ACGC’s Caydence Boals earned Academic All-State honors awarded by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association. Photo by Mark Reno
By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
Two ACGC softball players earned individual honors from the West Central Activities Conference for their performances in 2026. Caydence Boals and Kailee Kautzky were both named Honorable Mention.
ACGC’s Thomas Skram, Will Skram and Blaize Dorsey all earned individual honors for their performances in 2026. Photos by Mark Reno
By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
The ACGC baseball team secured individual honors at the conclusion of the 2026 season. Thomas Skram was named to the Class 1A Central District Second-Team as an outfielder. Thomas Skram was also named to the West Central Activities Conference Second-Team. Teammates Will Skram and Blaize Dorsey were WCAC All-Conference Honorable Mentions.
By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The Panora Chamber of Commerce invites everyone to celebrate Panorama Days 2026 from Friday, July 31 through Sunday, Aug. 2. This year’s celebration features several additions, including professional chip timing for the Panorama Days 5K Run/Walk, expanded Friday family activities and live entertainment, the inaugural Pickleball Tournament, and a new Praise Band and Tori’s Angels Free-Will Donation Lunch on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Boulder Beach. Community favorites such as the parade, Family Fun Zone, bass fishing tournament, Kids Fishing Derby, classic car show, live music, food vendors, and many more activities return throughout the weekend. A complete Schedule of Events is available at www.panorachamber.org or on the Panora Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.
To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, West Central Iowa Gospel Sing welcomes all to come sing or just listen from 2-7 p.m. on Friday, July 31 and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1. The event will be held at 102 S.W. Kent St. in Greenfield. Admission will be by freewill donation. Seating and food will be available.
The annual Booster Club Scholarship Golf Tournament will be held on Sunday, Aug. 2. Registration will be at 12:30 p.m., and shotgun start will be at 1 p.m. The 18-hole event will take place at the Lake Panorama Par 3 Golf Course. Teams of four will compete. Registration cost is $45 per person or $180 for a team of four. The event includes games, prizes and snacks.
To register, or for information about sponsoring a hole, contact Booster Club President Chaille Crandall at crandallchaille@gmail.com.
Everyone is welcomed to donate blood at the mobile LifeServe Blood Center drive from noon to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 3. The drive will be held at the Casey Community Center. Appointments can be booked by visiting www.lifeservebloodcenter.org.
Panorama High School’s football field will be the site of a first-time event in the area. It will be a flag football tournament in which youth will team up with deputies from the Guthrie County Sheriff’s department. The idea behind the event is not only to create a fundraiser for future outreach programs, but also to provide an opportunity for local youth to have a positive experience with law enforcement. Details for spectators will be published later.
Art on State (320 State St., Guthrie Center) welcomes everyone to submit entries in the upcoming Lego creation contest. The free event is open to adults and kids, kindergarten or older. Creations can be original or from a kit. Submissions may be brought to Art on State on Aug. 7 or 8 and will be displayed Aug. 11-15 in the store. Prizes will be awarded.
Beginning Sept. 8 and running through Dec. 8, a free grief support group will meet at the Panora Public Library (102 North First St.) on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To register, go to www.griefshare.org or call Carla Kem at 641-332-3006.
Fun and food will be enjoyed at the Best of the Block BBQ Cook-off in downtown Stuart on Sept. 18 and 19. The fest kicks off on Friday, Sept. 18 with a freewill donation chili feed at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19 offers a Legion breakfast, games and kids’ events, caricatures, a vendor fair, BBQ awards, pie auction and raffle, BBQ meat fest and street dance with live music. The complete schedule can be viewed on the Facebook page of Stuart Best of the Block BBQ. The event will raise funds for the Cottage Pantry and the American Legion.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, from 4-7 p.m., great music and food will be on tap at Lake Panorama’s Boulder Beach. Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair to listen to live music by Brick’N Bob Duo. Tickets cost $40 each and can be purchased from any LPA or LPN member, or by emailing Shanell.wagler@gmail.com. Proceeds will support improvements at Lake Panorama National.
The 2026 Guthrie County Fair will be held Sept. 3-7 at the Guthrie County Fairgrounds in Guthrie Center. The Guthrie County Fair has been an established venue since 1858. Located on the west edge of Guthrie Center, the fairground is centrally located in the county. The fair is held annually over Labor Day weekend, providing a long weekend of fun and family-oriented events. See details at www.guthriecountyfair.com.
Send your event information to rich@gctimesnews.com.
Released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship provides a weather summary each week during this time.
“The week started with severe weather and ended with stifling temperatures and humidity. Thankfully, the high temperatures will break over the next few days with chances of thunderstorms returning,” Secretary Naig said. “As I’ve traveled across Iowa in recent weeks, I’ve generally seen strong crop conditions, though wind, hail and pockets of both excessive rainfall and persistent dryness have created some variability. Many areas could certainly use a good rain.”
There were 6 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending July 26, 2026. This is 2.4 days more than last year, when there were 3.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Topsoil moisture condition rated 9 percent very short, 27 percent short, 61 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 7 percent very short, 28 percent short, 62 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus. Corn silking reached 87 percent, which is 6 percentage points ahead of last year. Twenty-eight percent of Iowa’s corn crop has reached the dough stage, which is 4 percentage points behind last year. Corn condition rated 80 percent good to excellent. Soybeans blooming reached 80 percent, which is 1 percentage point ahead of last year. Forty-eight percent of soybeans were setting pods, which is 1 percentage point behind last year. Soybean condition rated 78 percent good to excellent. Sixty-seven percent of oats have been harvested, which is 20 percentage points ahead of last year. Oats condition rated 82 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 65 percent good to excellent.
The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at https://www.nass.usda.gov/.
Provided by Justin Glisan, Ph.D., State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
An active start to the week brought severe thunderstorms from central to eastern Iowa. The remainder of the reporting period was much less active with rainfall reported on a few days. Temperatures swung to below normal for much of the state with departure of up to three degrees below average; the statewide average temperature was 72.2 degrees, 1.3 degrees below normal.
Dense smoke from Ontario wildfires mixed down to the surface across eastern Iowa into Sunday (19th) afternoon, creating air quality issues. Highs were also seasonal under the smoke with mid to upper 80s in western Iowa. A southerly shifting wind overnight into Monday (20th) helped jack up air and dewpoint temperatures. A line of strong thunderstorms pushing across southeastern Minnesota dove into northwest Iowa by sunrise and continued through eastern Iowa through early afternoon. The line produced strong wind gusts, with a 70 mph reading in Lafayette (Linn County) along with torrential downpours that led to flash flooding across Muscatine and Scott counties. Two supercells rapidly formed over north-central Iowa a few hours later ahead of a strong cold front moving south into the state. Ahead of the front, ample instability was present along with temperatures in the low to mid 90s and dew points in the upper 70s. The supercells merged as they travelled southeast, intensifying as the line expanded over central Iowa. The complex split with the eastern branch moving over the same path as the morning mesoscale convective complex. The supercells moving down the I-35 corridor produced hail in the 2.00-3.00-inch diameter range along with two reports of tornadoes in Hamilton County, south of Webster City and near Kamrar. Wind gusts between 40-60 mph were also widespread as the line sped towards the Iowa-Missouri border. A weaker line of thunderstorms expanded west off the existing line into the southwest corner. The cold front exited the state just after daybreak with wind shifting to the north under clear skies and temperatures from 60s north to low 70s south. Rain totals were highest across central to south-central Iowa and in a separate swath in the northeast. More than half of Iowa’s reporting stations collected at least 1.00 inch with nearly 75 at 2.00 inches or above. Two stations in Ames (Story County) registered 3.93 to 3.95 inches while two stations in Ankeny (Polk County) observed 3.91 to 4.40 inches; while much of northwest Iowa remained dry, the overall statewide average was 1.14 inches.
Tuesday (21st) was a pleasant day with reduced humidity, mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. Overnight lows into Wednesday (22nd) ranged from the mid 50s north to low 60s south with light northerly winds. Daytime highs were unseasonably cool, holding in the low 70s statewide under somewhat cloudy skies. Thursday (23rd) started chilly with morning lows well below normal; the statewide average low was 55 degrees, eight degrees cooler than normal. Temperatures warmed into the mid to upper 70s while cloud cover and light southerly winds persisted. Showers formed later in the evening over northwest Iowa and expanded farther south and east into early Friday (24th) morning. Rain tapered off into the early afternoon hours, though overcast skies remained with temperatures holding in the 70s. Foggy conditions developed into Saturday (25th) morning with unseasonably warm morning temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s. Clear skies and southerly winds over western Iowa helped push temperatures into the low 90s while patchy clouds held temperatures in the 80s across the state. Iowans woke up to very muggy conditions on Sunday (26th) with air and dew point temperatures in the 70s.
Weekly precipitation totals ranged from no measurable amounts at few of Iowa’s stations to 5.84 inches in Dallas Center (Dallas County). The statewide weekly average precipitation was 0.99 inch; the normal is 0.89 inch. Multiple stations reported the week’s high temperature of 101 degrees on the 20th, on average 15 degrees above normal. Spencer Municipal Airport (Clay County) reported the week’s low temperature of 45 degrees on the 23rd, 18 degrees below normal.