74th Annual Old Settler's Day Celebration, Aug. 29-31, Alexander, ND

This year marks the 74th Annual Old Settler's Day Celebration in Alexander, North Dakota. The event will take place Aug. 29 through Aug. 31.

The event kicks off with a bonfire on Thursday the 29th, at 7 p.m. This year, Dick and Janice Iverson are being honored.

"We are mindful that our parents dating back to the early 1900s are the real pioneers in our story," the Iversons said.

Dick's parents, Dedrick and Malla, made their first home north of Alexander by renting the Donahue farmhouse near the present day Bratcher farm. It was in 1939 they purchased the "Old Lay Reagan" ranch, where the Iversons still live today.

After completing high school, Dick attended Concordia University where he graduated with his bachelors in 1959. He was then drafted into the US Army in September of 1961. After being honorably discharged in 1967, he returned home to the ranch and it was shortly there after that Janice came into his life.

Janice's mother, Effie, found herself in Dawson County after traveling with her parents and siblings by a team of horses from Wolford, North Dakota.

Janice graduated from Hesston Academy in Kansas. She received her bachelor's degree and started teaching. She spent three years teaching at a rural school in Montana and then another three and a half years teaching home economics in Fairview.

Dick and Janice married December 17, 1967 at Zion Lutheran Church in Fairview. The couple has been farming and ranching in Elk Township for the past 52 years.

The Old Settler's Day Celebration will feature a chili cook-off on Friday from 1-7 p.m. A cornhole tournament will start at 3 p.m. on the south side of the Hi Way Lounge, followed by a soapbox derby on Main Street at 6 p.m. There will also be a football game for fifth and sixth graders, time is to be determined.

The last day of the event is packed full of excitement, featuring a parade starting at 11 a.m. Registration for the parade goes from 8-10:15 a.m. The quilt show and demonstration starts at 9 a.m. at City Hall. From 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. there will be vendor and craft booths in the park with a barbeque starting at 12 p.m.

The family program in the park starts at 1 p.m. while the kids carnival runs from noon till 3 p.m. There will also be junior high and varsity football games at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively.

Bingo in the park starts at 4 p.m. while the horseshoe tournament starts promptly at 4:30 p.m. Registration for the horseshoe tournament begins at 4 p.m.

The event closes with a street dance from 9 p.m. -1 a.m. on Main Street featuring music by The Relics.