A full plate could describe the past year in Gothenburg with everything from grants for development and improvements to medical facility construction and a lingering drought.

Development of a new industrial site, in southeast Gothenburg, was buoyed by a $500,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development plus a $300,000 rural development grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The grants will help pay for the estimated $1.3 million project that will pave, install sewer and water and make other improvements to part of the 350-acre site .

Close on the heels of the awarding of those grants was $1.2 million in grants, with $308,301 still pending, from various agencies for the rehabilitation of Lake Helen.

Draining, dredging and shrinking the lake, along with other improvements, is estimated to cost $1.5 million and is expected to help clean and rid the lake of geese.

At the beginning of 2012, the town celebrated the opening of $2.9 million doctor’s clinic that adjoins Gothenburg Memorial Hospital.

The 18,000 square-foot clinic took about nine months to build and was expected to alleviate cramped conditions in the building where Gothenburg Family Practice was formerly located.

For ag producers and ag-related businesses, high commodity prices were offset by a year of little or no rain with scorched pastures and burned up dry-land corn.

Much more precipitation, than what the area received in last week’s snowstorm, is needed to improve soil conditions for spring planting and cattle grazing.