WAHPETON, Iowa | Generally, when people talk of the Iowa Great Lakes, they reference Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Milford and Arnolds Park.
"That's OK with us," says Frank Joenks, mayor of Wahpeton, one of several burgs that operate in the shadows of their big siblings in Dickinson County.
"If we're not on the radar, that's OK," Joenks continues. "The others can have the industry and those things. We want to keep it the way we are in Wahpeton, a quiet and peaceful town."
Actually, the quietude may attract most of the residents to this burg of 341 residents, most of whom are likely, like Joenks, retired.
"We've got mostly retirees, half of which are snowbirds," says Joenks, 78.
"I know a school bus comes into town and stops to pick up children, maybe from two families, but that's about it," he says. "We're unique here, very quiet and secluded."
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Actually, one of the best ways to get to Wahpeton is by boat. There are several docks outside Kazzareli's at Miller's Bay, a top-notch restaurant that, like Wahpeton City Hall and dozens of homes here, stands just a few feet from the canals that come from the aforementioned bay, which extends into the blue waters of West Lake Okoboji.
"The developer who built these canals wanted Wahpeton to be the 'Venice of Iowa,'" Joenks says. "I think the Depression hit him hard."
Still, the canals stayed, allowing people like Frank and wife Rita Joenks to leave their home by boat and travel to West Lake Okoboji before entering East Lake Okoboji and then Minnewashta Lake and Upper and Lower Gar.
"Lower Gar (lake) is the farthest I could get from home by boat," he says.
Recreational trails can take walkers, runners and bicycle riders even farther from home. The trails that pass Wahpeton take recreational users all the way to Spirit Lake.
Home values have ridden lake and trail access, feeding the concept that quality of life tops the list when one chooses where to plant one's stake. According to Joenks, home values range from $200,000 to beyond $1 million.
Not bad for a "village."
The term brings a smile to Joenks' face. "We sent out our newsletter from city hall and asked our residents how they wanted Wahpeton to be labeled," he says. "They chose 'Village of Wahpeton.'"
The moniker has a quiet connotation, perhaps. It also harkens back to the Village Store, which offered basic necessities a few years ago, things like bread, milk and eggs. It's where the restaurant stands these days.
Wahpeton City Hall is still near a canal since it was built 30 years ago. In 1993, just two years after Joenks relocated to Wahpeton, flood waters reached the foundation. Even this year, those waters are but a few feet from the northeast corner of the structure. When it comes to city hall facilities in Iowa, this one has to be the closest to a body of water.
That claim to fame works for Joenks, who quickly notes that Wahpeton is also home to two church camps, Lakeside Laboratories and Gull Point State Park.
By 2016, the little burg on the water will also have something else: A new Wahpeton water tower.
That development may enable the village to get away from the practice of purchasing water from Milford during July and August. Last year, for example, Wahpeton bought 1 million gallons during that stretch.
