Chamberlain in the west to Lincoln and Minnehaha counties in the east. A broader flood watch extended through most of the eastern half of the state through Saturday morning, June 22.  Throughout the weekend, s ..read more

Pictured from left to right: Henry Fortin, Tyler Woodring and Slater Wilson represented South Dakota at the 2024 Disney AAU Scholastic Duals in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Three standout wrestlers from Tea showcased their skills at the 2024 Disney AAU Scholastic Duals, held in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Competing for Team South Dakota, the athletes left a mark at the event. Tyler Woodring, wrestling at 126lbs for South Dakota Blue in the All-Star division, delivered an outstanding performance. Team SD Blue finished the weekend with a 6-5 record, securing ninth place overall. Woodring’s impressive ..read more

The Lincoln County Commissioners met Tuesday, June 11 in the Lincoln County Boardroom. With all members present, Commissioners heard agenda items including first reading of ordinances, highway shop discussions, and SDDOT loan requests. Commissioners heard the first reading for an Ordinance of Lincoln County, SD, rezoning a portion (approximately 104.17 acres) of the property legally described as NW1/4 (Ex. Lots H-1 and H-4 and Tower Estates and Tract 1 of Neeman Addition and Ponderosa Park Addition), Section 6-T99N-R50W LaValley Township from the A-1 Agricultural District to the I-1 Light Indu ..read more