Editing Fort Dodge, Iowa (section)

==Arts and culture==
===Historical===
The Fort Museum and Frontier Village is located on the southwest edge of Fort Dodge. It is a full-scale recreation of a military outpost on the prairie from the 19th century. It also features a reconstructed  village from the same time period.  Additionally, The Fort Museum has a replica of the [[Cardiff Giant]], an archaeological hoax sculpted from [[gypsum]] mined at Fort Dodge.  A "Frontier Days" event is held annually on the Fort Museum grounds. It features a parade, beauty pageant, historical reenactments, a buckskinner camp, and live entertainment. 2014 marked the 40th year of the event. Not all portrayals of early history at the Fort Museum are historically accurate and the facility is intended to be more of a tourist attraction as opposed to an actual museum.

The Blanden Memorial Art Museum, the first public museum of art in the state of Iowa, is located in the historic Oak Hill district of Fort Dodge. The Blanden opened June 5, 1932. The permanent collection on display includes European and American artists prints, sculptures and paintings. The museum also offers art classes for children and adults.

===Music===
Fort Dodge maintains several music organizations, including a civic choral society, a city-funded municipal band, regional symphony orchestra, a Christian choral union, and a men's barbershop chorus. In 1896, the famous composer [[Edvard Grieg]] composed a piece entitled "Impromptu to Grieg Men's Chorus in Fort Dodge, Iowa."

Shellabration is an annual rock concert held in late July/early August at the Oleson Park Music Pavilion, featuring nationally touring rock groups.  Previous performing bands include [[Styx (band)|Styx]], [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]], [[REO Speedwagon]], and [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shellabration.org/|title=WELCOME|website=Shellabration.org|access-date=October 18, 2018}}</ref>

The Lizard Creek Blues Society sponsors an annual blues festival, "Blues Under the Trees", every summer, drawing blues musicians from all over the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lizardcreekblues.org/ |title=Lizard Creek Blues Society |access-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220011404/https://www.lizardcreekblues.org/ |archive-date=December 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Fort Dodge has most recently been named the "Live Music Capital of Iowa." It is home to various live music venues hosting a variety of local aspiring artists and bands.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flattery |first=Neil |date=May 11, 2024 |title=Fort Dodge is the Live Music Capital of Iowa |url=https://twitter.com/neilflattery/status/1789359642499256411 |access-date=May 11, 2024 |website=X.com}}</ref>

Fort Dodge Choir Boosters (affiliated with [[Fort Dodge Senior High School]]) hosts the annual "Fort Dodge Choral Festival", which features high school and college choirs from around the upper Midwest under the direction of a nationally recognized conductor/composer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fort-dodge.k12.ia.us/index.cfm/24820/27925/first_annual_fort_dodge_choral_festival_march_1_at_fdms |title=First Annual Fort Dodge Choral Festival March 1 at FDMS |access-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320073414/http://www.fort-dodge.k12.ia.us/index.cfm/24820/27925/first_annual_fort_dodge_choral_festival_march_1_at_fdms |archive-date=March 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/573838/A-celebration-of-choir.html?nav=5010|title=News, Sports, Jobs - Messenger News|website=Messengernews.net|access-date=October 18, 2018}}</ref>

Fort Dodge Senior High School serves as a host location for the Iowa State Marching Band Festival, State Solo & Small Ensemble Festival, and regional high school jazz band competitions.

===Theater===
Theater and [[musical theater]] are historically popular arts activities in Fort Dodge, with the community maintaining three independent theater organizations. Hawkeye Community Theatre puts on six full-length productions a year of varied genre. Comedia Musica Players is a civic musical theater troupe that produces an annual musical each fall.  Stage Door Productions provides theater training and performance opportunities for middle school, high school, and college-aged students during the summer. It produces one small-cast (10 or fewer) play per year.

The two local high schools and the community college produce a student-cast musical each Spring.  The [[Fort Dodge Senior High School]] musical is the longest-running high school musical theater tradition in the United States, first produced in 1927.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/535436/Backs--a-proper-venue-.html|title=News, Sports, Jobs |website=Messengernews.net|access-date=October 18, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iowalivingmagazines.com/2014/06/24/dodger-pride-is-alive/|title=Dodger Pride is Alive!|website=Iowalivingmagazines.com|access-date=October 18, 2018}}</ref>

===Historical structures===
<gallery class="center">>
File:Oleson Park Music Pavilion.jpg|[[Oleson Park Music Pavilion]]
File:Wahkonsa Hotel.jpg|[[Wahkonsa Hotel]]
File:Methodist episcopal Fort dodge iowa.jpg|First United Methodist Church
File:Fort dodge iowa ferris wheel.jpg|Abandoned Ferris wheel, now located in Eagle Grove, Iowa
File:Webster co iowa courthhouse.jpg|[[Webster County Courthouse (Iowa)|County Courthouse]]
File:Rosedale_Dairy_Fort_Dodge_Iowa.jpg|Abandoned Rosedale Dairy
File:Ft Dodge ghost sign.jpg|Downtown [[Ghost sign]]
File:Hawkeye_Theatre.jpg|Hawkeye Theatre
</gallery>