The Heartland Region experienced an historic 2022 in many ways, with the weather dealing the region blows that both brought destruction and showed the community support in the region. The community also came out to support multiple local champions in prep sports in 2022.

Oh, how the wind does blow
May 12 brought the term derecho into the lexicon of the average Huronite, a word that likely hadn’t been in the vocabulary for most, outside the most weather-obsessed within the community before that day.

The storm that hit the Huron area on that Thursday began with a notably warm day. After highs in the upper-70s and low-80s for the previous week, the temperature popped to 90 degrees in the afternoon, which set a new record.. In the late afternoon, the wind picked up - to put it lightly.

The Huron Regional Airport recorded a wind gust of 90 miles per hour as the sky went dark, and what sounded like a locomotive ran over the town of Huron. When residents peeked out, the damage was extensive.

The Huron city street department set up a drop point for tree branches and picked up excess branches on the boulevard. Chainsaws were heard frequently throughout town as felled trees were cut into logs for easier disposal. Sadly, some homes and buildings suffered extreme damage, with the wind doing damage to the building or flying or falling items damaging structures.

Remarkably, while injuries occurred during the initial storm and during cleanup efforts, no loss of life was reported due to the massive storm.

While one historic storm making national news would be enough for a year, two months later, the area was hit by a second massive system.

As the town was coming off the Independence Day holiday, a massive system hit the Huron area on July 5, dumping nearly 3 1/2 inches of rain over the course of the day - a new record for the day, overwhelming drainage systems in the city and leading to flash flooding throughout the city. Accompanying winds with the storm again knocked over a significant amount of trees and caused damage to structures and homes, with a wind gust at the Huron airport measured at 96 mies per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

Again, city crews and neighbors began the process of cleanup, this time also dealing with the aftermath of flash flooding as well.

Damage to trees was extensive throughout Huron after two violent wind storms passed through the area this summer. Likewise, many homes, businesses and other structures, like the new tennis courts near Tiger Stadium, also sustained heavy damage.

Champions crowned
For the past few years, a dynasty of sorts has been built in De Smet on the hardwood. If not for the pandemic shut down of the 2019-2020 season, the Bulldogs very well could have been going for their fourth straight boys’ basketball championship this season.

After the De Smet girls lost in a heartbreaker to the eighth-seeded Viborg-Hurley Cougars in the championship game of the State B Girls Basketball finals, the boys took to the court in March, looking to defend their 2020-2021 title with a team led by four senior starters, including South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year Kalen Garry.

The Bulldogs clamped down on defense in the second half of the title game against the Lower Brule Sioux, earning a 49-26 victory that limited the high-powered Sioux offense to just five total points the entire second half.

Garry was named the Spirit of Su winner, an award fellow Bulldog Kennadi Buchholz had received the previous week at the girls’ tourney, and the Bulldogs finished the season with a 25-1 record.

On the mat, Huron freshman Moses Gross capped off an impressive season for the Tiger wrestling team by winning a state championship at 132 pounds.

Gross finished the season with a 41-3 record after upsetting the top seed Trason Oehme of Brandon Valley in the championship match in sudden victory overtime to earn his title.

When the fall football season rolled around, the Hitchcock-Tulare Patriots found themselves quickly exiting many of their games early due to mercy rule.

As the season wore on, the Patriots climbed up the rankings and the playoffs proved no real match for Hitchcock-Tulare, as the Patriots shut out all three playoff opponents, with an average score of 50-0.

In the Class 9B title game against top-ranked Herreid/Selby Area, the Patriots pulled away in the second quarter before piling on in the final period to win 50-28 and finish off a perfect 12-0 season.

Building for the future
The landscape of Huron continued to change with investment into the future of the community in 2022.

Building projects at the school, county, and state level were eye-catching in their size and will impact the city and region into the future.

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) building that the Huron School District completed in 2022 was dedicated by Governor Kristi Noem in September and will allow students seeking further education in building trades a space to develop those skills indoors throughout the year.

Beadle County’s highway department has seen the need for additional space due to the age of the previous facility and increased size of equipment used for the work done by the department. The county began construction on a new highway department building that should be completed in early 2023.

After an October 2020 fire, the beef complex at the South Dakota State Fairgrounds was destroyed and needed to be replaced. Fundraising efforts since that time as well as funding approved by the legislature culminated in ground breaking efforts and notable progress in the construction of the new Dakota Events Complex (DEX).

The DEX is intended to eventually be a 150,000 square-foot facility that can host livestock and equestrian events and seat up to 5,000 people, allowing Huron to potentially attract rodeos and cattle shows to the fairgrounds and bring additional revenue into the city.

While the winds of change continue to blow across the Heartland, the hope is that they are a bit more tempered in 2023!