Merritt and Joanne Stegmeier have been chosen as the 2024 Fish Days Parade Marshall's. The Stegmeiers have been residents of Lake Andes since September 18, 1989. The couple originally moved to the area from Oregon after Merritt was transferred to the SD Army Corp of Engineers at Pickstown where he became the Lake Manager of Lake Francis Case. The couple knew that they had made the right choice planting their roots in Lake Andes as soon as they arrived with the moving van. Moving here without knowing a single person, it was suggested to the Stegmeiers to call the Lake Andes School when they were looking for some help unloading. After calling the school, students Mike Carda and Curt Breen were enlisted to help Merritt and Joanne.

Joanne was born in Canada and her father was a member of the Canadian Army. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Oregon after her father decided to join the United States Army during WWI. Merritt was born in Bismark, ND and eventually his family relocated to the Yakima Valley in Washington. The couple’s first interaction with each other was actually over the phone. At the time, both Joanne and Merritt worked for the Oregon Corp of Engineers. Joanne was working for the Boneville Dam and Merritt was working for the Portland District NP Division. The Oregon Army Corp of Engineers was working on a uniform project that Joanne was the project manager of at the time. With Merritt being the district coordinator, he and Joanne had to talk on the phone often and would visit with each other when they did. In an odd twist of fate, there was a concert in the park and a mutual friend set the pair up on a blind date which both were surprised to find out they were each other’s date. The rest is history. The couple married on July 1st of 1989 and within two weeks of their honeymoon bought a house and moved half way across the United States to Lake Andes.

Merritt worked for the Corp of Engineers in Oregon and South Dakota for a total of 33 years. After retiring from the Corp, Merritt managed Jones’ Food Center for seven years. He then worked for Cabela’s in Mitchell for 12 years before finally completely retiring in 2017. Joanne worked as a substitute teacher for several years at Andes Central before working at Wollman’s Pharmacy for 26 years before retiring.

Since becoming a part of the Lake Andes community, the Stegmeiers have been very active in the community. They were charter members of the Lake Andes Lions’s Club, have served as co-chairs of the Fish Days Committee and are a part of Lakers, whose motto is “we do nothing and do a lot of it”. Merritt is the Commander of the Lake Andes VFW, member of the Lake Andes American Legion, served on the Andes Central School Board, served on the Advisory Board for the Good Samaritan Society in Lake Andes, and is the secretary/treasurer for the Charles-Mix County Lake Restoration, has served as President of Lakers and has served several terms as Mayor of Lake Andes. The parade is Joanne and Merritt’s favorite part of the three-day Fish Days celebration and the event that they are most looking forward to this Fish Days. With this year’s theme being the Circus, the Stegmeiers are excited to see what interesting floats people create along with whatever shenanigans that Marvin Gall will have in store for the parade. Merritt has a long history of being in or involved with the parade. Merritt was a part of the Fish Days parade when he worked for Jones’ Food Center, he and Joanne rode motorcycles in it when they were co-chairs, and for the past 6 years Merritt has driven the float for the Lake Andes VFW.

When asked how Fish Days has changed since the Stegmeiers first move to Lake Andes, there was always a community-wide potluck on Friday night. The potluck fizzled out as an event around 1998. Another couple of aspects that have changed would be the beer garden and how the street dance was always a bigger event for Fish Days. A couple of things that Merritt and Joanne would like to see for future Fish Days would be the dance to be revamped and become a big event again and for the Fish Days Committee to bring back the themed t-shirts.

The Stegmeiers felt honored when Rick Bergin called the couple and asked them if they would like to be this year’s Fish Days Parade Marshall. They are looking forward to this year’s festivities. When Joanne and Merritt were asked what their role as parade marshalls is, they said they were not sure but Merritt has been practicing his parade wave. Joanne and Merritt would like to let the Fish Days committee know how much they appreciate being selected and would like to thank the community for this opportunity to be their parade marshals.

Joanne and Merritt have six children, John Kirkpatrick (CA), Jeff Kirkpatrick (OR), Bronwyn Cummings (OR), Elizabeth Spawn (SD), Brenda Horat and Kimberly Canigla. They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Over the years, the Stegmeiers have enjoyed making their home in Lake Andes. Merritt loves the area for the hunting, fishing and scenery that it provides and Joanne has enjoyed the small community life of knowing all the faces and names of people who live and work here. Lake Andes has been a comfortable place to live and be involved in community activities.

Congratulations to Merritt and Joanne Stegmeier for being named the 2024 Fish Days Parade Marshalls. Thank you for all that you have done for the Lake Andes community over the past 35 years.